Tank is not cycling?

[Anthrilliel]

Hello everyone,

My tank does not appear to be cycling.

I have a 20 gallon with 20 lbs of carib sea life rock, 20 pounds of carib sea live sand. I am running an aquaclear 30 with a stone and bio rings in. I added one bottle of dr. Tim's one and only then added the ammonium chloride. I followed the instructions but it was not working. I did a 30% water change and added another bottle of bacteria.

My parameters are:
Temp: 79 F
Ammonia: 3 ppm
Nitrites: 5 ppm
Nitrates: 40 ppm
Salinity: 1.024

Should I give up on this one and start over?

PS: once this gets going would you add fish then coals or vice versa?

 

[Idoc]

Don't give up... it's cycling perfectly, lol. The ammonia is converting to nitrites and you have already gotten nitrates present. This means the bacteria are present and working.

Don't do any water changes right now. Let it run your ammonia to zero. After that, you can dose ammonia up again to around 1 ppm and see if the system will clear that to zero in 24hrs. If it does, then you're cycled. At that point, do a huge water change...75-80% to help clear out the nitrates to a manageable level.

 

[LxHowler]

How long have you been cycling for? You have nitrites and nitrates which would make me think that the cycle may be starting to happen.
Just have patience and leave the tank alone. I wouldn't start again. Sometimes it can take a while my second tank took 2 months to cycle.
I would definitely add fish then coral, the fish will add an ammonia boost to the tank so I you need the tank to be stable before the coral, let the ta k run a little while before you add coral.
Just to double check I know this is probably obvious and just for the photo but do you have the lights off at the minute

 

[Gravity]

If you are continuing to dose ammonia stop. It looks like your tank is in the middle of cycling. Just wait for ammonia and nitrite to go to zero then do a large water change.

 

[ScubaFish802]

Don't give up... it's cycling perfectly, lol. The ammonia is converting to nitrites and you have already gotten nitrates present. This means the bacteria are present and working.

Don't do any water changes right now. Let it run your ammonia to zero. After that, you can dose ammonia up again to around 1 ppm and see if the system will clear that to zero in 24hrs. If it does, then you're cycled. At that point, do a huge water change...75-80% to help clear out the nitrates to a manageable level.

+2 on this. Your tank is showing the it is cycling by producing Nitrates Check out this thread -
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/cycling-an-aquarium.306554/
It may be really helpful!

 

[cshouston]

With 40ppm nitrate AND 3ppm ammonia, I think you must be constantly adding ammonia. Don’t! You just need to add 2ppm and leave it alone until that fully processes to nitrate. Once you can process 1-2ppm in 24 hours, you’re done. I think your cycle is going fine. Just be sure and do a nice, big water change when you’re done so you don’t start with tons of nitrate already in the system.

Oh, and fish first. Fish help feed the corals. If you’re only adding soft corals, wait a couple of months before you add any. If you’re doing stony corals, you really need to wait until the system is matured and stable first. That could take 6-12 months.

 

[Anthrilliel]

The tank has been cycling since Oct 17th.

Yeap, I leave the lights off.

Thank you! I ll let it stew some more.

 

[Anthrilliel]

With 40ppm nitrate AND 3ppm ammonia, I think you must be constantly adding ammonia. Don’t! You just need to add 2ppm and leave it alone until that fully processes to nitrate. Once you can process 1-2ppm in 24 hours, you’re done. I think your cycle is going fine. Just be sure and do a nice, big water change when you’re done so you don’t start with tons of nitrate already in the system.

Oh, and fish first. Fish help feed the corals. If you’re only adding soft corals, wait a couple of months before you add any. If you’re doing stony corals, you really need to wait until the system is matured and stable first. That could take 6-12 months.

I did add ammonia 3 times I think as per the instructions but I haven't added any since then. Thank you

 

[Dieing for a Drink]

add dr tims one and only

 

[ScubaFish802]

add dr tims one and only

I think they already did

 

[Dieing for a Drink]

well ok do you have live rock?

 

[Anthrilliel]

I have carib sea life rock and I have already added 2 dr Tim's.

 

[cshouston]

Someone didn’t even read OP’s first post...

 

[JayStro81]

Agree with some of the other replies. If you are getting a reading for nitrates then your tank is cycling. Patience is key in this hobby.

 

[excell007]

Have patience, 2 weeks is still considered short. I know that this bottled bacteria promises short cycling time but it doesn't always work that way.

 

[Anthrilliel]

3 weeks in and my ammonia went to 0 (yay). I did an 80 % water change.

My current parameters after the water change are:
Temp: 78.9
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites:0.5
Nitrates: 0
Salinity: 1.024

My tank went cloudy overnight. And I noticed brown algae on one of the rocks.

Suggestions? Explanations?

Is it safe to add a clown?

 

[Garf]

3 weeks in and my ammonia went to 0 (yay). I did an 80 % water change.

My current parameters after the water change are:
Temp: 78.9
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites:0.5
Nitrates: 0
Salinity: 1.024

My tank went cloudy overnight. And I noticed brown algae on one of the rocks.

Suggestions? Explanations?

Is it safe to add a clown?

It may be perfectly safe but I would want clear water and the nitrites undetectable to be honest. Another week perhaps.

 

[Anthrilliel]

What do u think caused the water to go cloudy overnight? And what those brown spots are?

 

[ScootScoot]

+1 on what Garf said ! Not for nothing but the LFS sold me a clown while I was probably 50% through my cycle unfortunately,(Params we’re not very appealing) I thought he was going to be a goner as well as some other fish I had but he survived like a BOSS ... I feed him first . Then everyone else

 

[ScootScoot]

What do u think caused the water to go cloudy overnight? And what those brown spots are?

Algae growth quite possibly. Diatoms ? Correct me if wrong anyone , cloudiness could be from moving something around or if that rock was put in there recently without a water change . I would maybe do another water change at end of week to see if it clears up !