Dr. Tim's One and Only + GFO?

[Reef This]

Just completed a tank swap this morning, got all the equipment moved over to the other tank, and I'm going to dose some One and Only. Skimmer is off, sump socks removed..

Should I turn off my GFO reactor?
What about Purigen?

 

[Sk8r]

I'd shut down all the reactors and remove them (if in the water)--don't dose other things until your tank has biology working.

 

[RioReefr]

Watch this video from Dr. Tim himself, it will answer everything:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDI7sxqC-ss

Bascially, NO. Pure biology for the first few days (or so). You don't want any competitors for the nitrifying bacteria.

 

[Reef This]

I removed the reactor and skimmer all together and cleaned them good the needed it anyway. Ammonia is about 1.2ppm on a Red Sea kit, and API is a light green color.. Hard for me to determine what the level is exactly with API, but it's not yellow, so ammonia is present.

I put the Dr. Tims in, and fish still look good. I didn't imagine the spike would be this bad..

 

[RioReefr]

My advice is if you are still cycling a tank with fish in it, then use one of those water conditioners like Prime or Nite-Out. They are cheap and you just need to dose like capful per day. It does more than just break down chlorine. But also binds to ammonia and nitrite to make them "less-harmful" to your fish.

You don't want any of those Ammonia test-kits showing green.

 

[Reef This]

No green, correct.

But at this point, I have no choice. It is what it is, and here we are.

I use a capful of Prime every afternoon.

Good news from today's testing was, ammonia is still elevated, but there was a trace amount of Nitrites today, and A LOT of Nitrate.