NEWBIE IN NEED OF HELP CYCLING QUESTIONS????

[NeonRabbit221B]

Once upon a time .
the old school way to cycle was dose ammonia in any of many different ways .
Fishless was my favourite as it didn’t harm livestock .
I preferred using raw shrimp from the seafood counter .
drop
Them in and wait .
ammomia didn’t start that fast , but when it was detectable , it was there .
took a few days to transform to nitrite , which took a few more days to start detecting nitrates.

When nitrates were detected higher , with 0 nitrite and ammonia , the cycle was done .
I never had patience for daily dosing or remembering to dose every day .

That being said .
if the constant dose isn’t maintained at or above 2ppm .
I don’t think it would be effective or it would take longer to transform
if a dose is forgot , I remember reading something about the bacteria dying off .

Bacteria doesn't die off in any time frame we are concerned about. For the old school shrimp method, the shrimp needs to break down and rot which adds several days onto cycle times. Also rotting shrimp smells disgusting when you pull it out.

 

[Rmckoy]

Bacteria doesn't die off in any time frame we are concerned about. For the old school shrimp method, the shrimp needs to break down and rot which adds several days onto cycle times. Also rotting shrimp smells disgusting when you pull it out.

I’ve never pulled it out ...
no idea where it went , but something ate it ..
Again ... nothing happens fast .
The longer it’s given , the better it is in the long run .

this is also 20 years ago .
I haven’t cycled a tank since .

 

[shadow_k]

+1 on api being unreliable I remember testing every week in that month and my nitrites never went down I had 0 ammonia and 20 nitrates my nitrites test was faulty using api until I took my water sample to a reliable fish store.

 

[Azedenkae]

your salinity is a little low at 1.015 usually between 1.024-1.026 is good starting point unless I’m wrong I’m still a newbie

1.015 is actually perfect for cycling, according to Dr. Tim in his MACNA talk, which not everyone knows about. Same with temp iirc. Seems like op did do a lot of research before setting out on setting up this tank.

 

[shadow_k]

1.015 is actually perfect for cycling, according to Dr. Tim in his MACNA talk, which not everyone knows about. Same with temp iirc. Seems like op did do a lot of research before setting out on setting up this tank.

You learn something new everyday lol ! I just did fritz turbo start method

 

[Elev8minh]

1.015 is actually perfect for cycling, according to Dr. Tim in his MACNA talk, which not everyone knows about. Same with temp iirc. Seems like op did do a lot of research before setting out on setting up this tank.

Lol I made sure I did a lot of research before jumping Into this hobby and this is the exact reason why I have my temp and salinity at those levels. I’ll do some testing again today and see if there are any changes.

 

[Elev8minh]

I find it weird that theres no ammonia with no nitrates. Nitrites should be ignored tbh as theyre not toxic to marine fish (only freshwater fish).

The cycling kit looks like its too much. I cycled my tank in 8 days using some bottle bac and as soon as ammonia dropped to 0 I put 2 clowns and never seen ammonia since that day (took a while for nitrites to go down but when they did they disappeared in a day).

The main issue with dosing ammonia is the high nitrates that come with it. I threw in some fish food as an ammonia source. Adding 2 ppm per day is overkill unless you plan on adding 10 fish at once. I've heard that most people these days throw in a full bottle of dr tims and throw in 2 clowns right away.

Youre doing a very good thing starting with a QT right away. I had to learn the hard way to start QTing. It'll make your journey a lot easier

Welcome to the hobby

I’ll do some test today and see where my tank parameters are at the water got even more cloudy today so we will see what the results are LOL

 

[Azedenkae]

Lol I made sure I did a lot of research before jumping Into this hobby and this is the exact reason why I have my temp and salinity at those levels. I’ll do some testing again today and see if there are any changes.

I knew it! Ahahaha. I saw the salinity and temperature and was like 'that's oddly specific... ohhhh'. But yeah, let us know how it goes.

 

[Elev8minh]

So this is what world wide corals said when I contacted them, going to listen to the pros.

 

[Azedenkae]

So this is what world wide corals said when I contacted them, going to listen to the pros.

Yeah nah I fully disagree with most of that, but up to you what you'd prefer to do.

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

Lol listen to retailers I guess, they don't have agendas. It will get you there in the long run.

 

[Elev8minh]

Yeah nah I fully disagree with most of that, but up to you what you'd prefer to do.

So I did another water test and my ammonia hit zero and nitrite and nitrate is still at zero. Idk where the ammonia is going man it’s insane I called brightwell again and he told me to dose a full amount and add some more xlm. I put 2PPM of ammonia in now. He’s stumped as well, if the ammonia drops again and i still don’t see any nitrite or nitrate I’m going to tear everything apart and scrub it all down. Maybe there is oils or something that’s causing this issue.

 

[boboyo]

So I did another water test and my ammonia hit zero and nitrite and nitrate is still at zero. Idk where the ammonia is going man it’s insane I called brightwell again and he told me to dose a full amount and add some more xlm. I put 2PPM of ammonia in now. He’s stumped as well, if the ammonia drops again and i still don’t see any nitrite or nitrate I’m going to tear everything apart and scrub it all down. Maybe there is oils or something that’s causing this issue.

That’s impossible. Maybe the ammonia bottle is faulty. Throw in a bit of fish food

 

[Elev8minh]

That’s impossible. Maybe the ammonia bottle is faulty. Throw in a bit of fish food

Lol it’s possible man... crazyyy. Once I dosed the ammonia I tested and it registers. I brought it to 2ppm now and dosed some more XLM in it. We’ll see what happens tomorrow.

 

[Azedenkae]

Lol it’s possible man... crazyyy. Once I dosed the ammonia I tested and it registers. I brought it to 2ppm now and dosed some more XLM in it. We’ll see what happens tomorrow.

Take a bunch of samples of the water and test it repeatedly across the samples. If you measure the same thing, then you know that at least the inconsistency is not from your bottles.

I had a look at a picture of your aquarium, and it seems like there is none, but figured I ask anyways - is there any algae, etc. growing that may be consuming the nitrates?

 

[boboyo]

Lol it’s possible man... crazyyy. Once I dosed the ammonia I tested and it registers. I brought it to 2ppm now and dosed some more XLM in it. We’ll see what happens tomorrow.

Ammonia HAS to become trites then trates. It’s impossible it disappears like that. If the ammonia bottle isn’t faulty, your tests are. Go to your LFS and ask them to test it for you.

what’s the expiry date on the tests and are they new? My API cycling kit is no longer good after using half the ammonia test bottles.

keep us updated with this I’m curious. I solved a salinity calibration mystery lately after buying 4 calibration juices and borrowing my friends hanna digital refractometer and finally got to the bottom of it thanks to my friend doing a phd in marine biology. Long story but if you’re curious DM me.

don’t always trust what the tests say is the conclusion. Some are good, some are bad, even some salts are bad if they’re old and give you 5dkh I stead of the advertised 9dkh.

good luck! Don’t stress it. The best way is to just wait a few more days, I remember I was testing every day when I got into it and now I’m cycling my 2nd tank and I’m not even stressing it. What kind of fish do you plan on keeping?

 

[Elev8minh]

Take a bunch of samples of the water and test it repeatedly across the samples. If you measure the same thing, then you know that at least the inconsistency is not from your bottles.

I had a look at a picture of your aquarium, and it seems like there is none, but figured I ask anyways - is there any algae, etc. growing that may be consuming the nitrates?

Man bro the crazy thing is I currently have a bare bottom qt tank that I am cycling with dr tims and the Red Sea test kit I am using to check the cycle is exactly the same kit I’m using to test my 20 cube. And it’s reading ammonia, nitrites and nitrates just fine. I just wash the glass vials with regular dawn soap dish soap and hot water. NOT the antibacterial soap. And there is zero algae just cloudy milky water my Marco rock and sand that still looks clean. I AM STUMPED MAN

 

[Garf]

If you’ve got your lights on, turn them off. The cloudiness maybe a Phyto bloom. Although it’s not green to you, it maybe, therefore consuming ammonia directly.

 

[Elev8minh]

Ammonia HAS to become trites then trates. It’s impossible it disappears like that. If the ammonia bottle isn’t faulty, your tests are. Go to your LFS and ask them to test it for you.

what’s the expiry date on the tests and are they new? My API cycling kit is no longer good after using half the ammonia test bottles.

keep us updated with this I’m curious. I solved a salinity calibration mystery lately after buying 4 calibration juices and borrowing my friends hanna digital refractometer and finally got to the bottom of it thanks to my friend doing a phd in marine biology. Long story but if you’re curious DM me.

don’t always trust what the tests say is the conclusion. Some are good, some are bad, even some salts are bad if they’re old and give you 5dkh I stead of the advertised 9dkh.

good luck! Don’t stress it. The best way is to just wait a few more days, I remember I was testing every day when I got into it and now I’m cycling my 2nd tank and I’m not even stressing it. What kind of fish do you plan on keeping

Ammonia HAS to become trites then trates. It’s impossible it disappears like that. If the ammonia bottle isn’t faulty, your tests are. Go to your LFS and ask them to test it for you.

what’s the expiry date on the tests and are they new? My API cycling kit is no longer good after using half the ammonia test bottles.

keep us updated with this I’m curious. I solved a salinity calibration mystery lately after buying 4 calibration juices and borrowing my friends hanna digital refractometer and finally got to the bottom of it thanks to my friend doing a phd in marine biology. Long story but if you’re curious DM me.

don’t always trust what the tests say is the conclusion. Some are good, some are bad, even some salts are bad if they’re old and give you 5dkh I stead of the advertised 9dkh.

good luck! Don’t stress it. The best way is to just wait a few more days, I remember I was testing every day when I got into it and now I’m cycling my 2nd tank and I’m not even stressing it. What kind of fish do you plan on keeping?

Well I thought it was impossible too but it’s possible because it’s disappearing before my very eyes lol my ammonia bottle is not faulty nor my test kit because when I dosed and tested, it registered ammonia on my Red Sea test kit. It is the same test kit I used on my qt tank and nitrite and nitrate registered. And it is not expired.

 

[Elev8minh]

If you’ve got your lights on, turn them off. The cloudiness maybe a Phyto bloom. Although it’s not green to you, it maybe, therefore consuming ammonia directly.

The light have not been turned on for any reason