Nitrates won't rise???

[cracker]

Evening , This 75 is stuck on the cycle. I can't get the nitrates (No3) to rise above a 5. A brief history,
I set this tank up in November last year. I put 40lbs of dry base and 40lbs of Lr from my 220. I had this LR in the refugium. I fed it shrimp heads every so often. Here was my mistake. I didn't test. Then in Febuary I put the rock in a barrel for about 2 weeks. I changed the overflow. So late Feb. I put it all back together and started testing. I never saw any am or trites. only nitrates. In the beginning I got a trate reading of 2 A couple weeks later I got a <3 then weeks later I got a 5. so now weeks again I'm stuck at 5. The whole time feeding small bait shrimps. Now I'm 2nd guessing myself and not sure what to do?

 

[CStrickland]

It could be that you've got a good population of de-nitrifiying bacteria going, and they are clearing the trates as fast as they are produced. You don't need a certain amount of trates to be "cycled" anyway, they usually come but it's more about the ammonia.

One way people test their cycle is to add ammonia and see how long it takes to clear the ammo and nitrites. You have to buy ammonia without any soap or perfume added though. It's a pretty common trick, I've never done it but you should be able to find some threads with instructions, or somebody else will pop in with step-by-step.

I bet you're ready to start stocking the tank. Nice setup btw

 

[Dice750]

Sounds like your tank is already cycled. If you're reading nitrates but not ammonia nor nitrite, then I'd say you're good to go.

 

[cracker]

Thank You Gent's for the reply's