Nitrogen cycle fishless

Eddy101 · Sep 10, 2016

Im seeing 0 ammonia nitrite is going down and nitrate is going down is this normal to see 0 ammonia well nitrites are higher then nitrates?
Ammonia 0
Nitrite was at 4ppm (yesterday) today at 1.5ppm
Nitrate was at 40ppm (yesterday) today at 20 ppm

Note: i had it cyclying for 10 days with 80lbs live sand and 135lbs dead rock then started aquavitro seed 2 days ago

135 gallon tank
Heaters
Powerheads
2 fx5 fluval filters
Coralife superskimmer 220 (going on in a week) hob

Kershaw · Sep 11, 2016

Sounds like you cycle is still going. Keep adding a small ammonia source about 1 ppm. You can do a water change to help bring the nitrites down a little

Kershaw · Sep 11, 2016

cycle takes about 4 weeks you can add s little live rock to speed it up a little

Joey waid · Sep 11, 2016

Looks normal to me. You may need more rock though.

Eddy101 · Sep 11, 2016

Can i add live rock from my 30 gallon when i shut it down? Will it effect the cycle onece the big tank is cycled?

Joey waid · Sep 11, 2016

Eddy101 said:
Can i add live rock from my 30 gallon when i shut it down? Will it effect the cycle onece the big tank is cycled?

Should be fine as long as there was no known issues in that tank. A lot of people use live rock to jump start their tanks.

Eddy101 · Sep 11, 2016

Joey waid said:
Should be fine as long as there was no known issues in that tank. A lot of people use live rock to jump start their tanks.

There was ick on regal tank all the gish are going through hyposalinity treatment in hospital tank so im waiting 60 days for the ick to die in the main 30 gallon tank to put the fish back untell i figure out what to put in the 135 gallon tank first, Then after i get the 135 gallon stocked with all the fish im taking the 30 gallon tank down, probably put the LR in the big tank, what fo you think?

Joey waid · Sep 11, 2016

Eddy101 said:
There was ick on regal tank all the gish are going through hyposalinity treatment in hospital tank so im waiting 60 days for the ick to die in the main 30 gallon tank to put the fish back untell i figure out what to put in the 135 gallon tank first, Then after i get the 135 gallon stocked with all the fish im taking the 30 gallon tank down, probably put the LR in the big tank, what fo you think?

Me personally would not risk it over a few dollars in rock. I would soak it in acid and cure it then use it.

Eddy101 · Sep 11, 2016

Joey waid said:
Me personally would not risk it over a few dollars in rock. I would soak it in acid and cure it then use it.

What kond of acid? Or can i leave the rock out to dry for a week would that be enough?

Joey waid · Sep 11, 2016

Muriatic acid. Wash it real good then let it dry for a week or so.

Eddy101 · Sep 11, 2016

Joey waid said:
Muriatic acid. Wash it real good then let it dry for a week or so.

Ok sounds good thank you appreciate your time.

cromag27 · Sep 11, 2016

10 weeks fallow after crypto (ich is a freshwater disease). and/or...

http://reef2reef.com/threads/how-to-clean-old-rock-before-put-in-the-tank.209008/#post-2392229

lion king · Sep 11, 2016

I would let my nitrite zero out, 4ppm and 40ppm nitrates is already high. Continual dosing the ammonia is why it has taken so long, I usually have my tanks cycled within 2 weeks. The biggest mistake people make is to not let the cycle complete before they redose ammonia. I would do a 50% water change, let nitrite zero out, then redose ammonia to no more than 2ppm. If you do this you will see your cycle take off and finish rather fast after that.

Eddy101 · Sep 11, 2016

lion king said:
I would let my nitrite zero out, 4ppm and 40ppm nitrates is already high. Continual dosing the ammonia is why it has taken so long, I usually have my tanks cycled within 2 weeks. The biggest mistake people make is to not let the cycle complete before they redose ammonia. I would do a 50% water change, let nitrite zero out, then redose ammonia to no more than 2ppm. If you do this you will see your cycle take off and finish rather fast after that.

The thing is i never added ammonia today ot went up to .25ppm and my nitrites went down to .50ppm and notrates went down to .10 ppm

Kershaw · Sep 11, 2016

Like I said your tank is still cycling and there must be some die off in your rock that is causing the ammonia. But your numbers look fine. Just let it cycle be patient

lion king · Sep 12, 2016

Looks like you are having some testing inconsistencies: ammonia will rise then lower as nitrites rise and then lower then nitrates will rise. If you have die off from rocks your ammonia may continue to rise without adding anything, but so would your nitrites, and the nitrites usually continue to rise before lowering during this time. Nitrates will not lower on it's on, you would have had to do water changes or dose something to make that happen. Make sure your testing procedure is correct and consistent. Do a couple of test back to back to make sure you are getting accurate results then repost.

Eddy101 · Sep 13, 2016

lion king said:
Looks like you are having some testing inconsistencies: ammonia will rise then lower as nitrites rise and then lower then nitrates will rise. If you have die off from rocks your ammonia may continue to rise without adding anything, but so would your nitrites, and the nitrites usually continue to rise before lowering during this time. Nitrates will not lower on it's on, you would have had to do water changes or dose something to make that happen. Make sure your testing procedure is correct and consistent. Do a couple of test back to back to make sure you are getting accurate results then repost.

Today ammonia 0
Nitrite 0 nitrate 0

Ive been dosing aquavitro seed.
It helped alot in just the three days of dosing.