Very odd aquarium cycle

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Sorry I misunderstood. If 8ppm won’t kill bacteria then why is it too high other than it would take longer to complete cycle.

I responded to someone who said they completed a cycle in 36 hours... I said , not with 8ppm ammonia.

 

[John A!10]

Can anyone tell what this is? I know it’s less than 5ppm but can anyone tell which level it is. I feel like it doesn’t fit any of them.

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

"1 ppm ammonia --> 2.7 ppm nitrite --> 3.6 ppm nitrate."


https://forums.reefcentral.com/threads/ammonia-is-converted-to-how-much-nitrite-and-nitrate.213717/

Therefore 80ppm nitrate is not possible from 8ppm ammonia. What are you using to test?

So could I dose ammonia to make up nitrate? I dose kno3 and have no need to stop doing that when I have a nitrate deficiency. It works.

Say my nitrates are around 2 ppm and I've run out of kno3. Could I dose ammonia to 1ppm in order to make up the difference?

 

[shwareefer]

I dose ammonium hydroxide every day for over a year now. Nothing scientific just slow and steady - 1 drop per 10 gallons each morning. Nitrates have stabilized to 10ppm doing that but obviously it would be different based on each system.

Edit: I should mention it's Old Country brand ammonia 6% ammonium hydroxide.

 

[BigMonkeyBrain]

I figured out the nitrate solution I think. This is going to be a fish only system so I’m not using my ro water but just tap and thus I used dechlorinator. I believe when I topped off to decrease salinity yesterday I didn’t mix well and it detoxified the nitrates. Just a guess but seems logical.

I have never seen nitrates in the first three days of an initial cycle. FWIW - If you only dose ammonia or fish food / poop from another tank etc,. with nothing else - no bottled bacteria etc,. the nitrogen cycle is finished quicker and the test results seem more accurate.

Probably happens !

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I know this thread is a few months old, but the discussion seems to have passed right over the correctly given explanation for the erroneous nitrate readings.

nitrate was never 80 ppm. The 2 ppm nitrite will cause very high and false readings for nitrate. With some kits, the multiplier is 100x: 2 ppm nitrite reads falsely as 200 ppm nitrate.