I need help cycling a bare bottom qt tank. I don't have a dt up and running yet so to kick off the cycling process for my qt I used a bottle of Bio- spira and have been ghost feeding. After 2 weeks or so I noticed that my ammonia was 0 or really close (hard to tell on the api test), Nitrite is 0 and Nitrate is about 10ppm. So I decided to do the final ammonia test where I added a full dose, about 3ppm, wait 24hrs and see if it drops back to 0. I just tested and it is still elevated, like around 2ppm. So now my question is, clearly its not cycled, so should I add more bio spira or do I just want out the current ammonia cycle and let the bacteria in the tank do its job? Also when it does drop back to 0 ppm for ammonia do I redo the full dose agai.n to test?
Need help cycling qt
- Thread starter NoviceReefr
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Do you have something for the bacteria to grow on like a sponge, filter floss, etc? I had the same problem (lack of surface area) would limit the bacterial population, but once I had enough surface area it was able to process the ammonia.
ChrisQ0904
Valuable Member
In my QT I have ceramic media balls that I seeded from my DT. Maybe if you add something similar even if it's not seeded it will help you out. I went this route strictly for the added surface in a small amount of real-estate.
Do you think I need to add more biospiraro the sponge I put in the tank or is there enough bacteria already in the tank to seed it?
One of the episodes of BRS 52 weeks of reefing they had this very porous material that looked like bricks or travertine tile...It was designed to have a ton of surface area for bacteria to grow on...maybe something like that would be beneficial.
Honestly, I wouldn't ad more. For a QT tank, it doesn't take much.
I do but I was going to remove the sponge once the tank has been dosed with meds and the fish is removed to the dt
SCReef'n
Valuable Member
I wouldn’t add more. I’d make sure to have a ammonia alert badge in the tank and monitor it closely. Honestly people qt using tank transfer method all the time without cycling. Not saying to ignore ammonia but I out more stock in regular water changes than bacteria that may or may not be effective or alive given the amounts and types of meds you use.
