Why is my tank not cycling?

[Rawsreef]

Hi everyone, I am a bit frustrated and any help would be appreciated!

I purchased a 10 gal cube last month, filled the tank up with rock and water as soon as I got it and began feeding flakes.

This is a barebottom tank with about 15 lbs of Carribsea Liferock which came dry not live,
I got 10 lbs from one store about 5 from another. (One LFS store told me the purple color is a "live bacteria" that the company sprays on the rock that becomes active as soon as it goes in the water) which sounded kinda fishy.

also purchased some Microbacter7 that was supposed to help seed the tank with beneficial bacteria. Didn't help much.

ammonia began to rise to about .02 which is where i thought I should be. Turns out I am supposed to be around 2 not .02 on the Red sea test kit. So I went and purchased some Dr.tims ammonia to dose so that I could be more precise.

I dosed about half of what the bottle recommended, which is 4 drops per gallon and it brought me up to about the 2 PPM. (I'm guessing decaying flakes played their part)



Now I am sure I am a bit higher than the 2 PPM but not by much. Problem is I feel like my cycle has stalled.

I added 250 ML of seachem matrix to one of my AIO chambers on Monday to see if it would help by creating more surface for the bacteria.

I ordered some Dr.tims all in one yesterday, which arrived today. Realized I ordered the freshwater instead of the saltwater one. I went ahead and dosed it anyways, out of frustration and since I feel like it literally cant hurt anything anyways.


Here's some photos of the test this morning, hard to see but Nitrates are ever so slightly present. No Nitrites skipped right over that.

 

[brandon429]

Change all the water for new it’s ready

it’s because you’ve waited long enough the slicks are attached now, we have a big thread for that action.

 

[ahiggins]

I feel like this is what happens when you take all of the theories on how to start a tank and put them all together
Normally, with dr tims, you can add livestock pretty much right away (fish) because you’re giving the tank all the bacteria needed to convert ammonia through the cycle. The fish then add small bits of ammonia slowly until you get another fish then the bacteria are pretty much handled.
however, I’ve only seen ammonia dosing by itself on tanks with zero bacteria or with live rock that had substantial die off.
I second the above-do 100% water change to get the ammonia out (you overwhelmed the bacteria-like stocking a new tank to the brim with fish before it’s ready) and you’ll be good to go

 

[Rawsreef]

Change all the water for new it’s ready

it’s because you’ve waited long enough the slicks are attached now, we have a big thread for that action.

What exactly do you mean by its becuase I've waited long enough the slicks are attached now?

Sorry I just don't follow.

I thought the ammonia were supposed to be getting converted to nitrites then nitrates within 24 hrs.

My ammonia does not move from that color, it never did.

I was testing my water almost every day, and I never noticed a drop in ammonia. Nor did I notice any Nitrites or Nitrates which I tested for a bit less often, figuring I would see a drop in ammonia first???

 

[Rawsreef]

I feel like this is what happens when you take all of the theories on how to start a tank and put them all together
Normally, with dr tims, you can add livestock pretty much right away (fish) because you’re giving the tank all the bacteria needed to convert ammonia through the cycle. The fish then add small bits of ammonia slowly until you get another fish then the bacteria are pretty much handled.
however, I’ve only seen ammonia dosing by itself on tanks with zero bacteria or with live rock that had substantial die off.
I second the above-do 100% water change to get the ammonia out (you overwhelmed the bacteria-like stocking a new tank to the brim with fish before it’s ready) and you’ll be good to go

Okay, I now I am starting to understand a bit!!!

Rushing over to the LFS for 10 gals of fresh saltwater! and possibly my first fish?!?!!!!

 

[ahiggins]

You overwhelmed the bacteria you had working in there.
I would change all the water, make sure it’s up to temp, add another dose of dr Tim’s (you can’t overdose that) and toss a fish in

 

[attiland]

Hi everyone, I am a bit frustrated and any help would be appreciated!

I purchased a 10 gal cube last month, filled the tank up with rock and water as soon as I got it and began feeding flakes.

This is a barebottom tank with about 15 lbs of Carribsea Liferock which came dry not live,
I got 10 lbs from one store about 5 from another. (One LFS store told me the purple color is a "live bacteria" that the company sprays on the rock that becomes active as soon as it goes in the water) which sounded kinda fishy.

also purchased some Microbacter7 that was supposed to help seed the tank with beneficial bacteria. Didn't help much.

ammonia began to rise to about .02 which is where i thought I should be. Turns out I am supposed to be around 2 not .02 on the Red sea test kit. So I went and purchased some Dr.tims ammonia to dose so that I could be more precise.

I dosed about half of what the bottle recommended, which is 4 drops per gallon and it brought me up to about the 2 PPM. (I'm guessing decaying flakes played their part)



Now I am sure I am a bit higher than the 2 PPM but not by much. Problem is I feel like my cycle has stalled.

I added 250 ML of seachem matrix to one of my AIO chambers on Monday to see if it would help by creating more surface for the bacteria.

I ordered some Dr.tims all in one yesterday, which arrived today. Realized I ordered the freshwater instead of the saltwater one. I went ahead and dosed it anyways, out of frustration and since I feel like it literally cant hurt anything anyways.


Here's some photos of the test this morning, hard to see but Nitrates are ever so slightly present. No Nitrites skipped right over that.

That no3 is very faint but not 0 which is good news.
I don’t think the freshwater bacteria doing much good but unlikely harm anything.
You either wait an another few weeks or do a water change and you are good to go with your first fish. Just go slow

 

[brandon429]

How to unstick any seemingly stuck cycle

Updated Cycling Science in Action This is a testless reef tank cycling thread, the only one from any board. If you ever had trouble with reef tank cycling in the past, you won't any longer after working some jobs with us. chances are you are using/about to use a method of reef tank cycling...

www.reef2reef.com

Mb7 will cycle in a months wait

lets see pics of rocks in the tank

what was your start date for it all

Earlier I thought you added the right Dr Tims just read it was the wrong one, given much longer than day ten from a cycle chart we find most mis started cycles work out fine anyway. Those are imperfectly started cycles above, the big water change equalizes all the various ways apart from the norm people cycle. Your tank has been set up longer than ten days or no?

 

[Rawsreef]

How to unstick any seemingly stuck cycle

Updated Cycling Science in Action This is a testless reef tank cycling thread, the only one from any board. If you ever had trouble with reef tank cycling in the past, you won't any longer after working some jobs with us. chances are you are using/about to use a method of reef tank cycling...

www.reef2reef.com

Mb7 will cycle in a months wait

lets see pics of rocks in the tank

what was your start date for it all

Earlier I thought you added the right Dr Tims just read it was the wrong one, given much longer than day ten from a cycle chart we find most mis started cycles work out fine anyway. Those are imperfectly started cycles above, the big water change equalizes all the various ways apart from the norm people cycle. Your tank has been set up longer than ten days or no?

Yes, I should have specified that. It’s been up since October 13th

I did the 100% water change today and went out looking for my tail spotted blenny. Of course no where to be found, will try again this weekend.

Should I dose any ammonia for now since I still have no fish or leave things be?

I did get 4 pretty little red legged hermits though!

here’s some pics!

I plan on getting more after I get my first fish along with a few snails and maybe a small tuxedo urchin in the future. I’m sure I’ll find some more cool CUC members as my tank matures!

 

[ColoredRock]

Should I dose any ammonia for now since I still have no fish or leave things be?

You have hermits that are producing ammonia.. Slow it down a bit enjoy watching the crabs.

 

[reefz]

I had this issue with my new system. Just put some (2-4) very established live rock into your tank and your tank will be done in less then 3 days.

 

[ColoredRock]

I had this issue with my new system. Just put some (2-4) very established live rock into your tank and your tank will be done in less then 3 days.

and then go slow.. test your parameters weekly. It will seam like a pain in the butt.. but in the long run you will thank yourself for it.

 

[Rawsreef]

You have hermits that are producing ammonia.. Slow it down a bit enjoy watching the crabs.

Was not sure if 4 hermits would produce any significant ammonia, that’s why I asked. These crabs def are a fun time lol

 

[brandon429]

Very nice tank arrangement and updates, really a neat cycle inspection because you have decent submersion time under the belt and some bacteria added. As mentioned above Id wait another week or so with hermit in there adding natural feed, no dosing ammonia with animals in tow they are indeed feeding the resident bacteria quickly


where I misread at the start was I thought the marine version of Dr Tims was used and that’s a shoe-in for quick catch up cycling, quick deposition onto rocks after only a few days. the mb7 is a notoriously slow cycler but it still works and three weeks is just about right in the ways we have to guess it works, based on assembled patterns from cycles that use it. When I say guess how it works it’s because I haven’t seen a seneye cycle done on mb7 we only have the entry level non digital kits and those range all over the place in accuracy

The non digital ammonia kits are truly hard to make decisions with, they sometimes misread when there’s nothing stalled or wrong and sometimes they read correctly, it’s always a mix of outcomes

the water change exported any backup ammonia from the big dose and make sure not to over feed or it will cloud the water, but the hermits do need light feeding so they won’t starve. It’s best to wait another week or so lightly bringing up the system with the current entrants and once you see water holding clear it’ll carry fish after a bit longer. based on patterns above it likely carries fish now but since the bacteria used were mb7 / freshwater ramping up slowly this next coming week is perfect, a timing based cycle soon to arrive on day 30 fills in all the gaps from the dosing. You’re at such low levels of waste now after the water change and light stocking the Red Sea test isn’t going to help much. The known timing of a cycling chart will make it work fine as a stand in meter for no digital ammonia tracking. The ability to carry light feed and the crabs for a while will be the backup, then it’ll carry fish safely

nice post, atypical cycle challenge and nice team diagnostics.

 

[flyingscampi]

Don't forget to feed the hermits and provide a selection of larger shells. They grow fast and get really stressed if they can't find a new home.

 

[Rawsreef]

Very nice tank arrangement and updates, really a neat cycle inspection because you have decent submersion time under the belt and some bacteria added. As mentioned above Id wait another week or so with hermit in there adding natural feed, no dosing ammonia with animals in tow they are indeed feeding the resident bacteria quickly


where I misread at the start was I thought the marine version of Dr Tims was used and that’s a shoe-in for quick catch up cycling, quick deposition onto rocks after only a few days. the mb7 is a notoriously slow cycler but it still works and three weeks is just about right in the ways we have to guess it works, based on assembled patterns from cycles that use it. When I say guess how it works it’s because I haven’t seen a seneye cycle done on mb7 we only have the entry level non digital kits and those range all over the place in accuracy

The non digital ammonia kits are truly hard to make decisions with, they sometimes misread when there’s nothing stalled or wrong and sometimes they read correctly, it’s always a mix of outcomes

the water change exported any backup ammonia from the big dose and make sure not to over feed or it will cloud the water, but the hermits do need light feeding so they won’t starve. It’s best to wait another week or so lightly bringing up the system with the current entrants and once you see water holding clear it’ll carry fish after a bit longer. based on patterns above it likely carries fish now but since the bacteria used were mb7 / freshwater ramping up slowly this next coming week is perfect, a timing based cycle soon to arrive on day 30 fills in all the gaps from the dosing. You’re at such low levels of waste now after the water change and light stocking the Red Sea test isn’t going to help much. The known timing of a cycling chart will make it work fine as a stand in meter for no digital ammonia tracking. The ability to carry light feed and the crabs for a while will be the backup, then it’ll carry fish safely

nice post, atypical cycle challenge and nice team diagnostics.

Thanks!! Definitely going to be taking it slow. I am learning a lot from all the info everyone is giving!

 

[Rawsreef]

Don't forget to feed the hermits and provide a selection of larger shells. They grow fast and get really stressed if they can't find a new home.

I most def will, I was thinking a few pellets for them since they would probably sink to the bottom the easiest

 

[Rawsreef]

So I added my first fish today

Meet Rocky everyone!

Checked my ammonia before placing him in and it was not 0, it was about 0.2 or 0.4 should I do another water change tomorrow morning?

 

[melonheadorion]

So I added my first fish today

Meet Rocky everyone!

Checked my ammonia before placing him in and it was not 0, it was about 0.2 or 0.4 should I do another water change tomorrow morning?

i would say you would be ok. red sea kits require that you do a conversion to read the actual reading instead of total ammonia. on the back of that test card, you will see a grid, so .2 is actually .02. just keep an eye on him though

 

[Rawsreef]

i would say you would be ok. red sea kits require that you do a conversion to read the actual reading instead of total ammonia. on the back of that test card, you will see a grid, so .2 is actually .02. just keep an eye on him though

Thanks! I’m definitely keeping an eye on him, but he just parked up in a spot where he is kind of hard to see. Anything specific I need to look out for?

he did eat today when I tossed in a few tiny pieces of nori soaked in reef roids. But went right back to his little spot after every bite he took. He seems to like floating food more than food at the bottom of the tank as he didn’t really touch any pellets.

also the light setting I have set now does not make it any easier to see him. Very blue compared to the t5s I’m used to on my 90g but the corals look awesome!