My 120g has currently been cycling for about 4 or 5 weeks now, with pure ammonia. I dose my ammonia up to 2ppm and in about a day or so its back down to .25. My NitrAtes are at about 80ppm and rising, but my NitrItes are off the charts. Its over 5ppm which is the maximum my testing can go. I know i'm in the second stage of my cycling which is the Nitrite spike but it hasn't moved for almost two weeks. My Nitrates are going up but i'm not understanding why my Nitrites aren't. Should I do a water change to lower the Nitrites?
Reef cycling question
- Thread starter NYCxBRVCE
- Start date
- Tagged users None
redfishbluefish
Stay Positive, Stay Productive
Staff member
Super Moderator
Reef Squad
Partner Member 2024
Excellence Award
Article Contributor
NJRC Member
Hospitality Award
I'm guessing you put dry rock in the tank. If so, you're also seeing the curing process while the tank is also trying to cycle. Start doing water changes to get the nitrate numbers down. Hang in there.
if you have added any bottle bac along the way with that ammonia, 4-5 weeks is all the submersion time needed to cycle dry rocks considering the ammonia has been there the whole time. you are redundantly cycling at this point.
the imbalances you are testing are from ammonia addition overages/wont be there if you change out all the water and begin reefing with a light bioload ( no more raw amm dosing ) or if you polyfilter it all down to normal numbers, add a few frags and hit the lights (begin using the tank)
we also must factor test kit variation if this is API (false low level ammonia readings, nitrite readings falsified based on various additives etc)
your thread is the reason we only monitor ammonia of the three avail parameters when cycling a reef tank in my cycling threads.
to have nitrite in the condition your tank is in now isn't the same as changing the water to zero nitrite/ammonia/nitrate and then using a normal bioload... you are measuring overdose levels and that's not what a normal bioload w present to your tank after 5 weeks submersion using cycling boosts.
the imbalances you are testing are from ammonia addition overages/wont be there if you change out all the water and begin reefing with a light bioload ( no more raw amm dosing ) or if you polyfilter it all down to normal numbers, add a few frags and hit the lights (begin using the tank)
we also must factor test kit variation if this is API (false low level ammonia readings, nitrite readings falsified based on various additives etc)
your thread is the reason we only monitor ammonia of the three avail parameters when cycling a reef tank in my cycling threads.
to have nitrite in the condition your tank is in now isn't the same as changing the water to zero nitrite/ammonia/nitrate and then using a normal bioload... you are measuring overdose levels and that's not what a normal bioload w present to your tank after 5 weeks submersion using cycling boosts.
Last edited:
If you adding ammonia again before it is at complete zero and nitrites are not at complete zero your just stalling the process. It can also make your chemistry toxic killing off good bacteria. This is how it's done...
Ammonia to 2.0. , wait............ after 5-7 days you will see nitrites come up and go off the charts. Once those are both zero you can add ammonia to 2.0 again, here is a tip though. Ammonia is a energy source not a good source. Using a small piece of raw shrimp will give your nitrifying bacteria something to work on. You will see a big speed up at that point. I would keep lights off for 2 weeks at the min. Following these steps you should be good to go.
Ammonia to 2.0. , wait............ after 5-7 days you will see nitrites come up and go off the charts. Once those are both zero you can add ammonia to 2.0 again, here is a tip though. Ammonia is a energy source not a good source. Using a small piece of raw shrimp will give your nitrifying bacteria something to work on. You will see a big speed up at that point. I would keep lights off for 2 weeks at the min. Following these steps you should be good to go.
BoomCorals
2500 Club Member
I think the only mistake you are making is you keep adding ammonia. When I've cycled new tanks, I added ammonia to 2ppm then just waited. Eventually it goes to 0 and then I just wait until nitrites also go to 0. Then to verify I will add ammonia to .5 ppm and verify it goes away as normal. Then you're done! That's the fastest way to do it honestly.
