Issues Cycling with Fritz Turbo 900

[mahi03]

Display Tank: 80g, Sump 30g
Water: 5-stage RODI + Instant Ocean Reef Crystals, Salinity 1.025
Rock: 70lbs dry
Bottom: Bare

60 days ago I ordered my first 4oz bottle of Fritz Turbo 900 from a LFS (for delivery). However, I let it sit in 60 degree temp for a week before adding it to the display. Roller Mat is off, return pump is on. It was added together with the approparite dosage of Dr. Tim's Ammonia Chloride. 10 days later, my amonia readings were still 2.0ppm.

I thought perhaps I let the bottle sit too long unrefrigerated so I ordered a new bottle from AlgaeBarn. As soon as the bottle arrived I added it to the display. 10 days later, ammonia still read 2.0ppm. Nitrite 0ppm, Nitrate 0ppm, Alkilinity 9.3, PH 8.0.

Fritz customer service sent me a replacement bottle (delivered to me by the same LFS as the first order). I added it to the display tank within an hour of delivery. 4 days later, I'm still reading ammonia at 2.0ppm.

Are all the bottles duds? Or, is there something else possibly going on with my water that could be killing off the bacteria? Is there a way to test for this?

The tank was brand new setup.

 

[brandon429]

In no way do I believe the test kit. Let's see the tank pic... looking for evidence of small details we sometimes see in second month update pics/ what kind of test kit is it

There aren't any cycling charts from books with sixty day ammonia drop lines for example. There's no precedent other than common hobby test kit errors to explain no action in sixty days. The rest of the posters are likely to believe the kit, and doubt your two bottles of cycling bac as reported to do so. Not me, that's not a calibrated seneye nh3 meter giving that readout, as a starting bet.

 

[mahi03]

API marine test kit. Pics of tank attached. Dry rock is still white, not much on glass, water is a little cloudy.

 

[brandon429]

That color green we routinely see in cycled tanks using that kit. It can vary tank to tank and usually varies greatly, we know api misleads per searches.

Ability to carry fish if added won't be a challenge for a double dose fritz system. You need to pick a disease protocol to run... that's what controls what fish you add, and when. The cycle here is long since done
That's not an unusual api color I have it in several threads even darker on systems where we had precision verification kits to check the api reading.

 

[brandon429]

The way to make use of the system where you're at: change water, run some highly rinsed activated carbon pellets in a canister filter to get clarity

All the extra dosing has hazed the water and glass surfaces in a common biofilm. Once all that is clean, simply proceed with your chosen disease protocol
The cycle isn't an issue any more at day sixty, that's a firm firm rule in updated cycling science. As soon as you reported day sixty after dosing fritz, we move past the cycle and into disease preps. Especially when api is the denying factor.

 

[mahi03]

Appreciate the feedback. The only concern I have is that I haven’t seen a spike in nitrites or nitrates.

Is there another ammonia test you’d recommend I pick up just to be certain of cycle status?

 

[brandon429]

I can't recommend any, because the only one you and I can rely on for accuracy in this thread is a $190 seneye-but I can't recommend someone buy a meter to prove a cycle is done on day 60 bc they're done by day ten, much less sixty.

This is fifty straight pages of fixing cycles exactly like yours, the difference is we're using updated methods

Ironically, the new methods don't factor nitrite or nitrate (at all) and for ammonia we're not testing-》 we are using # of days the tank had water and bac and feed in it, to know when bacteria are ready

We count to day ten, the claim they're ready, here's the results:

How to unstick any seemingly stuck cycle

Updated Cycling Science in Action This is a testless reef tank cycling thread, the only one from any board. If you ever had trouble with reef tank cycling in the past, you won't any longer after working some jobs with us. chances are you are using/about to use a method of reef tank cycling...

www.reef2reef.com

The grand summary of new vs old cycling science and how it impacts your new tank:

We don't need you to test to know when your cycle is done, you just input twice over the best cycling bacteria we have access to. It can carry an entire reef tank full of life on day one (we have myriad examples handy, some are in that thread above) but it's had two months to seat into place (hence the minor clouding)

You can't not be cycled.

Only fish disease is your challenge, what to select, when to add, how to avoid instant total tank contamination by adding pet store animals with no preps

Your cycle is long done

For sure you can buy any alternate ammonia kit, and if it doesn't agree: the kit is wrong

that's why I can't recommend you use testing to know about your cycle. If you buy a cheap alt test and it agrees, that's lucky, but the fish will still die in all likelihood within eight months from skipping preps. All of this info comes from that thread we've been working for four years.

The cycle isn't a risk, it doesn't fail in home reef settings

The hidden thing you have to worry, plan, and plan some more are the biological controls that mitigate fish disease, it's coming without a doubt.

You can't imagine how hard it will be to stop/ control disease as you begin stocking the tank. By adding fish first, which we're trained to do, a big big big hidden problem develops soon afterward/ take a week of reading only new help posts in the disease forum if you want to get a hint of what's coming

You can find out how old someone's tank is by reading their post details, history etc. When you spend enough research time you'll see an amazing trend by month 8 for anyone following old cycling science rules

We were never trained that fish disease preps begin at cycling, because that's the start of all vectoring for your tank. Old cycling rules never told us ammonia is so predictable, we can assign your cycle completion date before the tank is even built (done several times in the example link)
and we don't need to test for it, because home reef tanks cycle in a similar timeline. Old cycling science is designed to sell us copious bottles of bacteria $$ when we didn't need to

It's why you bought the second bottle, old cycling science caused that. We'd have never...

 

[Duane family]

A huge factor is the lack of substrate, there is a significant amount of activity and filtration which occurs in the substrate which you are missing out on. Everything regarding water stability will take alot longer with a bare bottom system.