Am I cycled?

[Bobbymurphy1982]

I thought I was. I started with dry rock/sand and following the Dr. Tims fish less cycle method. Two days ago I dosed my ammonia up to about 2ppm and it dropped to zero (along with nitrites). Sweet I thought, off to get my first fish.

I get to the store today and I tell him my situation and let him know my algae growth is minimal. Is response is I'm probably not cycled and that I should see a diatom bloom. I let me him what I've been doing but still doesn't think I'm cycled. I cycled lights off (and water temp between 80-84). He said let the lights run for a week until I get the bloom. This just seems off or am I wrong?

Thanks for any guidance. I plan to go to another store this weekend that only has open hours 3 days a week.


Also - I assume if I see aiptasia in their frag tanks I should avoid their coral like the plague.

 

[MondoBongo]

i would keep dosing the ammonia to 2ppm and make sure it is consistently getting converted over.

also, in addition to no ammonia you need to track and make sure that your nitrites and nitrates are being converted accordingly as well. i would be very surprised if you were cycled so quickly.

getting a second opinion on your test levels isn't ever a bad idea as well. taking in a small water sample to your LFS and having them check your major levels (NH3/4, NO2, NO3) is always good.

 

[thegrun]

I respectfully disagree. If your ammonia and nitrites dropped to zero your tank is cycled. Algae growth and diatoms are a very poor indication of the cycle being complete, you can have both in a tank that is not cycled or neither (as in your case) when a tank is cycled. I would be suspect of advice from your local fish store. I would begin quarantining your fish if you haven't already done so. Adding more ammonia will do nothing except drive up your nitrates. Get those fish though quarantine and add a few easy to care for corals now. I needed to cycle some rock quickly for a quarantine tank and used Dr. Tim's One and Only, the rock cycled in three days and had no problems handling the fish load when I placed them in the tank.

 

[MondoBongo]

ah i missed the part about the nitrites dropping.

i tried dr tim's (and a slew of other probiotics) to cycle my new tank, none of them worked, so i'm highly suspect of their efficacy.

 

[Bobbymurphy1982]

Thanks for the information. I reached out to another local store and he seemed quite baffled himself and immediately said my no lights helped control nuisance algae growth. I'll get that quarantine up and running now and get first fish. Thanks all.

 

[gone fishin]

I do agree if the Ammonia and Nitrites went to zero then it has completed.

I also agree with you Mondo about the bottled bacteria. I had similar results as you did.

 

[WWIII]

I'm also cycling a tank currently using ammonia. I used dry rock with a little live rock in sump and dr tims. I have been cycling for 7 weeks. I can get ammonia to drop from 3ppm to 0 in 24 hrs now, but nitrites take 48 hrs. It seems to be processing ammonia and nitrite faster each time I dose to 3ppm. I was under the impression from researching the subject of cycling I need to be able to process 3 ppm ammonia to 0, and nitrites to 0 in 24 hrs or less to have a robustly cycled tank? If it processes both to zero in 48 hrs is that good enough? I believe the op stated his zeroed out in 2 days?

 

[Bobbymurphy1982]

I agree with the issues you had with the bottle bacteria. First bottle did absolutely nothing and my ammonia sat at 2ppm for nearly a week. I actually purchased a second bottle and saw an ammonia drop the next day and a large nitrite spike. Think there's a lot of bad bottles out there.

 

[Bobbymurphy1982]

I'm also cycling a tank currently using ammonia. I used dry rock with a little live rock in sump and dr tims. I have been cycling for 7 weeks. I can get ammonia to drop from 3ppm to 0 in 24 hrs now, but nitrites take 48 hrs. It seems to be processing ammonia and nitrite faster each time I dose to 3ppm. I was under the impression from researching the subject of cycling I need to be able to process 3 ppm ammonia to 0, and nitrites to 0 in 24 hrs or less to have a robustly cycled tank? If it processes both to zero in 48 hrs is that good enough? I believe the op stated his zeroed out in 2 days?

My OP may be a bit misleading when I say two days ago I measured the next day. I just didn't make it to the LFS until two days went by. Sorry for that confusion.

 

[MondoBongo]

I'm also cycling a tank currently using ammonia. I used dry rock with a little live rock in sump and dr tims. I have been cycling for 7 weeks. I can get ammonia to drop from 3ppm to 0 in 24 hrs now, but nitrites take 48 hrs. It seems to be processing ammonia and nitrite faster each time I dose to 3ppm. I was under the impression from researching the subject of cycling I need to be able to process 3 ppm ammonia to 0, and nitrites to 0 in 24 hrs or less to have a robustly cycled tank? If it processes both to zero in 48 hrs is that good enough? I believe the op stated his zeroed out in 2 days?

for what it's worth, i've always heard it said as 2ppm.

if i were in your shoes i would probably get my starter clean up crew and ghost feed.

 

[mattyg18]

Used Biospira - I'm 3 weeks in and cycled as of last week. Ammonia and nitrites drop to zero within 24 hours. I just did a 50% water change this past weekend to bring down the nitrates which are at around 20 now. Lights have been off the entire time and i've just got some brown stuff on a few of the rocks. No diatom bloom either. I fired up my QT this past weekend and just waiting for it to cycle up so I can get my first fish in there.

thegrun mentioned adding a few easy to care for corals. Does anyone have any recommendations for those?

Also do I need to wait for my QT to cycle or can I just add fish to the QT.

Thanks