Question about cycling with Dr. Tim's One and Only.

glb · Mar 25, 2017

Day 34 am

Ammonia: .25ppm

It dropped from 2ppm yesterday after dosing so the biofilter is speeding up. The ammonia hasn't gone down to zero yet. I'm assuming that's around the corner. If I decide to use Nopox, should I wait until the cycle is done?

Brew12 · Mar 25, 2017

glb said:
Day 34 am

Ammonia: .25ppm

It dropped from 2ppm yesterday after dosing so the biofilter is speeding up. The ammonia hasn't gone down to zero yet. I'm assuming that's around the corner. If I decide to use Nopox, should I wait until the cycle is done?

I might question your ammonia kit, but you should be fine to add fish tomorrow if you want. If you dropped 1.75ppm in a day and you still have .25 tomorrow it is testing error.

I know almost nothing about Nopox or other nitrate removal methods. Wish I could help you there!

glb · Mar 25, 2017

Brew12 said:
I might question your ammonia kit, but you should be fine to add fish tomorrow if you want. If you dropped 1.75ppm in a day and you still have .25 tomorrow it is testing error.

I know almost nothing about Nopox or other nitrate removal methods. Wish I could help you there!

But doesn't the ammonia need to be 0 before I add fish?

Brew12 · Mar 25, 2017

glb said:
But doesn't the ammonia need to be 0 before I add fish?

If you went from 2ppm to 0.25ppm in 24 hours you will be at 0ppm tomorrow. If your test kit shows different then it isn't accurate. Since you dosed pure ammonia you know your reading isn't from decaying organics. Had you ghost fed or used a shrimp you would have to assume your bacteria still needed time.

glb · Mar 26, 2017

Brew12 said:
If you went from 2ppm to 0.25ppm in 24 hours you will be at 0ppm tomorrow. If your test kit shows different then it isn't accurate. Since you dosed pure ammonia you know your reading isn't from decaying organics. Had you ghost fed or used a shrimp you would have to assume your bacteria still needed time.

It was .25ppm this morning too. I don't think it's a test error because I tested my nano with the same kit and it clearly read 0. Are there any other reasons I might get a false positive with an API kit?

Brew12 · Mar 26, 2017

glb said:
It was .25ppm this morning too. I don't think it's a test error because I tested my nano with the same kit and it clearly read 0. Are there any other reasons I might get a false positive with an API kit?

That really is odd. I've seen some reports that Prime can cause false positives but Seachem denies it. Is your nitrate still climbing? If your nitrate is stable you can't still be processing ammonia. So either it would be a false positive or all of your nitrifying bacteria died.

glb · Mar 27, 2017

Brew12 said:
That really is odd. I've seen some reports that Prime can cause false positives but Seachem denies it. Is your nitrate still climbing? If your nitrate is stable you can't still be processing ammonia. So either it would be a false positive or all of your nitrifying bacteria died.

Maybe there's still ammonium from the Prime in the tank. I know the bacteria is ok because it's still rapidly converting ammonia to nitrates. I'll do a water change today to bring down the nitrates. Can I add fish after that?

Brew12 · Mar 27, 2017

glb said:
Maybe there's still ammonium from the Prime in the tank. I know the bacteria is ok because it's still rapidly converting ammonia to nitrates. I'll do a water change today to bring down the nitrates. Can I add fish after that?

Are your nitrates still climbing? They should have stabilized by now.

glb · Mar 28, 2017

Brew12 said:
Are your nitrates still climbing? They should have stabilized by now.

Nitrates are at about 40 and if they're going up it's not as fast. But the ammonia is stuck at .25. I tested the ato water with the same kit and it's zero. I can't for the life of me figure out where the ammonia is coming from.

Brew12 · Mar 28, 2017

glb said:
Nitrates are at about 40 and if they're going up it's not as fast. But the ammonia is stuck at .25. I tested the ato water with the same kit and it's zero. I can't for the life of me figure out where the ammonia is coming from.

I honestly think you have something else in your DT that is causing what looks like a positive ammonia reading.

If you really think that you have 0.25ppm ammonia, dose it back up to 1ppm and see how quickly it goes down. If it stops at 0.25ppm again then you have confirmed your test is a false positive.

glb · Mar 28, 2017

Brew12 said:
I honestly think you have something else in your DT that is causing what looks like a positive ammonia reading.

If you really think that you have 0.25ppm ammonia, dose it back up to 1ppm and see how quickly it goes down. If it stops at 0.25ppm again then you have confirmed your test is a false positive.

Is it possible that there is ammonium left over from the Prime causing the false positive?

Brew12 · Mar 28, 2017

glb said:
Is it possible that there is ammonium left over from the Prime causing the false positive?

The test kit will read both ammonium and ammonia and I wouldn't consider ammonium to be a false positive. The bacteria will also eat both even when Prime is active. I'm guessing there is an ionic compound that is causing a false positive similar to how copper causes false positive ammonia tests. I just don't know enough about how chloramine and Prime interact with the test kits to say for sure.

glb · Mar 28, 2017

Brew12 said:
The test kit will read both ammonium and ammonia and I wouldn't consider ammonium to be a false positive. The bacteria will also eat both even when Prime is active. I'm guessing there is an ionic compound that is causing a false positive similar to how copper causes false positive ammonia tests. I just don't know enough about how chloramine and Prime interact with the test kits to say for sure.

Day 37

Ammonia: 0ppm!!!!
Nitrates: 30-40ppm

Yay! I think the problem might have been the cup I used to collect the water. I cleaned it out and now I'm at 0. I probably have been for a while. Lol. Well, that just means I have more bacteria. Tonight I'll do a 20% water change, make sure all the parameters are ok, then fishies here we come!

Brew12 · Mar 28, 2017

glb said:
Day 37

Ammonia: 0ppm!!!!
Nitrates: 30-40ppm

Yay! I think the problem might have been the cup I used to collect the water. I cleaned it out and now I'm at 0. I probably have been for a while. Lol. Well, that just means I have more bacteria. Tonight I'll do a 20% water change, make sure all the parameters are ok, then fishies here we come!

Woohoo!!!!! That is fantastic!!!

glb · Mar 29, 2017

Day 38

Yesterday I did a 20% water change, turned on the gfo reactor and added chemi-pure carbon. Here are today's numbers. This is the first time I've tested for everything.

Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: trace
Nitrates: 40
pH: 8.14
Temp: 74
SG 1.027
Mg: 1390
Ca: 425
Alk: 8.3 kh
PO4: .42

I'll bring down the salinity by switching out salt for freshwater. The phosphates are high. I'll run the gfo and see if that helps. I'm surprised the nitrates didn't go down at all. I dosed to 1ppm ammonia yesterday. Now should I stop dosing and put in a pair of clownfish tomorrow? The nitrates won't bother them will they? Other than salinity, it seems to me that the tank is ready for fish.

Brew12 · Mar 29, 2017

glb said:
Day 38

Yesterday I did a 20% water change, turned on the gfo reactor and added chemi-pure carbon. Here are today's numbers. This is the first time I've tested for everything.

Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: trace
Nitrates: 40
pH: 8.14
Temp: 74
SG 1.027
Mg: 1390
Ca: 425
Alk: 8.3 kh
PO4: .42

I'll bring down the salinity by switching out salt for freshwater. The phosphates are high. I'll run the gfo and see if that helps. I'm surprised the nitrates didn't go down at all. I dosed to 1ppm ammonia yesterday. Now should I stop dosing and put in a pair of clownfish tomorrow? The nitrates won't bother them will they? Other than salinity, it seems to me that the tank is ready for fish.

Yup, stop dosing and bring out the clowns!

A 2o% water change would have dropped the Nitrates to 32ppm, but the ammonia dose you added would have caused them to go up. I think that is fairly normal.
And no. Many people run nitrates at over 100ppm with no issues to the fish.