Tank cycling Advice - fluval edge 6g

[zzmorganzz]

Hi everyone,

Could really do with some advice , I have set up my first tank which is a fluval edge 6gallon. It has been cycling now for about 12days , I used dry live rock (which I bleached and washed and let dry for a few months) as well as live sand. All my readings are through the roof and have been the same since day 2 ( see photos) so I'm guessing there was still a lot of die off from the rock. I am happy to wait for as long as it takes to cycle as I know patience is key in this hobby but just want to make sure I shouldn't be doing anything else (water changes or anything) or if my cycle is actually stalling as everything is so sky high. I haven't added anything to the tank other than rock , live sand , pre mixed salt water from my Lfs and a couple of days ago some sponges in my filter from my friends established tank. Any advice would be much appreciated , Thank you

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[ahuaia]

I would recommend a water change it's normal for readings to be off but when there that crazy it makes it hard for your beneficial bacteria to take hold also with smaller tanks I would recommend using bio spira when you add a fish since one fish makes a huge difference in such a small tank it will help keep the tank from crashing when you add your first livestock. You could even add it now to speed up the cycle if you wanted . Usually you don't do water changes during the cycle but your peramiters are way off

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[ReefWreak]

What did you add to cycle the tank? If you used a lot of ammonia (or a large piece of food, or a lot of flakes, or something) to cycle the tank, it could just take a long time to cycle it out.

Once you have nitrates building, IMO that means that the tank is "cycled", so you can start doing water changes to bring all of the levels down, and as the ammonia gets lowered, you'll see it naturally come down to 0 and the nitrate levels to continue building and get removed as you do more water changes. The important thing is that you don't have high ammonia and 0 nitrate. Once nitrate shows, you're cycled. You just want to bring levels down before you start adding inhabitants.

I would also recommend turning that light off while cycling so you don't get much more algae growth. Once ammonia is 0 and nitrates start coming down, you can turn the light on and add a clean up crew who will eat the algae, poop, make more ammonia, and keep the normal tank cycle going.

 

[zzmorganzz]

What did you add to cycle the tank? If you used a lot of ammonia (or a large piece of food, or a lot of flakes, or something) to cycle the tank, it could just take a long time to cycle it out.

Once you have nitrates building, IMO that means that the tank is "cycled", so you can start doing water changes to bring all of the levels down, and as the ammonia gets lowered, you'll see it naturally come down to 0 and the nitrate levels to continue building and get removed as you do more water changes. The important thing is that you don't have high ammonia and 0 nitrate. Once nitrate shows, you're cycled. You just want to bring levels down before you start adding inhabitants.

I would also recommend turning that light off while cycling so you don't get much more algae growth. Once ammonia is 0 and nitrates start coming down, you can turn the light on and add a clean up crew who will eat the algae, poop, make more ammonia, and keep the normal tank cycle going.

I didn't add anything that's the thing no ammonia , no food , it must be die off from the rocks . The thing is there's high everything , ammonia , nitrite and nitrate ? So not really sure how to proceed , whether to just let it do it's thing and wait or to do water changes as everything is just sky high .

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[ReefWreak]

If it's just die-off from the rocks still being an issue, then I'd just keep doing water changes. I think Purigen also absorbs ammonia, which you may need if it is leaching out of the rocks, and it isn't biological matter/breakdown.

I'm surprised that there is still die-off from the rocks if they've been outside for a long time, but I guess that could be it if it was never thoroughly scraped off/scraped out. According to the rock "cooking" thread, people usually use bleach first, then de-chlorinate it, then do a muriatic acid bath, then neutralize it, then let it air dry. Check this thread out for the "official" way of doing it. Maybe the remaining organics is why they do the muriatic acid bath.

 

[LuizW13]

I'm surprised you still have all that ammonia. I started with Dry rock and live sand in my 25 gallon, I didn't cure my rock, i just bathed it for a week. My system cycled in 11 days. I did two things you didn't- feed the tank, which probably isn't a big difference in this case, but i also used a bacteria additive. I never saw any ammonia readings in my system.
After a week and i picked out all the little bits of food left over, and my system finished cycling.
Buy some bacteria to speed up that ammonia processing- or just wait i guess.

 

[Flsealife]

Nitrite lol battling problem. Need help

Nitrite lol battling problem. Need help

Ok guys I have nano fusion 10 setup . I have been battling a nitrite lol of 1.0 for 5 1/2 months straight now . Store and alot of other people have been stump about it . I have karin gobie , scarlet skunk shrimp , 1 hermit red leg crab , 1 long testicle sea anmmone , 1 common purple sea urchin, and 2 zebra turbo snails in tank. Every week 35% water change and 45ml of special blend complete biobacteria in a bottle every 2 weeks or twice a month . Have replace filter sock with caddy with filters designed for nano fusion 10 and 20 . Feed fish which is Mandrin gobie trigger pods 1 months abd sea annemone 1 month . Why wont my cycle complete ammonia lvl is 0 . Ph lvl is 8.0 . Why wont my nitrite lol drop? What should I do need help.

 

[Crusinjimbo]

Flsealife, it appears your bioload is significantly greater than your unidentified method of filtration. I suggest you start frequent water changes, reduce feeding volumes and repost with details on feeding habits and the filtration methods employed. Good luck.

 

[ReefWreak]

Ok guys I have nano fusion 10 setup . I have been battling a nitrite lol of 1.0 for 5 1/2 months straight now . Store and alot of other people have been stump about it . I have karin gobie , scarlet skunk shrimp , 1 hermit red leg crab , 1 long testicle sea anmmone , 1 common purple sea urchin, and 2 zebra turbo snails in tank. Every week 35% water change and 45ml of special blend complete biobacteria in a bottle every 2 weeks or twice a month . Have replace filter sock with caddy with filters designed for nano fusion 10 and 20 . Feed fish which is Mandrin gobie trigger pods 1 months abd sea annemone 1 month . Why wont my cycle complete ammonia lvl is 0 . Ph lvl is 8.0 . Why wont my nitrite lol drop? What should I do need help.

Hm. First, you need to find a new store, because they're just making money off of you.

Second, stop adding bacteria, and cut down on feeding.

Third, go return that anemone and mandarin. They will both die, and in a 10 gallon tank, that will kill everything else in the tank, guaranteed. If the mandarin eats pellets or frozen mysis, it might survive, but just barely. Feeding pods manually is very expensive, and likely a waste over the long haul.

If you are generating nitrites at this point, I'd say it's because you're feeding enough to keep the mandarin happy and anemone happy, but there isn't enough biological process to keep up with the input of food (which turn into ammonia, which turns into nitrite, which turns into nitrate, at increasing levels with each conversion).

I would feed the fishes maybe 2-3 times a week for a few weeks and anemone maybe once a week if that, and see if nitrites go down.

Also, how are you testing nitrite? It is so rarely actually a concern that I'm thinking you're using test strips which are frequently wrong, or maybe your test kit is bad. What are your nitrate levels?

If you need to speed up the nitrogen cycle (ammonia->nitrite->nitrate) you can always add in a sponge filter with an air bubbler, but that's not a good long term solution. The better long term solution is balancing your bioload for a 10 gallon tank. An anemone shouldn't be kept in under 55 gallons, though I have see it successfully done in a few 29g tanks. Anemones are challenging cnidarians to keep, but the best thing you can do for them is to give them plenty of space and water volume.

 

[winterpeg]

I have same tank been ip for almost 3 years.

I cycled but see the actual cycle. It happened so fast i blink and missed it.



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