Why does my water not stink??

[Paranoiattack91]

I have a new 180 gallon aquarium, stand and canopy on order with Crystal Dynamics and lead time was 3 months. So during the wait i figured id get two 55 gallon barrels and cycle/cure my dry marco rocks from brs so they are readdy to go when the tank arrives.

I added them February 15th between the two buckets- temp is at 77, salinity at 1.024 and I have a small powerhead in each for circulation. I added a bottle of bio spira to one and dr tims to the other (the lfs only had one bottle of each on hand) and added a generous pinch of pellet food and closed the lids. I have tested for ammonia every 3 days or so and it hovers around 0.2-0.3. The pellet food seems to not be breaking down after 3 weeks and I am not seeing/smelling the nasty water that I heard is part of this process.. Am i missing something??

 

[Jekyl]

I never had some awful smell. If worried those aren't doing it just toss a shrimp in there. Or order a bottle of ammonia and dose it.

 

[Paranoiattack91]

I never had some awful smell. If worried those aren't doing it just toss a shrimp in there. Or order a bottle of ammonia and dose it.

I was curious if dry pellet food would be any different than the shrimp but maybe it is since it still is not breaking down.. i have another month or two until the tank is ready so maybe ill try the shrimp.

 

[brandon429]

Your cycle is done for this reason

thats an already tested arrangement, and it cycles in two days


however your test kits read don’t matter, they may not even be reading correctly we can see in test kit comparison threads, you’ve met the timeframe from the bottle bac date and youve been feeding, it’s done.

 

[Paranoiattack91]

Your cycle is done for this reason

thats an already tested arrangement, and it cycles in two days


however your test kits read don’t matter, they may not even be reading correctly we can see in test kit comparison threads, you’ve met the timeframe from the bottle bac date and youve been feeding, it’s done.

I am just curious on why the pellet food is not breaking down after 3 weeks

 

[brandon429]

It is. in your dilution the kits may not catch It, the bacteria have certainly been fed. Your cycle is done.

if someone wants to take a fully cycled tank and rot a shrimp in it, thats no harm and eventually it’ll rise enough to trigger a test kit, but that has no bearing on your current cycle being done due to timing rules from a cycling chart.

here is your exact cycle in another tank:

Build Thread - My SPS Waterbox Peninsula Mini 15

Beautiful build and scape!

www.reef2reef.com

you would smell ammonia if it got high enough, but that’s not needed to cycle, only # of days underwater matters. This cycle used only time and feed, yours had bottle bac making it ready two days after adding.

 

[Aqua Man]

Live rock that has been shipped will have a smell from the die off. Sometimes.

Dry rock with no organics will not have any smell. Usually.

The beach/ocean smell will come with time as your tank/rocks mature.

 

[taricha]

and added a generous pinch of pellet food and closed the lids.

One, A pinch of pellet food in a 55Gal drum is not a large enough concentration for me to expect any "bad smell".
Two, when you say "closed the lid" just making sure you don't mean that you sealed it with little airspace inside. Oxidation of ammonia to nitrite and nitrate requires oxygen. Fish flake carbohydrates also will demand oxygen to be broken down by bacteria.
Three, the difference between shrimp and fish flake is likely going to involve some ratios of protein and carbs. The consumption of C in fish flake by heterotrophic bacteria will also have them consume some of the N, so there will be less N for tank cycler bacteria to deal with.
In a shrimp, the protein is much higher than the carbs and so there's more N left for the tank cyclers to deal with.
That said, both will work - the flake will generate plenty of excess N as ammonia, but shrimp and fish flake are different, and people who observe differences between how they are processed are not crazy.

[also, as brandon says, if you added a bottle of bio-spira, you're done ]

 

[Paranoiattack91]

One, A pinch of pellet food in a 55Gal drum is not a large enough concentration for me to expect any "bad smell".
Two, when you say "closed the lid" just making sure you don't mean that you sealed it with little airspace inside. Oxidation of ammonia to nitrite and nitrate requires oxygen. Fish flake carbohydrates also will demand oxygen to be broken down by bacteria.
Three, the difference between shrimp and fish flake is likely going to involve some ratios of protein and carbs. The consumption of C in fish flake by heterotrophic bacteria will also have them consume some of the N, so there will be less N for tank cycler bacteria to deal with.
In a shrimp, the protein is much higher than the carbs and so there's more N left for the tank cyclers to deal with.
That said, both will work - the flake will generate plenty of excess N as ammonia, but shrimp and fish flake are different, and people who observe differences between how they are processed are not crazy.

[also, as brandon says, if you added a bottle of bio-spira, you're done ]

its a snap on lid so it is not air tight and there is a 1/4 inch hole where i would usually have the RO tubing.

 

[nudave]

If you want to know if you're cycled, start throwing some ammonium chloride in there and see what happens.

When I cycled my dry rock in my aquarium, I was well over 2.0 ppm in ammonia (oops, I overdosed). I started with Dr. Tim's 1 and Only. Didn't really touch the ammonia, or it did and took a long while. 5 days later I threw in a whole 32 oz. bottle of FritzZyme 9 to speed up the process. It did, one week later 0 ammonia and sky high nitrates. Water change to decrease nitrates. I'm so confident that I'm cycled, I tell my wife that I turned an aquarium full of Windex to a habitat in 21 days.