55gallon

SpartaReef said:
Also, the very first time I tested the water (last week) ammonia was over 2ppm, now it's right at or just below, and nitrate was also 2ppm, but is now zero... Nitrite was not tested for as it is in the middle... Assumed that once ammonia was zero and nitrate was below one I would be good. With the pods thriving and not really seeing anything of a "bloom" other than the spreading fuzz, I've been advised that the cycle could actually have been finished and restarted several times...
Click to expand...

Once your system can process 2ppm of ammonia in 24hrs & nitrite in 24hrs, your cycled. Just because u have nitrates doesn't mean the nitrites are at zero. You need to test them!
why is no one telling u this?

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Read it some where. I'll check into those test kits... What I have is the liquid color tests.... Again I've been told that, but also told other conflicting info... So, without seeing any drastic change in the tank, I don't know what to think.
 
It just sounds like your cycle isn't finished. You should test for nitrites now and not nitrates. If any nitrite is present it will give you a false nitrate reading. The only way to know if nitrites are present is to test for them.

Also want to mention that thriving pods doesn't mean you're cycled. I overdosed ammo during my cycle, over 5ppm, and the pods seemed to be completely unaffected.
 
Last edited:
Just thought I would share my cycling experience. I cycled my 55g using 5ppm of ace hardware ammonia. After 2weeks, the system was able to process 5ppm of ammonia in 24 hrs. Nitrites where sky high & it took 3 weeks for my nitrites to process in 24hrs. During the nitrite spike, my nitrates where 20ppm for 2 1/2 weeks, it was only the last few days that they spiked over 160ppm. Once ammonia & nitrites went to 0 in 24 hours, I did a 95% water change to get nitrates to 5ppm.
I added 4 fish to the tank from my QT the next day. cycling @ 5ppm adding 4 fish is not an issue, could've added more if I wanted.

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OK, and that's what I was expecting, yet I'm finding outside this forum several individuals who say they cycled faster than that, and that as ammonia reduces to zero if nitrate is zero then nitrites should be zero... Such drastically different approaches, which all have worked (seen the tank with my own eyes) and these people have no reason to lie to me... Neither do you. So is every one right? How do we know?
 
KeepNitReel said:
Just thought I would share my cycling experience. I cycled my 55g using 5ppm of ace hardware ammonia. After 2weeks, the system was able to process 5ppm of ammonia in 24 hrs. Nitrites where sky high & it took 3 weeks for my nitrites to process in 24hrs. During the nitrite spike, my nitrates where 20ppm for 2 1/2 weeks, it was only the last few days that they spiked over 160ppm. Once ammonia & nitrites went to 0 in 24 hours, I did a 95% water change to get nitrates to 5ppm.
I added 4 fish to the tank from my QT the next day. cycling @ 5ppm adding 4 fish is not an issue, could've added more if I wanted.

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Click to expand...

Testing nitrates while nitrites are present, especially in high concentrations, is not going to give you an accurate result. There is no reason at all to test for nitrate until both ammonia and nitrite are 0.

I did essentially the same thing as you and had a similar experience, though I didn't dose ammo that high on purpose. Ammo went from 5ppm to 0 ppm in about 30 hours. Nitrites spiked and took took over a week to come down below 5ppm.
 
I will error on side of caution and test test test! But I already ordered the additions to the tank, so I will find a way... If nothing else maybe my friend will house then for me temperarily.
 
SpartaReef said:
OK, and that's what I was expecting, yet I'm finding outside this forum several individuals who say they cycled faster than that, and that as ammonia reduces to zero if nitrate is zero then nitrites should be zero... Such drastically different approaches, which all have worked (seen the tank with my own eyes) and these people have no reason to lie to me... Neither do you. So is every one right? How do we know?
Click to expand...

Do not even test nitrate right now. Put that test away and don't touch it again until ammonia AND nitrite are 0. I don't know who told you 0 ammonia and 0 nitrate means you're cycled but they are wrong. You HAVE to test for nitrites before bothering with the nitrate test.
 
whiteshark said:
Testing nitrates while nitrites are present, especially in high concentrations, is not going to give you an accurate result. There is no reason at all to test for nitrate until both ammonia and nitrite are 0.

I did essentially the same thing as you and had a similar experience, though I didn't dose ammo that high on purpose. Ammo went from 5ppm to 0 ppm in about 30 hours. Nitrites spiked and took took over a week to come down below 5ppm.
Click to expand...

That was my point exactly! He is only testing ammonia & nitrate, he has no idea if he has or has passed the nitrite spike yet. His nitrate test could be inaccurate

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SpartaReef said:
OK, and that's what I was expecting, yet I'm finding outside this forum several individuals who say they cycled faster than that, and that as ammonia reduces to zero if nitrate is zero then nitrites should be zero... Such drastically different approaches, which all have worked (seen the tank with my own eyes) and these people have no reason to lie to me... Neither do you. So is every one right? How do we know?
Click to expand...

My cycle took that long because I didn't use any live rock or seed media & I was dosing the maximum of 5ppm ammonia.



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Thank you for clarifying about the potential false read, will pick up a test medium for nitrite. Going to go to my lfs to get better tester if he has one. My tank was seeded with live rock. Which may be why others have told me that it could be done. I will be asking today if my order can be sent next week instead to at least give me time to make arrangements for it.
 
If you told others that you have 2ppm of ammonia after 24 hrs & they tell you your probably cycled, then they obviously don't know anything about cycling a tank.

Now that you know ammonia & nitrite must be zero within 24hrs, you are on the right path. With the live rock it shouldn't take long as mine did.

Btw: get yourself a QT as soon as your able to. If you had one, your CuC could've went in there until the tank was ready. I had a fully cycled QT with my fish in it while my DT was cycling. Cuts down the chance of introducing disease into main tank.

Good luck

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KeepNitReel said:
If you told others that you have 2ppm of ammonia after 24 hrs & they tell you your probably cycled, then they obviously don't know anything about cycling a tank.

Now that you know ammonia & nitrite must be zero within 24hrs, you are on the right path. With the live rock it shouldn't take long as mine did.

Btw: get yourself a QT as soon as your able to. If you had one, your CuC could've went in there until the tank was ready. I had a fully cycled QT with my fish in it while my DT was cycling. Cuts down the chance of introducing disease into main tank.

Good luck

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Click to expand...

In their defense they told me that before I tested water last night. If I use non-natural filter, will my qt still need to cycle? My cuc isn't arriving for two weeks.

I'm not finding anything about cycling the qt when artificial filtration is used, since the qt is small I was going to go small on filtration.... There I'd a lot of misleading info out there.
 
That is a sticky in the "new to hobby" section everything you need to know is there about getting started. I have been in the hobby for over 10 years, i did a lot of reading in those threads since i am redoing my 55g and i learned a ton
 
SpartaReef said:
In their defense they told me that before I tested water last night. If I use non-natural filter, will my qt still need to cycle? My cuc isn't arriving for two weeks.

I'm not finding anything about cycling the qt when artificial filtration is used, since the qt is small I was going to go small on filtration.... There I'd a lot of misleading info out there.
Click to expand...

I have read of people not cycling their QT but they make it hard on themselves by having to do constant water changes.

Here's what I did:
I bought a 10g kit from petsmart that came with a cheap hang on back filter & heater. As for cycling the QT I used Bio spira & dosed ace hardware ammonia. It says you can add fish the next day but I didn't. Bio spira cycled the QT in 4 days. After reading all the bad about using cycle aids, I found it hard to believe that the QT cycled that quick but it was. I dosed ammonia for another week & it would always come back zero within 24hrs.
Now that my QT has no livestock, I've placed the filter pad in the Display filtration so I won't have to cycle again when I need the QT.

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