Cycling process in an established tank question

[izzyish]

How long does it take for the bacteria in an established tank to covert ammonia to nitrate?

 

[MinnFish]

If, you add 2 ppm of ammonia in a establish tank. It should process that in 24 hrs or less. Hope that helps. Happy reefing.

 

[wooden_reefer]

How long does it take for the bacteria in an established tank to covert ammonia to nitrate?

This question cannot be rigorously answered.


But 2 ppm ammonia within 24 hours is not a bad answer.

Few things in life are created just by testing for it. Having enough nitrification bacteria is one such rare thing in life. As the test pulse of ammonia is processed, you also could have just then allowed enough bacteria to grow.

If you have a 125 gal tank with 200 pounds of lr but just one small goby has been the only livestock there for two years, how long will the 200 pounds of lr process 2 ppm ammonia? Likely lot longer than 24 hours. What does established mean?

 

[izzyish]

Thanks guys! MinnFish, I was looking at my wife's tank and comparing it to my tank. Since my tank is still cycling, I dose ammonia and it's taking about two days to convert. I wondered how long my wife's tank takes to process ammonia, her tank has been running for a year.

wooden_reefer, I wouldn't have looked at it that way. I now understand that it depends on the bio-load. I use the term established with a tank that's not new and that's not going through a cycling process.

 

[wooden_reefer]

Thanks guys! MinnFish, I was looking at my wife's tank and comparing it to my tank. Since my tank is still cycling, I dose ammonia and it's taking about two days to convert. I wondered how long my wife's tank takes to process ammonia, her tank has been running for a year.

wooden_reefer, I wouldn't have looked at it that way. I now understand that it depends on the bio-load. I use the term established with a tank that's not new and that's not going through a cycling process.

Also to illustrate that cycling is not a discrete yes or no concept.

You can abruptly add 0.2ppm ammonia to some new medium that only has 100 bacteria in it. Then no more ammonia and there will still be a cycle,

You can add 10 ppm of ammonia in some cycled rock, there can still be a cycle, a stronger cycle that results in a great deal more bacteria.

Or you can repeated add 1 ppm ammonia daily to weakly cycled medium. There may be no nitrite peak but the bacteria number can still grow by ten or more folds.