Cycling day 4: ammonia drops but no nitrite or nitrate

[ajb55]

I'm probably being impatient but I am curious to hear what you guys think.

I am on day 3 of my fishless cycle, with microbacter7 (daily) and an LFS ammonia chloride concoction . 20 gallon redsea max nano cube.

Day 1 I dosed ammonia to 2.0 ppm and the directed amount of microbacter7.

Day 2 ammonia dropped to 1.0 ppm, dosed another recommended dose of microbacter7. No nitrites.

Day 3 ammonia down to 0.5 ppm. No nitrites. Dosed to 2.0 ppm ammonia and another cap full of microbacter7.

Day 4 dosed back to 2.0 ppm ammonia. No nitrite no nitrate. Another cap full of microbacter7.

Currently only have heater and return pump (with sponge) running. Filter sock replaced with cup and 6 biospheres. Also have a bag of ceramic biomedia in the bottom of the sump. I wanted to maximize my biological filtration as much as possible since I only have about 12 pounds of dry liferock and a full 20 lb bag of aragalive special grade live sand.

Red seal Blue bucket mixed to 1.025, also topping off a lot daily.

Any feedback or suggestions greatly appreciated!!

 

[KrisReef]

These things happen all the time.
Either the ammonia evaporated or
The NO2 & NO3 test kits are not functioning properly or
THe live sand is eating the NO2 & NO3 and you should be seeing small bubbles coming from the sand?

There are probably other possibilities, perhaps the MB7 bacteria or the chemicals in the mixture are causing N02 & NO3 to be consumed, similar to the sand theory of natural recycling or there are binders for the NO's (Nose?) that confound the test kits?

I would quit adding ammonia and when it hits non-detect, or bottoms out toward zero (the kits can struggle to get to zero) or in 6 more days (according to Brandon) you should do a water change and get started with livestock with gills.

I swear they make these test kits and products inconclusive just to mess with folks getting started. Sorry.

 

[ajb55]

I did see a bunch of bubbles between day 1-2 but looked more like it was coming from the rock, not sand. I am testing twice a day with API kit. Maybe it's time to get familiar with the Hanna multi checker that I splurged on a little too soon.

I assumed that if ammonia is decreasing then I should show nitrates at the very least.

I also feel like I should just dump a ton of the microbacter7 in since I have so much "area" of biological filtration.

 

[KrisReef]

I did see a bunch of bubbles between day 1-2 but looked more like it was coming from the rock, not sand. I am testing twice a day with API kit. Maybe it's time to get familiar with the Hanna multi checker that I splurged on a little too soon.

I assumed that if ammonia is decreasing then I should show nitrates at the very least.

I also feel like I should just dump a ton of the microbacter7 in since I have so much "area" of biological filtration.

Lots of people dose MB7 with the idea of keeping the tank clean by microbial activity. I don't think it is a good idea to dump it in, as I have seen ungodly bacterial blooms from doing that. Follow the instructions, at least!

Also, the surface area will get covered by growth of the bacteria already present, naturally without additional dosing. Bacteria do it more often and faster than rabbits.

 

[ajb55]

Would switching to dr. Tims one and only mess up my cycle? Also Dr. Tims says to use whole bottle at once. As long as I keep the ammonium chloride below 5 ppm, I expect that it should be alright to continue with the DR. Tims method. Thoughts?