Overdosed Reef Accelerator

[njreejer]

poured an entire bottle of instant ocean reef accelerator (meant for 500gallons) into my 100 gallon system. Tank is currently cycling & has no livestock. will this cause my cycle to stall/have a negative effect on my tank?

https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/instant-ocean-reef-accelerator-845-fl-oz-1292544?cm_mmc=PSH-_-CNX-_-CCY-_-PME-_-PET-_-AQU-_-0-_-CONNEXITYSHOPPING-_-Product_Listing_Ads-_-0

 

[Smarkow]

Did you notice any white precipitate when/since adding the bottle?

Check your Calcium m, alk, and Mag levels and if significantly elevated then water change down to desired levels before adding livestock.

FYI, many have moved away from products like this which have incomplete directions on use (no concentration of additive on product, no comments on frequency of addition, “5 ml per 10 gallons water”). This is basically an unbalanced Calcium supplement with no alkalinity component. If you are new to the hobby I recommend you check out some of the BRStv segments on 2 part additives.

happy reefing

 

[njreejer]

Did you notice any white precipitate when/since adding the bottle?

Check your Calcium m, alk, and Mag levels and if significantly elevated then water change down to desired levels before adding livestock.

FYI, many have moved away from products like this which have incomplete directions on use (no concentration of additive on product, no comments on frequency of addition, “5 ml per 10 gallons water”). This is basically an unbalanced Calcium supplement with no alkalinity component. If you are new to the hobby I recommend you check out some of the BRStv segments on 2 part additives.

happy reefing

Hey, late reply but was away from home. I don’t have a test kit to check those levels. I didn’t notice any white precipitate after adding & there was none afterwards either

 

[Smarkow]

All good. Things back on track? Getting good corallune growth?

good luck

 

[njreejer]

All good. Things back on track? Getting good corallune growth?

good luck

No algae growth, the rock looks exactly the same as before. It’s 80lbs of dry rock in a 90 gallon tank. I started the cycle a week ago with ammonia & 3 bottles of bio spira (225 gallons worth of nitrifying bacteria) & added the reef accelerator a day after. Should I be expecting algae growth already?

 

[Smarkow]

Oh no my bad, wayyy too soon for coralline. You may get some ugly algae in the meantime. Are you doing water changes? Tracking your cycle at all?

 

[njreejer]

I checked the levels when I got back
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrates: 10
Then, I dosed 2ppm ammonia & will check again in 24 hours. Have yet to do a water change but have an ATO running

 

[njreejer]

Ammonia was 0 but
Nitrites were high (around ~5ppm)
Didn’t test Nitrates because I heard that with the API test kit, if you have nitrites present it will mess with the nitrate test

 

[njreejer]

Around how much longer do you think it’ll take for my tank to be cycled? & should I be adding ammonia after it zeros out or do I wait for nitrites to drop to zero also before redoing?

 

[musicsmaker]

Around how much longer do you think it’ll take for my tank to be cycled? & should I be adding ammonia after it zeros out or do I wait for nitrites to drop to zero also before redoing?

No, let the amonia go to zero and them do a huge water change. 100% would be best if you don't have any livestock yet.

It takes about a month for that to happen.