Good afternoon everyone,
After 18 years since my last reef project 55g. I have now started one for our family a 24g nano jbj
I used 2 bags 40lbs of carib pink sand live sand. 30 lbs liferock and 2 lbs liverock piece
I am doing a fishless cycle using DR tims ammonium cycle with one and only nitrifying bacteria .
all 25 Gallons of water were petco imagitarium premade salt water but when i tested the salinity it pegged my hydrometer, so did a massive
30% wc with Distilled water to get my Salinity low
I started my tank however with live sand 5 days before dr tims order came in .
I tested my NH4 before i started the dr times ammonium and tested 1.0 ppm prob from live sand as he stated
temp 82f
salinity 1.20
So i halved the drops per gallon of dr tims ammonium to get to 2.0 ppm and dumped entire small bottle of One and Only
and tested next day and sure enough got to 2 ppm. NH4
day 3 tested and ammonia was 1.0 NH4 nitrite was .5 so per instructions added drops but my dropper was uncontrollably oozing out with a tilt so tried to measure to 2ppm. but tested next day just to see and was 4 ppm NH4 and 2 ppm nitrite .
waited till day 5 and tested and same NH4 4+ ppm. nitrite 2+ ppm. using API test kits
reading DR tims about issues with excess Ammonium. checked PH was 7.0 and realized when i mixed in the Distilled water from walmart that ph was 5.0 so did a 5 gallon water change with Reef crystals salt mix RODI water now " that came in later in week and using that for all WC and top off
used a PH buffer to get PH 8.0 + again to get bacteria to cycling .
That was 4 days ago and since then now my NH4 is 0 and my Nitrite is 5ppm and has been since last sunday 1-29 i have done 3, 5 gallon water changes to get it to lower and made no difference, tested it today and NH4 0 ppm nitrite 5ppm dark purple.
Dr tims is pointing to a stalled out cycle using too much ammonium. others i see say wait it out dont do any WC anymore and wait for nitrite to fall and will happen fast. I wanted to use DR tims method to get fish in asap kids are impatient lol but know the waiting game.
What should i do?
Thanks in advance
After 18 years since my last reef project 55g. I have now started one for our family a 24g nano jbj
I used 2 bags 40lbs of carib pink sand live sand. 30 lbs liferock and 2 lbs liverock piece
I am doing a fishless cycle using DR tims ammonium cycle with one and only nitrifying bacteria .
all 25 Gallons of water were petco imagitarium premade salt water but when i tested the salinity it pegged my hydrometer, so did a massive
30% wc with Distilled water to get my Salinity low
I started my tank however with live sand 5 days before dr tims order came in .
I tested my NH4 before i started the dr times ammonium and tested 1.0 ppm prob from live sand as he stated
temp 82f
salinity 1.20
So i halved the drops per gallon of dr tims ammonium to get to 2.0 ppm and dumped entire small bottle of One and Only
and tested next day and sure enough got to 2 ppm. NH4
day 3 tested and ammonia was 1.0 NH4 nitrite was .5 so per instructions added drops but my dropper was uncontrollably oozing out with a tilt so tried to measure to 2ppm. but tested next day just to see and was 4 ppm NH4 and 2 ppm nitrite .
waited till day 5 and tested and same NH4 4+ ppm. nitrite 2+ ppm. using API test kits
reading DR tims about issues with excess Ammonium. checked PH was 7.0 and realized when i mixed in the Distilled water from walmart that ph was 5.0 so did a 5 gallon water change with Reef crystals salt mix RODI water now " that came in later in week and using that for all WC and top off
used a PH buffer to get PH 8.0 + again to get bacteria to cycling .
That was 4 days ago and since then now my NH4 is 0 and my Nitrite is 5ppm and has been since last sunday 1-29 i have done 3, 5 gallon water changes to get it to lower and made no difference, tested it today and NH4 0 ppm nitrite 5ppm dark purple.
Dr tims is pointing to a stalled out cycle using too much ammonium. others i see say wait it out dont do any WC anymore and wait for nitrite to fall and will happen fast. I wanted to use DR tims method to get fish in asap kids are impatient lol but know the waiting game.
What should i do?
Thanks in advance