Fishless cycling, new to saltwater have a question

[Frenchsmitty]

Hi everyone, I setup a new 26 gallon bow front saltwater tank exactly 15 days ago. I am fishless cycling it. I initially dosed 5% ammonia to 3ppm and added nutrafin cycle as per bottle instructions. After about 1 week ammonia levels started dropping and nitrites started rising. I was getting so excited by this point. Fast forward 4 days later and my ammonia dropped to 0ppm at which point I re-dosed to 3ppm. At the same time nitrite levels are off the charts. For the last 5-6 days I have been dosing back to 3ppm daily since my tank is cycling ammonia down to 0ppm in less than 24 hours however I am now completely puzzled since my nitrites are still off the charts and show no sign of falling. My nitrate levels have been steady for the last week at 10ppm. I even tried diluting 50% 20% and even 10% and my api nitrite test turns deep purple pretty much as soon as the drops hit the water.

What is my next step? Is my cycled stalled?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Kevin

 

[GMay]

Do not any more ammonia as this will just get converted to nitrite and eventually nitrate. Your tank is not yet cycled. When the nitrite is converted to nitrate you will have the complete cycle. What is happening is that the bacteria for conversion of NO2 to NO3 are not yet fully established. It make take another wee or two before the population is big enough to see the conversion. Time will eventually get you there.

 

[Frenchsmitty]

Thanks for your reply GMay. I understand how the basic process works however if I stop dosing ammonia won't my ammonia->nitrite bacteria die off? Isn't having extremely high levels of nitrite detrimental to the colonising of the bacteria?
Thanks!

Kevin

 

[ibrat82]

I'm in the same boat as you!

I did the same fishless cycle and kept dosing ammonia when ammonia dropped to zero. I've been told by numerous people on here and local fish stores not to add more ammonia, contrary to articles I've read online. So I've stopped adding ammonia. Now I'm on day 3 with 0 ammonia and 15ppm nitrite. Gonna wait and see what happens.

Thanks for your reply GMay. I understand how the basic process works however if I stop dosing ammonia won't my ammonia->nitrite bacteria die off? Isn't having extremely high levels of nitrite detrimental to the colonising of the bacteria?
Thanks!

Kevin

 

[gone fishin]

Thanks for your reply GMay. I understand how the basic process works however if I stop dosing ammonia won't my ammonia->nitrite bacteria die off? Isn't having extremely high levels of nitrite detrimental to the colonising of the bacteria?
Thanks!

Kevin

The bacteria can live quite awhile without any ammonia being added. Eventually the nitrite will get converted to nitrate. Once this happens you can do a WC.

 

[jrr98002]

Once your ammonia bacteria are established, which it sounds like they are if the level is dropping that fast, and you're waiting for your nitrite to drop, you don't have to worry about them. It's been shown by several studies that the particular bacteria that eat ammonia and nitrite can live about a year without any present, so you're fine to let it go.

 

[Frenchsmitty]

Thank you so much guys for all your help, I'll keep monitoring nitrates which are much easier to read in high levels than nitrite. I guess once nitrates start rising the nitrite->nitrates bacteria are hard at work. I'll report back daily with my results to help fellow reefers. At this point even with 0.5ml tank water and 4.5ml RO water (5ml to do the test) my nitrites are off the chart. Hopefully they start dropping soon!

Thanks again!

Kevin

 

[gone fishin]

Personally I would not bother with the nitrate check now. The presence of nitrites can skew some nitrate tests. good luck

 

[Frenchsmitty]

Just a quick update.

The last time I added ammonia was Friday the 15th at around 11PM EST so technically it has been a little over 72 hours. Nitrites are still off the chart, even diluted (1ml tank water to 4ml RO water). I'll keep posting updates.

According to a lot of reading I did online , since it took about 7-8 days for my ammonia to drop to zero it should take around double that for nitrites to do the same so by next monday-tuesday I should start seeing that.

Thanks!

Kevin

 

[jsspallina]

You are off to a good start Kevin, little advice moving forward. I've created more problems overdoing things in an effort to be diligent about maintenance. Be patient and you will be rewarded.

 

[bat21]

The waiting during the cycle is the hardest part. But the end will come. The most valuable lesson to take from this time is that patience is a critical component of this hobby. Nothing good comes quickly.

Are you planning on setting up a quarantine tank?

 

[Texas Paul]

The bacteria can live quite awhile without any ammonia being added. Eventually the nitrite will get converted to nitrate. Once this happens you can do a WC.

+1. With that much ammonia added the cycle should be fairly robust. Get ready for a large water change using RODI and your salt. The nitrates will be pretty high when the cycle is finished. Good Luck!

 

[Shawn O]

The best thing to do at this point is cover the tank with a blanket (so you can't see it) and forget it's even there for the next week or so.

 

[blkhwkz]

The best thing to do at this point is cover the tank with a blanket (so you can't see it) and forget it's even there for the next week or so.

Agreed, otherwise you will keep staring at it and wanting to test the water again to see if the cycle is done. I can be patient for SPS growth and everything else, but I still have no patience waiting for tank cycle. Have a tank sitting in my home office fishless cycling I am trying to ignore and let things run their course without me testing constantly.

 

[Frenchsmitty]

Here's an update everyone!

I am finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel! For the past 6 days I have not been adding ammonia and am FINALLY seeing some progress. For the last 6 days when testing nitrItes the API drops would instantly turn deep purple when hitting the water and this is even diluted as much as .5ml tank water to 4.5ml RO/DI water.

Today I put 1ml of tank water in the dropper and 4ml RO/DI water. As soon as the drops hit the water I knew I was on to something, the fact that the drops didn't immediately turn deep purple put a big smile on my face. After patiently waiting the LONG 5 minutes, the test kit indicated .25PPM )). While theoretically multiplying this number by 5 since I had 1 part tank water to 4 part RO/DI water gave me 1.25PPM, I knew this was more of a ballpark number since after performing a full 5ml tank water nitrIte test the drops did not immediately turn deep purple they did become deep purple after 5 minutes which indicated =>5PPM nitrites present. I then did a 2.5ml tank water to 2.5ml RO/DI water (50%) test which indicated 0.5PPM so theoretically 1PPM present in the sample.

The only two things I can conclude at this point is that a diluted test cannot accurately represent the true amount of nitrItes in the sample AND that I am finally at the tail end of my cycle.

Stay tuned for the final update!

Thanks to everyone for all your help!

Kevin

 

[champion6sigma]

No live rock or live sand? Live water?

 

[Frenchsmitty]

No live rock or live sand? Live water?

No live rock, I wanted to start clean without the possibility of nuisance organisms in my tank. I did however use 20lbs of Arag-Alive sand in my tank.

I'll be testing again when I get home from work to see where my nitrites are at, gonna be a long day at work!

Kevin

 

[gone fishin]

Time and patience.

 

[Frenchsmitty]

And there you have it folks! 0 PPM nitrItes ))))

I will be re-dosing 3ppm ammonia right now and will monitor how fast that ammonia gets converted to nitrites and nitrates. If it's within 24 hours I'll get my nitrates under 20ppm and start adding fish!

Thank you everyone for your words of wisdom!

Cheers!

Kevin

 

[Frenchsmitty]

And here are my nitrates, API nitrate test kit is very hard to read however I'm figuring around 80ppm present at the moment. I will be dosing 3ppm ammonia in the next few minutes and hopefully by tomorrow ammonia and nitrites will be at 0PPM so I can do a water change to hopefully introduce some fish on Sunday!

To new reefers just getting started : BE PATIENT. The reward is that much sweeter once the tank is cycled.

Unless I have issues or someone has a question concerning my cycle, I guess I've ran out of thread so I'll see you all in other posts, thanks for helping out a new reefer!

Regards,


Kevin