Cycling

[VentingFish]

I started my cycle about 2-4 weeks ago my ammonia levels at sitting at 0 but my nitrite levels are 5ppm and have been for the passed couple days. Should i do a water change should i leave it am I ready to add fish, should i just leave it ? I used dry rock and added turbo start 900 on day 2

 

[Azedenkae]

I started my cycle about 2-4 weeks ago my ammonia levels at sitting at 0 but my nitrite levels are 5ppm and have been for the passed couple days. Should i do a water change should i leave it am I ready to add fish, should i just leave it ? I used dry rock and added turbo start 900 on day 2

Surprised your nitrite is not changing, given you used FritzZyme Turbo Start 900.

How much ammonia did you dose to begin with?

Nitrite is non-lethal to marine fish unless it reaches super duper extremely high levels, but it'd still be good to know if there is something wrong with the nitrite test anyways.

 

[brandon429]

the cycle is done, you can reef fully. searches here will show nitrite no longer matters in reefing

900 is the best stuff as well. ready here.

fun fact: try and search out a failed cycle using Fritz 900

meaning one where they could not reef instantly, right when adding the bac

try to imagine being the first person online that happens to, here...chances % you are cycled is inverse to how many fails you can find online. thats another really neat way of cycling reefs...everyone mentions ways you might not be ready, but can we find a single example online of that condition>

 

[beaslbob]

Before I cycled with macro algae, nitrItes would peg the test kit at 5ppm. The first time that happened I kept feeding the single fish and nitrItes lasted for over a month. When I stopped feeding the fish, about a week later nitrItes dropped to unmeasurable in a couple of days and remained there after I resumed adding fish.

So on later tanks I simply did not add food to the tank and nitrItes pegged then dropped down in a few days.

my .02

 

[VentingFish]

Surprised your nitrite is not changing, given you used FritzZyme Turbo Start 900.

How much ammonia did you dose to begin with?

Nitrite is non-lethal to marine fish unless it reaches super duper extremely high levels, but it'd still be good to know if there is something wrong with the nitrite test anyways.

I never dosed ammonia i just add pinchs of fish food my ammonia level was really high For the first week then . I have yet to do a water change yet. Whats considered super high levels

 

[brandon429]

try and find a single failed fritz cycle, post here if possible as the pages build. it doesnt matter how you began or what level any param is in your tank

 

[VentingFish]

try and find a single failed fritz cycle, post here if possible as the pages build. it doesnt matter how you began or what level any param is in your tank

Thanks i think im going to do a water change. And add fish when im off

 

[Azedenkae]

I never dosed ammonia i just add pinchs of fish food my ammonia level was really high For the first week then . I have yet to do a water change yet. Whats considered super high levels

Ah gotcha, yeah that nitrite reading makes sense then, probably just decreasing at the moment. I presume you are using the API test kit, which maxes out at 5ppm. So even if nitrite was decreasing, you probably would not be able to see it (since whether it's 5 or 10ppm will still read as 5ppm anyways).

As for super high levels, something like 100ppm or so probably, depending on the marine fish. Though one scientific study did recommend keeping nitrite below 25ppm for ocellaris clownfish to prevent disease. The thing is it's generally pretty hard to reach that level, though in your case with such a high amount of ammonia produced, there is a chance you got pretty close.

 

[brandon429]

thats disease time though

so the tank can carry bioload agreed

but in the fish disease forum, especially with new white rock systems, we see that disease prep is simply required for success. Whats your fish disease plan, even though that tank can carry four fish / behavior permitting etc

 

[VentingFish]

Ah gotcha, yeah that nitrite reading makes sense then, probably just decreasing at the moment. I presume you are using the API test kit, which maxes out at 5ppm. So even if nitrite was decreasing, you probably would not be able to see it (since whether it's 5 or 10ppm will still read as 5ppm anyways).

As for super high levels, something like 100ppm or so probably, depending on the marine fish. Though one scientific study did recommend keeping nitrite below 25ppm for ocellaris clownfish to prevent disease. The thing is it's generally pretty hard to reach that level, though in your case with such a high amount of ammonia produced, there is a chance you got pretty close.

Then should i progress as normal. Do a water change and add fish?

 

[VentingFish]

thats disease time though

so the tank can carry bioload agreed

but in the fish disease forum, especially with new white rock systems, we see that disease prep is simply required for success. Whats your fish disease plan, even though that tank can carry four fish / behavior permitting etc

Disease plan? What do you mean sorry still really new to the hobbie

 

[Azedenkae]

Then should i progress as normal. Do a water change and add fish?

Personally, I'd test my tank's nitrification capacity, even when using something proven like FritzZyme TurboStart 900. I'd dose 2ppm ammonia (or at least 1ppm ammonia, that works too, but 2ppm is better) and see if that can be fully consumed within 24 hours. If so, that shows a robust ammonia-oxidation capacity by nitrifiers.

I personally also like to see nitrite-oxidation capacities to be robust too, though in that case it'd be seeing ammonia and nitrite both reduce to 0 within 24 hours of ammonia addition, but that means waiting for your nitrite to reduce to 0 first, or a 100% water change to get rid of (almost all) the nitrite that is currently in the tank before testing your nitrification capacity.

 

[VentingFish]

Personally, I'd test my tank's nitrification capacity, even when using something proven like FritzZyme TurboStart 900. I'd dose 2ppm ammonia (or at least 1ppm ammonia, that works too, but 2ppm is better) and see if that can be fully consumed within 24 hours. If so, that shows a robust ammonia-oxidation capacity by nitrifiers.

I personally also like to see nitrite-oxidation capacities to be robust too, though in that case it'd be seeing ammonia and nitrite both reduce to 0 within 24 hours of ammonia addition, but that means waiting for your nitrite to reduce to 0 first, or a 100% water change to get rid of (almost all) the nitrite that is currently in the tank before testing your nitrification capacity.

Gotcha. Would i just buy ammonia in a
bottle or something along those lines ?

 

[brandon429]

Fish Disease Treatment and Diagnosis

A forum for discussing treatment and diagnosing saltwater reef fish.

www.reef2reef.com

you will need to study there, quick glance won't work for this investment coming up

notice these patterns:

what is the rate of new threads each day, watch it for daily trends. are they stagnant or busy needing help with disease in largely new tanks under 8 mos old? did any of the reefs posting there for disease help start out skipping disease preps or are those posts of failed attempts disease preps


what are the methods offered in sticky at the top, why would those be there given the other options we read about like garlic food to prevent ich. why is that not anywhere to be found in that whole forum


what methods are used to correct fish disease there, page after page

what are the ways they prep new tanks using fallow and quarantine?

have fun, you paid extra for that expensive bottle bac because it works no matter what you do or withheld.


2-4 weeks time meets the ammonia control line from a cycling chart, independent of the fritz added. fritz gets all surfaces ready in a day or two off natural ammonia acquisition, you dont have to add anything. it'd be different if you did a quick full water change but its sat there, adhering, for a month.

disease prep time

 

[Azedenkae]

Gotcha. Would i just buy ammonia in a
bottle or something along those lines ?

Yeah, something like Dr. Tim's ammonium chloride. It should not really cost too much iirc.