Reef tank cycling

[Jakeem]

Today i noticed my nitrites were at 5ppm and from what i heard was too high and it would stall the cycle with ammonia at 0.5 ppm

Oct 16
amm 1
nitrite 3

oct 17
amm 0.6
nitrite 3

oct 18
ammonia 0.7
nitrite 3.5

oct 19 (total of 7 days into cycle)
amm 0.5
nitrite 5

The question is should i do a water change to lower the nitrite and keep dosing ammonia?

 

[allendehl]

How are you cycling it? Did you dose a one time ammonia? Raw shrimp?

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[Jakeem]

i used the raw shrimp method for two days and the ammonia during the two days was at its highest of 2 ppm

 

[allendehl]

Then leave it alone. It will happen as bacteria population grows up. Read every couple of days.
You can use mb7 to help. If you have some live rock then your cycle could be fairly quick.

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[Jdub968]

Ammonia @ 5 ppm and above and nitrite @5ppm and above can cause your cycle to stall it becomes toxic to the beneficial bacteria. However nitrate will not do this.

 

[F1EA]

Yep. Leave it alone. No water change.

That Nitrite spike is not going to stall any cycle. You will be getting readings as your bacteria starts handling the ammonia, then the nitrites, then nitrates. A few factors affect how quickly the bacteria develops vs how quickly your dead shrimp decomposes and releases the ammonia.

Personally.... I'd rather feed the tank daily with fish food as if there were fish in it instead of dropping a dead animal in it. Or if you're in a hurry, just dose pure ammonia from the drug store.

 

[F1EA]

i used the raw shrimp method for two days and the ammonia during the two days was at its highest of 2 ppm

By the way... This assumes you took the dead shrimp out after 2 days right?

If not... take it out

 

[allendehl]

Uh. I left mine all the way until it disappeared. Lol

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[Rover88]

If you don't have fish in the tank, or inverts, just let it ride. Once you have no ammonia and no nitrites, your cycle might be done. Wait for your diatoms!

 

[tjm9331]

after I dosed pure ammonia to 2ppm I had a nitrite spike as high as 20ppm, never stalled my cycle, I just let it go and nitrites finally started to drop and nitrates spiked, total process took about 4 weeks.

you need to let the bacteria colonize, it unfortunately takes time. What's the RC motto?...nothing good happens fast...

 

[F1EA]

Uh. I left mine all the way until it disappeared. Lol

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haha
Yeah it's not that bad. High ammonia just slows down the cycle a bit (allegedly). But once you have a bacteria population that can handle a 5-10ppm spike, you can take the source out and just feed as you would with fish to keep the bacteria from starving until you do add fish.

I think there's no need to (but also not the end of the world) keep a heavy source of ammonia decomposing in the tank.

 

[Jakeem]

So i just did a test today and ammonia dropped from 0.5 to around 0.3 ppm with nitrites still at 5 ppm. im currently hearing conflicting opinions on what to do next. hearing nitrites at 5ppm will stall the cycle and i should do a water change either that or i should just leave it alone and wait for it to drop.

What would be the next optimal move ?