Jumped the gun and now have a fish-in cycle

[BAMslam93]

Hi all, I'm pretty new to reefing and have been in the freshwater side of the hobby for about 7 years now. Almost a month ago, I set up a 15-gallon cube. Unfortunately, I forgot how long the nitrogen cycle lasted (I kept reading zeros across the board and was too eager lol) and ended up jumping the gun and adding astrea and nassarius snails and a skunk cleaner shrimp for part of my CUC right as my cycle started. Fortunately, I've been diligent about keeping tabs on my ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate parameters and I was finally seeing progress as my ammonia slowly dropped (averaging .25 ppm), nitrites rose (a lot, probably 1 ppm the past week), and nitrates starting showing up (5-10 ppm, yay!).

I decided to do a weekly water change yesterday and checked my parameters this morning. I noticed that my ammonia was still hovering around .25 ppm, nitrite about 0-0.25 ppm, and nitrates were 0-5 ppm. I figured the drop in nitrates is normal with the water change but I'm a little confused as to how my ammonia is still registering and nitrite is barely noticeable. I started off my cycle with Dr. Tim's One and Only and regularly dose with Stability and Prime every other day. I do use the API test kit (I know it's not super reliable but it was in my price range and I hope to get a Red Sea kit in the near future). Any advice on this mystery?

Great news is that all but two snails have survived and are thriving!

I attached photos for context: the nitrate tube from yesterday is orange and I also like to pay the tank tax so here's my tank!

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

I noticed that my ammonia was still hovering around .25 ppm, nitrite about 0-0.25 ppm, and nitrates were 0-5 ppm. I figured the drop in nitrates is normal with the water change but I'm a little confused as to how my ammonia is still registering and nitrite is barely noticeable. I started off my cycle with Dr. Tim's One and Only and regularly dose with Stability and Prime every other day. I do use the API test kit (I know it's not super reliable but it was in my price range and I hope to get a Red Sea kit in the near future). Any advice on this mystery?

-0.25 with an API ammonia kit should probably just be considered 0.0 (it's a problem a lot of people have with the kit).

-Since your ammonia is (for our intents and purposes) essentially 0 and you have both nitrite and nitrate, your tank is probably cycled (you can actually instant cycle a tank with enough bottle bacteria like Dr. Tim's).

-Nitrite can interfere with Nitrate tests and produce super high readings, so dropping nitrite (via conversion to nitrate or removal with the water change) could also help explain the drop in Nitrate. (As a note here, Nitrite isn't toxic in saltwater like it is in freshwater; most people don't bother testing it, at least not once the cycle is done).

-Prime can interfere with some tests as well, but I don't remember which or how offhand at the moment.

-Prime also is actually extremely unlikely to actually detoxify ammonia (for some interesting, heavy reading on that, see the links below):

Banggai Cardinal

I added a Banggai Cardinal to my tank 25g tank 6 days ago; it was purchased from my LFS and had been at the store for a couple of weeks. My tank has only been running for about 4-5 weeks. Since adding to the tank it has acted normal; bonded very quick with my clown pair and stays near their...

www.reef2reef.com

How toxic is ammonia, really?

In the context of trying to understand why so many people believe Seachem Prime was useful for them in an elevated ammonia situation, against the data in the link below about Prime potentially doing nothing to free ammonia in seawater, the question arises, why...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[BAMslam93]

Hi, thanks for the advice! Yeah, I figured that it was odd that my CUC was doing pretty fine even with the low amount of ammonia in the water. My nassarius snails are particularly lazy at eating the food I feed the tank and I was afraid that I'd end up spiking the ammonia with the uneaten food but it looks like they're working the graveyard shift haha.

I'll check again tomorrow and if all looks on the right track, I might get that pincushion urchin from my local LFS. Almost at my clownfish stage!

 

[ReefingDreams]

Stop the Prime. I also don't see reason to use Stability. Sounds like you're on the right track and are likely cycled. The snails likely died from starvation in a new tank and not a stalled cycle. Enjoy the tank!

 

[BAMslam93]

Stop the Prime. I also don't see reason to use Stability. Sounds like you're on the right track and are likely cycled. The snails likely died from starvation in a new tank and not a stalled cycle. Enjoy the tank!

Will do; I read through Randy's experiments rabbit hole and figured that my Prime dosing was skewing the results.

I'm definitely getting better at target feeding the astreas and shrimp on the rock with a Hikari algae wafer and adding some Seaweed Extreme and BRS Pellet Diet for everyone else every day until the ugly stage comes around. I'm also going to clip on some seaweed for the astreas surfing the glass.

Thank you, I'm excited for this journey!

 

[BAMslam93]

-0.25 with an API ammonia kit should probably just be considered 0.0 (it's a problem a lot of people have with the kit).

-Since your ammonia is (for our intents and purposes) essentially 0 and you have both nitrite and nitrate, your tank is probably cycled (you can actually instant cycle a tank with enough bottle bacteria like Dr. Tim's).

-Nitrite can interfere with Nitrate tests and produce super high readings, so dropping nitrite (via conversion to nitrate or removal with the water change) could also help explain the drop in Nitrate. (As a note here, Nitrite isn't toxic in saltwater like it is in freshwater; most people don't bother testing it, at least not once the cycle is done).

-Prime can interfere with some tests as well, but I don't remember which or how offhand at the moment.

-Prime also is actually extremely unlikely to actually detoxify ammonia (for some interesting, heavy reading on that, see the links below):

Banggai Cardinal

I added a Banggai Cardinal to my tank 25g tank 6 days ago; it was purchased from my LFS and had been at the store for a couple of weeks. My tank has only been running for about 4-5 weeks. Since adding to the tank it has acted normal; bonded very quick with my clown pair and stays near their...

www.reef2reef.com

How toxic is ammonia, really?

In the context of trying to understand why so many people believe Seachem Prime was useful for them in an elevated ammonia situation, against the data in the link below about Prime potentially doing nothing to free ammonia in seawater, the question arises, why...

www.reef2reef.com

Good morning/afternoon,

Checked out my parameters again this morning after feeding my crew last night and nothing seems to have spiked! I’m definitely going to invest in the Red Sea Marine Care kit.

Thanks all!

 

[crabgrass]

Yeah, it’s the prime. I was dosing prime a lot early on and I would always read a little ammonia on api tests