Live sand instant cycle?

WvAquatics · May 3, 2020

Ok I'm going to bet that the live sand didn't cycle the tank that quickly. My ammonia must have lost alot of potency. I just added third dose of ammonia that's a total of 75ml. So yeah safe to say that the ammonia never reached right ppm. Test #3 for ammonia now

WvAquatics · May 3, 2020

But I did test nitrates last night so we will see.

WvAquatics · May 3, 2020

Ok I cannot use another ammonia test think I just did 6. Took me 209ml. My ammonia is def weaker that before. Baffles me I was spot on cycling a freshwater tank a month ago. But here's my ammonia and nitrates as of now 1.5 ammonia and 15 nitrates agree?

brandon429 · May 3, 2020

Now it’s color calibrated

also allow for timeline drift, some tests change in accuracy every ten mins a sample sits etc

anyone would agree that tester shows a little ammonia now. And that a huge amount went in, a true test of both bacteria in the system and a measure of water contasted to active surface area

and in 24 hours, we have a finish line to eval, nice one here

you didn’t make that tester so opaque anyone could claim harm to bac, that’s a reasonable amount to ask it to clear. Can u post a full tank shot

if u can just test tomorrow afternoon, will be set

WvAquatics · May 3, 2020

Mid day light schedule. I decided to run lights on schedule I plan to run them with fish and corals.
Also realized I have to drive to Columbus and get my son tomorrow so test will be a couple of hours earlier than 24hrs.

mbmartin06 · May 3, 2020

WvAquatics said:
Ok I cannot use another ammonia test think I just did 6. Took me 209ml. My ammonia is def weaker that before. Baffles me I was spot on cycling a freshwater tank a month ago. But here's my ammonia and nitrates as of now 1.5 ammonia and 15 nitrates agree?

If you read the Salifert nitrate test kit from the side (instead of looking straight down on it) you have to divide the resulting number by 10. I think that’s more like 2.5 nitrate. Don’t know if this is true for the ammonia one however.

WvAquatics · May 3, 2020

mbmartin06 said:
If you read the Salifert nitrate test kit from the side (instead of looking straight down on it) you have to divide the resulting number by 10. I think that’s more like 2.5 nitrate. Don’t know if this is true for the ammonia one however.

Ok thanks for bringing this up. Idk how I missed that in direction. Still I have some nitrates so let's see what happens in 19ish hours

WvAquatics · May 4, 2020

Ok so a little under 24 hrs. It's 23.45 hrs. This is a much more believable sign. Yesterday I called it 1.5. today let's say 1ppm. So definitely have some cycle from the sand. Is it enough for a couple small fish. I would say fish no food waste maybe. So 24 hrs .5 down

brandon429 · May 4, 2020

Thank you for sure, added in our works thread, first assessment of live sand

WvAquatics · May 4, 2020

I'll check again tomorrow it will be around 51 hrs.

brandon429 · May 4, 2020

its ability to clear an upper water column of ammonia isnt the same ability as live rock due to exposure Im betting. live rocks jut up into the column; quicker contact of wastewater to surface area

in this setup, ammonia swirls uncontacted till it touches bottom zone. this slower timing aligns just right so far, in my opinion.