12 days of fishless cycling no change in nutrients?

[rbadred]

I've been cycling a new water box set up and added Dr tims and got my amonia up to 1.75 about 12 days ago. Since then all of my tests have been 1.75 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 0 nitrate, temp 79 and salinity 1.024. 2 days ago I added some microbacter7 which didn't have any effect as of now. I come from the planted tank community and find it incredibly odd that there has been no changes in nutrients for 12 days at 1.75 mg/L ammonia plus adding bacteria. I tested my RO/DI water and it reads all 0s. what the heck is happening with this cycle? Even without adding bacteria I would have expected to see some sort of change, even if minor, in 12 days. Should i just start over?

 

[LandLockedJones]

What size is your tank?

Also curious if you have a sand bed? Are you using dry rock? Or wet rock from an lfs?

 

[LandLockedJones]

I don’t think you should start over, you are already 12 days in.

I believe microbacter7 takes 4-6 weeks when used alone. It goes faster if you add their other product Start XLM. But I haven’t used it.

I’m not sure about the dr Tim’s products I just ordered my first bottle yesterday.

If you are using dry rock and sand, or no sand. The process will be slower if you are not adding something organic. Which will break down and produce ammonia over time. Known as ghost feeding. It takes time for things to degrade into nutrients.

If you haven’t done this, that is what is stalling the process. You can add a piece of live rock from your lfs to speed up the process.

dosing ammonia to the tank daily is another option. And what a lot of the more experienced people will do. But I cannot give you specifics because I haven’t done it.

 

[rbadred]

I don’t think you should start over, you are already 12 days in.

I believe microbacter7 takes 4-6 weeks when used alone. It goes faster if you add their other product Start XLM. But I haven’t used it.

I’m not sure about the dr Tim’s products I just ordered my first bottle yesterday.

If you are using dry rock and sand, or no sand. The process will be slower if you are not adding something organic. Which will break down and produce ammonia over time. Known as ghost feeding. It takes time for things to degrade into nutrients.

If you haven’t done this, that is what is stalling the process. You can add a piece of live rock from your lfs to speed up the process.

dosing ammonia to the tank daily is another option. And what a lot of the more experienced people will do. But I cannot give you specifics because I haven’t done it.

I did ghost feed in the beginning and a few times after to make sure there was at least some phosphate in the water for the bacteria. I don't want to add more ammonia until I start to see it go down at least slightly.

 

[rbadred]

What size is your tank?

Also curious if you have a sand bed? Are you using dry rock? Or wet rock from an lfs?

It's a water box 35.2. 20 lbs of sand and 20ish lbs of dry rock. Also some media in the back chamber to increase surface area for the bacteria.

 

[rbadred]

Here's a pic of the setup.

 

[LandLockedJones]

That is going to be an awesome tank, I love your aquascape.

The only bacteria in the system so far is that out of the bottle it’s just gonna take more time.

But since you added some organics to break down, pretty soon you will start seeing ammonia rise rather than fall.

Which is good, you need ammonia, otherwise your bacteria has nothing to eat. Eventually the bacteria colonizes inside the rock and sand and will be able to process any ammonia added to the tank.

But without a constant source of ammonia aka:fish waste, this does take time.

 

[LandLockedJones]

Start xlm is the product used alongside microbacter to speed up the process without adding fish. It provides a food source for the bacteria.

The food you added in the beginning will do the same thing eventually. It just takes longer to break down.

 

[rbadred]

Start xlm is the product used alongside microbacter to speed up the process without adding fish. It provides a food source for the bacteria.

The food you added in the beginning will do the same thing eventually. It just takes longer to break down.

Thanks, I'll see if my LFS has that. I did get the Dr. Tims shipped from Amazon a few weeks ago and I'm in the northern US. I'm wondering if it froze.

 

[taricha]

This fits with what I have seen. Dr Tims can be a very slow starter (it's been like 12-18 days for me), and MB7 may show no nitrification at all.

The color groupings are arbitrary, and the days shouldn't be taken as definitive. Changes in flow, temp, surfaces etc could make these faster. These are responses under the most restrictive conditions - simply ammonia, gently moving water, and time.

Links to data posts...
Group 1: post 45
Group 2: post 64 and post 96
Group 3: post 141

 

[rbadred]

This fits with what I have seen. Dr Tims can be a very slow starter (it's been like 12-18 days for me), and MB7 may show no nitrification at all.

I just read through the thread, and it's pretty interesting. In Dr. Tims marketing online they claim way quicker times. Kinda wish I went with another product as there are many threads on here discussing Dr Tims not working as advertised. If I add Bio-Spira tomorrow do you think it would speed things up or will the bacteria go after each other?

 

[rbadred]

This fits with what I have seen. Dr Tims can be a very slow starter (it's been like 12-18 days for me), and MB7 may show no nitrification at all.

Not trying to wait 36-47 days to see ammonia clear lol

 

[taricha]

If I add Bio-Spira tomorrow do you think it would speed things up or will the bacteria go after each other?

They'll be just fine. The slower one may not get a chance to expand in population if the faster type clears ammonia first, but that's the only way they'd "fight"