Hello, need help/advice

[jmitch7417]

Hello all,

I am new to the forums, but have cruised through them looking for information in the past. I had a 75 gal in the past. I currently just set up a 16 biocube in my daughters rooms. I have some questions about cycling being I am having issues with it.

I went with marcos base rock, and used aragonite sand. I dosed Dr. Tims ammonia and bacteria. The tank is getting rid of of ammonia with no issues, but the nitrite refuse to go down. They have been at 5ppm or more for like 10 days. They are dark purple all the time. I have nitrates as well which I know is expect. I am not sure what to do with the nitrite issue since they refuse to go down.

The water was also tested by the LFS to make sure the test kit I had was not giving any bad readings. Any advice would be great.

 

[jmitch7417]

For for to add this salient 1.023 water temp 79

 

[aznflyfisherman]

I think you just need to let it cycle completely. Give it a few more weeks. I never test anything, though i do let my tank run for 4 to 6 weeks then add my clean up crews n if they are good n dont die off after a week or two, i add my fish a few at a time.

 

[Ztous]

How much rock did you use?

 

[jmitch7417]

Ztous,

I used about 10lbs, but it is all base so it is not going to be cycling. I went with dosing ammonia by Dr. Tim's, and dosing bacteria. The "good bacteria" seem to not colonizing, and I would guess thats why my nitrites are not going down at all.

 

[Tanthaitrung]

Hi, welcome to RC

I think, your tank has "good bacteria". That's why the ammonia is going down. You need more time for dropping the nitrite.

Do NOT do anything before asking.

Read, read and read more.

Good luck
Khanh

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Agree with leaving it alone. Just keep testing your nitrites every few days and all of a sudden they will be 0. Once this happens I highly recommend adding 2ppm ammonia and seeing if all ammonia and nitrites are 0 after 24 hours. This is how you test your cycle. If it 0's out after 24 hrs you can do a 50% water change to drop your nitrates down quite a bit. After that you can add your cuc IF you have an algae outbreak, if not you'll have to feed your cuc until the algae outbreak happens.

Patience is the key to doing well in this hobby. Nothing GOOD happens FAST in reefing.

 

[mitchb]

+1 on leaving it alone and be patient. How deep is your sand bed? with only 10 lbs of rock you may need more sand.