QT Cycling... Been 2 Weeks & Need Help on Next Steps

[esther]

All opinions and recommendations welcome!

We've been cycling our QT for the last two weeks. Here are the details you need:

• QT is 10g
• Bare bottom
• One piece of dry rock added to tank
• Have been dosing Brightwell's MicroBacter 7 daily for the last two weeks (per bottle instructions)
• Dosed DrTim's Ammonia as well

Current tank parameters as of this morning:

• NO3 - 40ppm
• NO4 - 3ppm
• pH - 7.5
• KH - 180ppm
• Ammonia - 8ppm
• Salinity - 1.025

Question for you guys... Microbacter says to now only dose once a week (1mL) and from what I've read online in various places, it suggests continuing to dose ammonia. Does that sound right? Should I just leave the tank and test daily? What would you guys do next? I'm ok waiting... Just want to make sure we're doing this right. Thank you!!

 

[piranhaman00]

Someone posted about this recently if I remember correctly, stop dosing ammonia! There is nitrate and nitrite, you are cycling , with that high ammonia it’s going to take a bit yet, be patient, add more bacteria but no more ammonia, you can’t overdose the bacteria .

Also take out the rock and add Seachem matrix to filter, don’t want rock in qt, good luck!

 

[huckjai]

Definitely stop dosing ammonia.

Besides the rock, do you have sponge filter? When I cycled my 10 gallon QT, I used the foam filter that came with the HOB filter, and also fluval biomax filter to hold more bacteria. https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/fluval-spec-biomax-filter-media

What fish do you plan on quarantining first? I didn't cycle my 10 gallon QT when I had my clowns in there, as two fish don't really produce a lot of ammonia. I just cycled the tank with the clowns in, and did water changes every 3-4 days - fast and easy for a 10 gal. I dosed 10mil of microbacter 7 initially. Then 1ml each time I did a water change. Also had a Seachem Ammonia Alert badge in the tank. Also siphoned out any excess food and poop daily.

You can probably do a full water change and do what I did above if you're only quarantining a couple of fish. Or do a full water change, and dose 2ppm ammonia and see how fast it will get to 0 if you're in a hurry. If not, just wait for the 8ppm to drop.

 

[esther]

Definitely stop dosing ammonia.

Besides the rock, do you have sponge filter? When I cycled my 10 gallon QT, I used the foam filter that came with the HOB filter, and also fluval biomax filter to hold more bacteria. https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/fluval-spec-biomax-filter-media

What fish do you plan on quarantining first? I didn't cycle my 10 gallon QT when I had my clowns in there, as two fish don't really produce a lot of ammonia. I just cycled the tank with the clowns in, and did water changes every 3-4 days - fast and easy for a 10 gal. I dosed 10mil of microbacter 7 initially. Then 1ml each time I did a water change. Also had a Seachem Ammonia Alert badge in the tank. Also siphoned out any excess food and poop daily.

You can probably do a full water change and do what I did above if you're only quarantining a couple of fish. Or do a full water change, and dose 2ppm ammonia and see how fast it will get to 0 if you're in a hurry. If not, just wait for the 8ppm to drop.

Yes, I have whatever little filter that came with the AIO. I'm going to QT two clowns and an anemone first. I may do a small water change to try and remove some of that ammonia if it doesn't drop after another week. Thanks for the tips!

 

[esther]

Someone posted about this recently if I remember correctly, stop dosing ammonia! There is nitrate and nitrite, you are cycling , with that high ammonia it’s going to take a bit yet, be patient, add more bacteria but no more ammonia, you can’t overdose the bacteria .

Also take out the rock and add Seachem matrix to filter, don’t want rock in qt, good luck!

Thanks!!

 

[huckjai]

Yes, I have whatever little filter that came with the AIO. I'm going to QT two clowns and an anemone first. I may do a small water change to try and remove some of that ammonia if it doesn't drop after another week. Thanks for the tips!

Keep in mind that if you remove that dry rock, you will probably have to cycle again as you will lose all the bacteria on it. You can leave it in there, but use it as strictly dry rock for your quarantine, and don't put it back into the display tank. If a fish has disease, then you'll probably have to nuke that rock before using it again.

 

[esther]

Keep in mind that if you remove that dry rock, you will probably have to cycle again as you will lose all the bacteria on it. You can leave it in there, but use it as strictly dry rock for your quarantine, and don't put it back into the display tank. If a fish has disease, then you'll probably have to nuke that rock before using it again.

That rock is strictly QT only. Thanks for the tip, though!