Dr Tim's Question

[dmbfreek]

Hello, I had a quick question about cycling with Dr Tim's one and only and ammonia. I added the whole bottle of one and only and the recommended 4 drops per gallon of ammonia, equaling roughly 120 drops in my 38g tank. I've been testing my levels daily and My ammonia immediately spiked the day after adding the drops to 4.0 and hasn't dropped. Today (day 7 since dosing) and ammonia is still at 4.0 and nitrite is 2.0, nitrate is 20. My question is should I just wait it out and see if the ammonia drops or do a water change? I've only added the ammonia drops day one and none since. I've seen youtube video's of people using this stuff and after a few days the ammonia levels are down.
Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[hunterallen40]

Hello, I had a quick question about cycling with Dr Tim's one and only and ammonia. I added the whole bottle of one and only and the recommended 4 drops per gallon equaling roughly 120 drops in my 38g tank. I've been testing my levels daily and My ammonia immediately spiked the day after adding the drops to 4.0 and hasn't dropped. Today (day 7 since dosing) and ammonia is still at 4.0 and nitrite is 2.0, nitrate is 20. My question is should I just wait it out and see if the ammonia drops or do a water change? I've only added the ammonia drops day one and none since. I've seen youtube video's of people using this stuff and after a few days the ammonia levels are down.
Any advice would be appreciated.

You added the whole bottle of ammonia, or the whole bottle of bacteria?

 

[dmbfreek]

You added the whole bottle of ammonia, or the whole bottle of bacteria?

The bacteria. 120 drops of ammonia

 

[hunterallen40]

The bacteria. 120 drops of ammonia

Ok, good. I was very confused by your wording.

I don't think it's a problem to dump the whole bottle in, but I do think it's meant to be dosed over a few days. I would grab a bottle of the bacteria and follow the recommended dose.

Frankly, though, I haven't used Dr. Tim's one and only. My go-to bacteria is fritz turbo start. That stuff works GREAT.

 

[Raineforrest]

I am cycling 2 tanks right now with Dr Tim's bacteria and ammonia. I followed the directions for the first tank and had the same problem. I tried half the suggested dose for the second tank and still had higher than wanted ammonia levels. They have since both dropped to 0. Just wait it out and it will happen.

 

[Raineforrest]

It took my tanks approximately 24 days to drop to 0.

 

[dmbfreek]

It took my tanks approximately 24 days to drop to 0.

Well that makes me feel a lot better. Thanks!

 

[hunterallen40]

Well that makes me feel a lot better. Thanks!

Definitely +1 for patience. Wishing you luck on you get going!

Also, wanted to welcome you to Reef2reef! You are certainly in the right place!

 

[dmbfreek]

Definitely +1 for patience. Wishing you luck on you get going!

Also, wanted to welcome you to Reef2reef! You are certainly in the right place!

Thanks!

 

[Raineforrest]

Well that makes me feel a lot better. Thanks!

You're welcome! I was a little worried as well. I think the directions are way off for getting the ammonia to a 2.0. I also didn't think to account for the space taken up by sand and rock. So my 75 gallon is probably in reality holding 50 gallons of water.

I'm a little over a month in now and I'm still waiting for the nitrites to get down to 0. I'm thinking maybe about two more weeks. I had to stop worrying about it and only test about every 5 days. Also, i read that as long as there are nitrites in the water the nitrate test will be inaccurate. So I'm just testing nitrites for now.

 

[taricha]

Today (day 7 since dosing) and ammonia is still at 4.0 and nitrite is 2.0, nitrate is 20

Nitrite being produced is telling you that the nitrifying bacteria is doing the job.
If ammonia is high, it's hard to see a small change. The nitrite production is detectable first.