Need help with cycle

[Mr.Mulley54]

So iv been out of the hobby for a couple years due to my first tank crash, been but just recently started a new tank, red sea reefer 250 with tunze 9410 doc skimmer. I have 55lbs or dry BRS Reef saver rock, and about 40 or so lbs of live sand. My problem is my cycle, im doing a fishless cycle with pure ammonia and dr. tims one and only bacteria, its my first time doing it like that, iv always done the dead shrimp and wait. but! haha seeing as it works for a lot of people id give it a try. SO Its been about 3 weeks now and my ammonia is at 2-3ppm and hasnt changed for 3 weeks i do have a small amount of nitrites as well but 0 nitrates, So am i doing this whole thing wrong or is it just taking as long as a normal cycle would or did i get a **** bottle,.

oh ps skimmer was off for first 48hrs then back on and for the last week its been off.

 

[cougareyes]

I've never used the one and only bacteria, but swear by using the dr. tim's ammonia chloride. Your ammonia should have started to drop and nitrites to rise in just a few days, so my thought is the bacteria was not viable somehow. I would dose more bacteria, you can usually get bio-spira pretty readily, maybe try that. Remember to let the ammonia and nitrite completely zero out before you dose any additional ammonia. I've used this method but mostly pull seasoned media from other tanks, live rock or liferock to get my bacteria started. I've cycled 5 tanks that way and it usually took 2-3 weeks, I just did a 30g with liferock and an abundance of seasoned seachem matrix and it only took a week.

 

[Mr.Mulley54]

Thanks for the reply, ya all the reviews and material iv read said it should be quick so i didnt know if it were because of my dry rock or i got a bad bottle, ill pick up a bottle of the bio spira tonight and see what happens.

 

[DePinchGonze]

Don't worry your ok, if you have ammonia then your good, 3ppm is right where you want to be, three weeks out of the ordinary considering you didn't start with live rock. One day you'll wake up and see your ammonia has dropped, next day it will be gone. It will likely take longer for your nitrites to convert to nitrate, and drop to zero. Just be patient.

 

[DePinchGonze]

is not out of the ordinary **

 

[Mr.Mulley54]

Aright that's good to hear. Thanks , I just picked up some more bacteria incase. But I'll give it some more time. Def not use to this method. I guess I just expected it to be faster. nothing is fast in this hobby. And what do you think about running the skimmer should I keep it off until I see something happen with the ammonia or keep it running. I'm hearing mixed feelings , some say running it will kill the bacteria and others say it won't the bacteria is on the Rock and sand wich I get but I don't seem to have any anywhere right now haha

 

[Frostyfishman]

Just be patient. It can take up to two months. I guarantee you will see movement soon.

 

[Lsufan]

I find that the bacteria products like dr. Tims or biospira usually speed up the ammonia process. It usually converts the ammonia to nitrite pretty quick. But it always seemed like the nitrite would take forever to convert to nitrate. I'm not sure but I believe when they say u can add fish almost instantly it's because it converts the ammonia to nitrite pretty quick & nitrite isn't toxic to fish in seawater at the levels we see.

I started a 40 breeder with all dry rock & used dr.tims & it still took 3 months to cycle. I started my 150 with tbs live rock & I never had a cycle.

 

[Mr.Mulley54]

So I'm at the end of week 4 and have tested my water today and I am still getting 3ppm ammonia but my nitrites still keep rising, now at .50 ppm so why is my ammonia not moving ? I am testing with api and have tested with 2 different kits so I guessing it's accurate any ideas why my ammonia isn't move but nitrites are, obviously it starting to cycle but I would have thought the amonia would have dropped considering I'm getting nitrites, any thoughts would be awesome. Thanks

 

[Frostyfishman]

So I'm at the end of week 4 and have tested my water today and I am still getting 3ppm ammonia but my nitrites still keep rising, now at .50 ppm so why is my ammonia not moving ? I am testing with api and have tested with 2 different kits so I guessing it's accurate any ideas why my ammonia isn't move but nitrites are, obviously it starting to cycle but I would have thought the amonia would have dropped considering I'm getting nitrites, any thoughts would be awesome. Thanks

It is converting or else got you wouldn't see any nitrites. Again you need to be patient. Your cycle is going fine. Nitrites to nitrates is probably going to be another two or three weeks. Stop testing daily. Leave the tank be and test in 7 days.

 

[Mr.Mulley54]

Man I was told to test every day haha I guess your right no sense in waisting my test kit. I just want to start spending my money haha. Ok ok ...Thanks I'll be patient. Ps I'd love to see some of your guys tanks and also how the heck do I post a picture on the forum, def new to this. Telling me to enter url of picture ?? Anyway to add pictures from my phone .

 

[thegrun]

I'm really surprised that you have not completed the cycle; I recently cycled some rock using Dr. Tim's one and only and the rock cycled in less than a week. There are two possibilities that come to mind as why the cycle is taking so long. First it's possible that you got a bad bottle, either it was frozen at some point during transport or sat on a storage shelf too long which would have killed the bacteria. If that is the case your cycle should still progress normally which your test results seem to support as you are starting to see nitrites, usually the ammonia will drop quickly once you start to see the presence of nitrites. It is also possible your test kits are not reading accurately. API test kits while not the most accurate generally do a good job of getting you in the ballpark with their test results, but their ammonia test kit is in my opinion is the most prone to false readings of the many ammonia test kits available on the market. Either way it still appears your cycle is progressing normally. If you have added any additional ammonia since the start of the cycle you should stop, doing so will only slow down the cycle and lead to higher nitrates at the end of the cycle. The bacteria does not need to continue to be fed ammonia, it will continue to be viable for at least a year without more ammonia.

 

[Frostyfishman]

Man I was told to test every day haha I guess your right no sense in waisting my test kit. I just want to start spending my money haha. Ok ok ...Thanks I'll be patient. Ps I'd love to see some of your guys tanks and also how the heck do I post a picture on the forum, def new to this. Telling me to enter url of picture ?? Anyway to add pictures from my phone .

I went through the exact same thing. It really drove me crazy to check it and it wouldn't give me the results I wanted. In a week or two your ammonia and nitrite are going to drop off like a rock. It did however, and getting fish was that much sweeter. You can use photobucket to host photos or you can use the attach file option located below the "reply to thread" box in the "additional options box". See the attached picture and notice managed attachments.

 

[Mr.Mulley54]

Thanks man lets see if this works

 

[Frostyfishman]

That's a sharp looking tank and scape! One more thing to note if you want the photo to show up in the post rather than a thumbnail you are going to need to use a photo hosting service.

 

[DePinchGonze]

Looks good, I like the aquascape

 

[Mr.Mulley54]

Thanks guys ! I love the reefrock 2.1 look. And frostyfishman you mean like photobucket or somethin?

 

[Frostyfishman]

Thanks guys ! I love the reefrock 2.1 look. And frostyfishman you mean like photobucket or somethin?

Yes sir

 

[Mr.Mulley54]

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[Mr.Mulley54]

Did that work?? I can't see it on my phone but? Haha