Been cycling for just over 3 weeks. 90 lbs of live rock,don't know how live it was, from lfs . 80 lbs of live sand. Put bio spiral in first week waited, nothing. Decided to dose 10 % ammonia from ace. 1-2ppm converted to nitrate 5-10 ppm in roughly 2 days 0 ppm ammonia no nitrite. Waited another week or so. Dosed ammonia again up to 1 ppm. Went straight to nitrates about 10 ppm no nitrite in just over 24 hrs. Both times no nitrite and have never tested any nitrite. Been testing daily. Have had brown algae, went away, green algae is everywhere and some small patches of pink coraline. Think I'm ready for 2 clowns? Next weekend. Never cycled saltwater before. Tank startup was dec 16th been almost a month.
Cycling went from ammonia straight to nitrate?
- Thread starter KMH231
- Start date
mcgyvr
New member
Wait out the full month then start slowly adding stuff.. You are more than likely cycled but nothing good happens fast in this hobby so hold off for 1 more week..
When you have live rock/sand and use bacterial products your cycle may not be as easy to follow but sounds like you are ready to start doing some water changes to get nitrates down (10 or less) over the next week then go for it..
When you have live rock/sand and use bacterial products your cycle may not be as easy to follow but sounds like you are ready to start doing some water changes to get nitrates down (10 or less) over the next week then go for it..
mcgyvr
New member
It just happened too fast/instantly because of the bottled bacteria/live rock,etc...
When you just start with dry rock/water and no "bottles" of anything its much more "controlled" and you can see each stage clearly as the bacteria/life is slowly building up..
With "bottles" + good live rock its typically a much quicker (not necessarily better IMO though) process..
Many miss/skip the nitrite stage.. nothing to worry about.
When you just start with dry rock/water and no "bottles" of anything its much more "controlled" and you can see each stage clearly as the bacteria/life is slowly building up..
With "bottles" + good live rock its typically a much quicker (not necessarily better IMO though) process..
Many miss/skip the nitrite stage.. nothing to worry about.
That is probably because of the bio spira. You didn't need to wait for the nitrite bacteria to grow, you added a bunch of the bacteria so it just converted things to nitrate.
Ron Reefman
Active member
I used very LR when I switched from my 180g tank to a 125g tank. I had the same experience. Virtually no ammonia and no nitrite. But I did experience a diatom bloom a couple of weeks later and a small algae bloom after that. Typical after cycle maturing of the tank. Nothing to worry about.
Like mcgyvr said, nothing good happens quickly in an aquarium. Take your time.
Like mcgyvr said, nothing good happens quickly in an aquarium. Take your time.
Ron Reefman
Active member
Caulerpa will grow fast and do the job of exporting nutrients well. However, it does have one nasty side effect, it can go sexual and turn your entire system green. I learned the hard way. That's why I think most reefers use Chaeto instead. I'd bet lots of fellow reefers in your area use Chaeto and would share some with you. I do it all the time.
GimpyFin
Active member
Bio spira cycles your tank almost instantly. Since you are seeding bacteria that would normally develop if you were to just add ammonia by itself or fish food, you are shortcutting the cycle and skipping the big ammonia/nitrite spike. The ammonia just gets broken down to nitrate. Some people get confused in using bio spira thinking you need to add biospira and a traditional ammonia source and wait for a cycle to happen. While it's a good test to see that the ammonia gets broken down, it's not necessary. I've used it for the last few years to cycle tanks, especially if I need to get a QT up and running quickly.
