Newbie Fishless Cycle Question

[mpatient]

Hi all,

Re-entering the world of reef aquaria after 20 years and boy things have changed! (For the better). I am just midway through Week 4 of a fishless cycle using Dr. Tim's ammonia. I have a 32g BioCube, with Intank refugium and media basket. I am currently only running with filter floss and cheato in the fuge, and no lights. I seem to be stuck in the nitrite cycle. For the last 2 weeks or so my nitrites have been off the charts, and ammonia is at zero. Now my Ph is sky high. I used RO/DI premixed saltwater from my LFS and test daily. I have been dosing ammonia to 2ppm every two days and it is always back to zero by the next day. When I say 2ppm, I mean the dosage is for 2ppm, not that I wait for the test to read 2ppm. I have been using the notorious API tests; however, I have the Salifert coming in tomorrow. My question if the new tests show the same or near the same readings, do I continue to dose every couple of days or do I let it sit and wait. Do I need to do a partial water change. I am reading so many differing opinions, and I really don't want to extend this cycle. If I am doing anything incorrectly. let me know!

 

[mcgyvr]

STOP dosing all that ammonia..
Throw the bottle away....

That 100% your problem..

You dose it up a few times MAX...
NOT every 2 days for a month..

Again... STOP dosing ammonia..
Throw bottle out..
Once ammonia and nitrite are zero tank is cycled and you can start adding stuff slowly..
Note its highly likely that you will need to perform multiple large water changes to get the nitrate reading down before you add anything because you have overdosed so much ammonia..

And one more time... Do NOT add anymore ammonia or anything else.

 

[lapin]

Ditto

 

[tjm9331]

I agree with mcgyvr STOP dosing ammonia

This happened to me when I used Dr. Tims, I thought I had to keep dosing ammonia as well but I only added for 2 weeks not a month it took some time for the nitrites to finally come down I think it was about another 3 weeks after my last dose of ammonia.

Whats happened is you've dosed so much ammonia that its created an over abundance of nitrites and the bacteria colony is no where near large enough to handle it, let the bacteria catch up and you should be good.

And yes you will need to do several water changes to get nitrates down, I think I ended up changing 50 gallons out of my 75 in order to get my nitrates to a manageable level.

 

[Rover88]

Agreed with the above.

On the plus side? You are gearing your tank up to have a SUPER colony of bacteria able to handle a big bioload right up front

But in all seriousness, go nice and slow with adding livestock. Nothing good happens fast.

 

[mcgyvr]

Since no one has said it so far..
STOP DOSING AMMONIA

 

[mpatient]

I had a great idea to stop dosing ammonia. I am glad I thought of it!

All seriousness, I have stopped dosing, and will continue to wait and see.

No water changed until after the cycle, correct?

 

[mcgyvr]

I had a great idea to stop dosing ammonia. I am glad I thought of it!

All seriousness, I have stopped dosing, and will continue to wait and see.

No water changed until after the cycle, correct?

Yes stopping dosing ammonia sounds like a great idea..
Glad to see that you have gained such knowledge after only 1 post here..


While other may disagrees (some feel it prolongs the cycle.. oops.. too late for that with you ) you can absolutely do a water change if you want now to get ahead of the game..
Most of the beneficial bacteria is already clinging to the surfaces inside the tank and little is free floating in the water. You aren't going to remove a ton of beneficial bacteria by doing so.. Changing water at this point is only going to serve to help drop those nitrites some and help "refresh" the water.

I would likely do a good 10g change now and then just sit back and wait and monitor parameters every couple days.. Once nitrites and ammonia hits zero then you can test for nitrates and see where you are at and do water changes to drop that down.. Then SLOWLY start stocking the tank...

Have you turned the lights on yet?
Doing so can kickstart the "ugly stages" (diatom growth, green film/hair algae and even cyanobacteria and usually in that order)..

Typically one starts with a "clean up crew" of snails,etc.. to start to clean up the diatoms,etc.. which will pass also after like a few weeks or so provided you just keep up with regular 20% or so water changes every other week.. Or 10% weekly,etc...

 

[thegrun]

I agree with the water change. Normally I don't recommend water changes during the cycle but when either the ammonia or nitrite levels get 8 ppm it tends to slow down the cycle. You can dilute your test water sample by 50% with ro/di water to get a ballpark idea of just how high your nitrites are when you test so you can estimate just how big a water change you need to make to get the nitrites below 8ppm, but I suspect it will need to be at least a 50% water change. Also if anyone hasn't already mentioned it, stop dosing ammonia.

 

[mpatient]

Good morning! Did a 10g water change yesterday (premixed RO/DI from LFS). Here are my parameters. There is improvement (hopefully this will continue). I tested Nitrite and Ammonia with Salifert and the rest with API. My remaining Salifert tests will be delivered on Wednesday. I tested with API just to see if there was movement in the opposite direction.

1. Ammonia - Salifert - 0.00 API - .25. (I'm going with 0.00) - no change
2. Nitrite - Salifert - 1.00 API - 0. (I'm going with 1.00) -1.00ppm change
3. Nitrate = API- 5.0ppm -15ppm change
4. PH - API - 7.8 -7.8 change

Hoping these stay steady and continue to decline. I will retest tomorrow.

 

[mpatient]

Oh yeah, when should I put my Puragen and Chemipur in?

 

[mcgyvr]

Oh yeah, when should I put my Puragen and Chemipur in?

Never...
Or whenever you want....Those 2 products are kind of faith based...You need to believe they are actually doing something... Save your money imo and skip them

Parameters look good report back in another week or so