Tank won't cycle - need help!

FishyReef · Oct 28, 2017

Hi!

I am in the process of breaking down my 90g tank (forced to remove it from my office). Over the last several months I've been moving small fish to smaller tanks at home and getting rid of my larger fish. I've been given a deadline of the end of October to break it down.

Most of my smaller fish are going to go into my 42hex tank at home. This tank was set up several years ago, then crashed after a move. Over the summer I finally bleached, dechlorinated, and sun-dried the rocks and have been in the process of setting this tank back up for the fish. I started cycling it in early September - mostly dry bleached rock plus one small live rock from another tank. I initiated the cycle with a small piece of fresh scallop from the grocery store. It took a while to cycle - almost a month, with barely a spike in nitrite. Once both ammonia and nitrite were at 0, I moved my clownfish pair into the tank. 2 days later, they were behaving strangely - vibrating right next to each other on the bottom and almost laying down. I checked the water chemistry - ammonia had spiked - I quickly moved them to another tank and they were immediately better. That was about 3 weeks ago and the ammonia level has yet to come back down. I thought the tank would have recycled by now, but my ammonia is sky high and 0 nitrite. I should also note that I re-arranged the rocks right before I put the clownfish in the tank to epoxy them - several rocks ended up being out of water for more than 30 minutes during this process - I assume this is what caused the tank to recycle due to bacteria die off during that time. I just don't understand why it won't re-cycle now. I am using API for testing.

Anyone have ideas? I still have two fish at work that need to come home, but I really don't have a good tank for them - the other tanks are fully stocked!

Oh, one other piece of info - I don't want to move the rocks from my 90 to the hex - I had a massive aptasia outbreak in the 90g and don't want to bring the aiptasia with me to the hex.

Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Idoc · Oct 28, 2017

I would imagine you are going to have a problem moving all your fish from the 90g to the 42g tank. Not only physical number of fish, but the 42g isn't going to have enough nitrifying bacteria to handle that load as quickly as you need it. You may want to consider either selling your fish back to a LFS or other aquarists in your area... check with your local reef club. Maybe some people in your local club would be willing to keep a few fish while your tank had time to properly cycle?

What is the level of ammonia in the 42g tank now?

taj0930 · Oct 28, 2017

I agree w above. Consider livestock reduction. & bio Spira DOES work and is good in situations like this. It will give everything time to catch up.
Did you check the chlorine levels after? Just for process of elimination sakes.

I had dry rock cycling issues as well. Trying everything. Raising temp, aeration, dry feeding, everything. I added bio Spira and never looked back.

Some will say patience & adding these products shows impatience which leads to bad habits. I say bs. You’ve given it time & in your situation a shortcut is actually the right thing to do.

I’d still test for chlorine though. Get the strips from brs. They’re cheap & good to have on hand for your rodi. It’s most likely not. But maybe it’s trapped in rock?

FishyReef · Oct 28, 2017

Idoc said:
I would imagine you are going to have a problem moving all your fish from the 90g to the 42g tank. Not only physical number of fish, but the 42g isn't going to have enough nitrifying bacteria to handle that load as quickly as you need it. You may want to consider either selling your fish back to a LFS or other aquarists in your area... check with your local reef club. Maybe some people in your local club would be willing to keep a few fish while your tank had time to properly cycle?

What is the level of ammonia in the 42g tank now?

Sorry for confusion - I only had 7 fish in my 90g. I moved 2 of the small fish temporarily (a watchman goby and 2" female lyretail anthias), and starting back in August, to a 20g while the 42 got set up. I waited 3 weeks between each fish move. I then moved a clown pair to the 42 - and then to a second 20g that wasn't fully stocked. I've already found homes for my two tangs and transferred them. I only have a single fish (another small female anthias) left in the 90g that I had hoped to move to the 42g this weekend, along with the inverts that are in the 90. In total, only 5 small fish will ultimately end up in the 42g. My plan is to move them slowly from the 20gallon tanks at home into the 42g.

The problem is that the 42 isn't cycling, so I can't move the last fish or the inverts out of the 90g to break it down.

Could this have something to do with bleaching? I've always cycled tanks using mostly dry rock and at least 1 live rock. I've bleached and dried in the past without a problem. I just can't figure out why the tank isn't cycling this time.

Thanks!

Idoc · Oct 28, 2017

If the ammonia is too high, it could stall the cycle. If its over 5ppm, you might want to do a water change. Taj above had a good idea... get some BioSpira and get it in there..iut could still take a well to really set in.

FishyReef · Oct 28, 2017

Idoc said:
If the ammonia is too high, it could stall the cycle. If its over 5ppm, you might want to do a water change. Taj above had a good idea... get some BioSpira and get it in there..iut could still take a well to really set in.

The ammonia now is around 1ppm, the same place it was 3 weeks ago when I pulled the clowns out.

I'll try getting some BioSpira - that's a good idea! Would it be worth adding an ammonia pad or polyfilter? Or will that just delay the cycle by removing the ammonia? I'll also check chlorine - I did dechlorinate the rocks after bleaching and sun drying. I sniffed them - they didn't smell like chlorine - but other than a sniff test, I didn't actually test for chlorine. That's a good idea as well. I'm also thinking of getting a new test kit - the API one I have isn't that old, but I know they can go bad. I'm also finding it hard to clean the test tubes well in between tests, wondering if that is screwing things up. Should I try a different brand of kit instead?

Idoc · Oct 28, 2017

You don't want to remove any ammonia at this point since that's what's driving the start if the nitrogen cycle.

I use a red sea test for ammonia and salifert tests for nitrite and nitrate. Maybe try a different test...or take a sample of water to a LFS to confirm your test kits are accurate.

Normally, you will see a spike in ammonia, then nitrite, and finally nitrate. But using the BioSpira, you probably won't see those initial spikes. To ensure your system is fully cycled, you should freest it with some pire ammonia. Once your ammonia is st zero, dose up pure ammonia to 1ppm and then retest 24hrs later. If your system can turn that 1ppm ammonia to 0ppm, then you are cycled. If not zero, then you need to wait longer...keep dosing up to 1ppm ammonia until your system can take it to zero in 24hrs.

FishyReef · Oct 28, 2017

Idoc said:
You don't want to remove any ammonia at this point since that's what's driving the start if the nitrogen cycle.

I use a red sea test for ammonia and salifert tests for nitrite and nitrate. Maybe try a different test...or take a sample of water to a LFS to confirm your test kits are accurate.

Normally, you will see a spike in ammonia, then nitrite, and finally nitrate. But using the BioSpira, you probably won't see those initial spikes. To ensure your system is fully cycled, you should freest it with some pire ammonia. Once your ammonia is st zero, dose up pure ammonia to 1ppm and then retest 24hrs later. If your system can turn that 1ppm ammonia to 0ppm, then you are cycled. If not zero, then you need to wait longer...keep dosing up to 1ppm ammonia until your system can take it to zero in 24hrs.

Where would I get pure ammonia? Like house cleaning ammonia? This is a great tip for making sure it is cycled - thank you!