Hey guys I'm need of some advice. So it's been 2 months now that I started my cycle on my 57g Deep blue tank with both dry rock and dry sand.i went fishless route and dosed ammonia until the nitrite spike which took 5 weeks to show up. Nitrite spike lasted about 1 week and I thought I was done after I tested and the Nitrite read 0. Now my first issue was before the Nitrite spike my Nitrates were reading 40ppm already and after the spike it was higher in the range of 100ppm using Salifert test kits. This was 2 weeks ago now so before I put anything in the tank I wanted to lower the nitrates and have done 40g worth of water changes. Yesterday I added a little ammonia to feed the bacteria. Also I have added Special Blend in only about 30ml to help boost the bacteria. Today I tested the water to make sure the ammonia was gone but to my surprise my parameters were .25ppm ammonia 2ppm nitrite and 100ppm nitrate. So is this tank still not cycled after 2 months? With the nitrate not going down after 40g worth of WC do I drain the tank and start over? Any advice would be much appreciated.
Need help with cycle...
- Thread starter Odysi
- Start date
mcgyvr
New member
No need to start over or do anything really..
First.. stop adding ammonia.. thats your problem in the first place.. likely too much already and the reason why your nitrates are so high..
Second.. Just start doing your water changes.
Once your nitrates are at an acceptable level depending on your goals for the tank you can start stocking..
Thats it.. Just don't expect to go from nothing to 40 fish and 200 corals overnight.. Start slowly stocking and everything will be just fine..
FYI.. There are studies showing that the bacteria can go for a year or more without any additional food intake and be just fine.. They can go into a hibernation and be just fine..
First.. stop adding ammonia.. thats your problem in the first place.. likely too much already and the reason why your nitrates are so high..
Second.. Just start doing your water changes.
Once your nitrates are at an acceptable level depending on your goals for the tank you can start stocking..
Thats it.. Just don't expect to go from nothing to 40 fish and 200 corals overnight.. Start slowly stocking and everything will be just fine..
FYI.. There are studies showing that the bacteria can go for a year or more without any additional food intake and be just fine.. They can go into a hibernation and be just fine..
