Tank not cycling using Dr Tims the One and Only

[SimonDamminga]

I am pretty new to saltwater tanks and I seek your advice.

About a week and a half ago I started the cycling proces for my newly set up tank by dosing a bottle of Dr Tims the One and Only Nitrifying bacteria.
I followed all the steps and I am a bit worried about the results.

Day 1: I added the bottle of bacteria and dosed about 2ppm of ammonia (also Dr Tims) and all seemd to be fine
Day 2: I checked the ammonia levels and they were 1.5ppm and the Nitrite was at 0ppm.
Day 3: The ammonia was still at 1.5ppm and I dosed another batch of ammonia just like the instructions say.
Day 4: I checked the ammonia and nitrite and values are still the same, so my thought was that someting is hapening because the ammonia stayed on 1.5ppm between the two da.
Day 5 - 9: The ammonia levels and the nitrite levels stay the same. 1.5ppm for ammonia and 0ppm for nitrite.

The testkits that I use are the Salifert test kits.
For substrate I used live sand and I used dry rock for my scape.
Water temp is 26°C (78.8°F)
PH is 8
Nitrate is around 25ppm from day one and has not changed (maybe a little but not a lot).

Based on this information and the instructions saying that you can add fish on day 9 because the tank should be cycled (or close to being cycled), I think Dr Tims is not working for me. So I was thinking of buying some live rock to jumpstart the cycling process.

Is this something you recommend or are there other recommended options?

 

[Doctorgori]

before you spend too much$$$ I’d cop another bottle first. I’d get a nice piece of rock post cycle.
some brands recommend against mixing strains, I’ve never split hairs that much...Maybe try Brightwell this go round...cycles can get stuck, and sometime bottles are dead .....

 

[piranhaman00]

Dr tims takes forever, I do not know why it is so praised, use Biospira , cycles overnight.

As mentioned above, all bacteria bottles are mute when comparing to using a nice piece of cycled rock

 

[redeyejedi]

With salt water tanks i would learn how to be patient now as you will be fighting a uphill battle otherwise.

 

[SimonDamminga]

Dr tims takes forever, I do not know why it is so praised, use Biospira , cycles overnight.

As mentioned above, all bacteria bottles are mute when comparing to using a nice piece of cycled rock

I am going to wait a bit more to see if the cycle will start. If not I will buy a piece of cycled rock, also because the recomended products are not available in the Netherlands. I think I just have to be a bit more patient with the cycle. I'm just so hiped starting a saltwater tank

 

[piranhaman00]

I am going to wait a bit more to see if the cycle will start. If not I will buy a piece of cycled rock, also because the recomended products are not available in the Netherlands. I think I just have to be a bit more patient with the cycle. I'm just so hiped starting a saltwater tank

I understand! As mentioned, be patient it will happen

 

[yman182]

I had the same issue with Dr. Tims, waited 2 weeks with no movement. Added some Fritz and it cycled in a few days.

 

[davidcalgary29]

Just remember that every tank -- and cycle -- will be different. I cycled my Evo with Dr. Tim's last December and it took nine days. I cycled another tank at the same time with Microbacter XLM and it took over thirty. Your tank is cycling -- just be patient.

 

[Arabyps]

I've had best luck and virtually immediately fish ready with Fritz TurboStart 900.

 

[SimonDamminga]

I had the same issue with Dr. Tims, waited 2 weeks with no movement. Added some Fritz and it cycled in a few days.

Unfortunately the Netherlands does not sell Fritz aquatics products.

 

[brandon429]

Simon I didn't want to use your cycling example in another thread without letting you know


this is a common problem cyclers face, seeming stalls. You are not stalled.

to save me a long type see if this exact link isn't your exact tank but solved very easily, he has all the same timing and conditions:

100% Water Change

So in my previous thread, I had an ammonia issue that was out of hand. As suggested, I did a 100% WC and now i’m wondering when I should start adding fish back. If anyone has suggestions, let me know!

www.reef2reef.com

your current reef is certain to be cycled on time, no extras needed.

simply wait a total of fourteen days in the current condition. change the water, and what happened above will happen in your tank.

you can elect to re test it using that exact calibration method we did, but that's not needed. You can also just begin afterwards, we've tested this about five thousand times so far and no one fails. #5001 isn't going to be the first fail.

 

[SimonDamminga]

Simon I didn't want to use your cycling example in another thread without letting you know


this is a common problem cyclers face, seeming stalls. You are not stalled.

to save me a long type see if this exact link isn't your exact tank but solved very easily, he has all the same timing and conditions:

100% Water Change

So in my previous thread, I had an ammonia issue that was out of hand. As suggested, I did a 100% WC and now i’m wondering when I should start adding fish back. If anyone has suggestions, let me know!

www.reef2reef.com

your current reef is certain to be cycled on time, no extras needed.

simply wait a total of fourteen days in the current condition. change the water, and what happened above will happen in your tank.

you can elect to re test it using that exact calibration method we did, but that's not needed. You can also just begin afterwards, we've tested this about five thousand times so far and no one fails. #5001 isn't going to be the first fail.

Thank you very much for your reply. Will certainly try this one out!

 

[brandon429]

I know how weird it feels lol, all tests indicate doom

but

how does that water actually smell/curious

if any ammonia in the hundredths ppm youd smell it/especially if tenths ppm

and the water w be gray and cloudy, lets see a pic of the tank as it sits

those non-test kit verifications let you know if we're miles off base or not too far off from safe levels and overreporting on the kit

 

[SimonDamminga]

I know how weird it feels lol, all tests indicate doom

but

how does that water actually smell/curious

if any ammonia in the hundredths ppm youd smell it/especially if tenths ppm

and the water w be gray and cloudy, lets see a pic of the tank as it sits

those non-test kit verifications let you know if we're miles off base or not too far off from safe levels and overreporting on the kit

I smelled the tank and I can confirm that the tank doesn't smell. And here is a picture of the tank:

As you can see the water is nice and clear.

 

[brandon429]

I guarantee you if you change water which isn't even required, on day 14 just for safety and to prevent total online revolt, you can reef.

There's some strange aspect on api and red sea that messes up cycles like that. I have no doubt twenty thousand tests work fine from them, readers want to state they have good test kits/acknowledged.

but the number of bad test kits must be 1.3 million, that would explain post ratios. heh

 

[brandon429]

I wouldn't even use the tester to re verify your new clean water as we did above. I will take total public responsibility if your new bioload dies on the date after the water change, add what you had planned to add. Total public shaming/on me lol/ if it fails.

I think if you use that kit to retest it, and it sticks, total revolt w occur and your cycle will last 2 years he he

but if you just go/day 14 on clean water, what you add wont cloud up the tank.

if the reef is uncycled, what you add will cloud it up in five hours. to the point of obvious action needed. uncycled tanks cloud when bioload is present and sustained like a fish/cuc

*what about the dreaded dead bottle bac


see cycling chart. ammonia compliance is on day ten


day 14 was planning for that.

 

[DDenny]

I used Bio-Spira in my pico as well. I didn’t dose ammonia. I put in a raw shrimp for 24 hours then checked ammonia and it was 8ppm high. Dosed 1/2 bottle of the Bio-Spira. Checked ammonia 12 hours late was down to 6 then 4 and so on. When it hit 2ppm I check nitrates over 100 the next day ammonia was at .25. All this happened in 72 hours. Did a 75% water change to bring down the nitrates and they came down to just under 50ppm. A week later another 75% water change and I was down to 20ppm. Last water change got my nitrates down to between 2-5. Been two weeks since I last changed the water but I don’t have anything in the tank as far as livestock. Changing out the stax rocks this weekend with dry life rock cause I don’t like the look of the stax in this tank. Expect a little spike again but I still have a little bio-spira left as well. Would have gone with real live rock but hard to get 5 pounds shipped and it be what you want as far as shape and size. My LFS doesn’t do cured liverock and not a lot of reefers down here to split rock with.

 

[attiland]

I am pretty new to saltwater tanks and I seek your advice.

About a week and a half ago I started the cycling proces for my newly set up tank by dosing a bottle of Dr Tims the One and Only Nitrifying bacteria.
I followed all the steps and I am a bit worried about the results.

Day 1: I added the bottle of bacteria and dosed about 2ppm of ammonia (also Dr Tims) and all seemd to be fine
Day 2: I checked the ammonia levels and they were 1.5ppm and the Nitrite was at 0ppm.
Day 3: The ammonia was still at 1.5ppm and I dosed another batch of ammonia just like the instructions say.
Day 4: I checked the ammonia and nitrite and values are still the same, so my thought was that someting is hapening because the ammonia stayed on 1.5ppm between the two da.
Day 5 - 9: The ammonia levels and the nitrite levels stay the same. 1.5ppm for ammonia and 0ppm for nitrite.

The testkits that I use are the Salifert test kits.
For substrate I used live sand and I used dry rock for my scape.
Water temp is 26°C (78.8°F)
PH is 8
Nitrate is around 25ppm from day one and has not changed (maybe a little but not a lot).

Based on this information and the instructions saying that you can add fish on day 9 because the tank should be cycled (or close to being cycled), I think Dr Tims is not working for me. So I was thinking of buying some live rock to jumpstart the cycling process.

Is this something you recommend or are there other recommended options?

What about nitrate and phosphate?
You may never measure nitrite. With DR Tim’s I never seen it straight to nitrate in my case.
do a water change and test again.

before you spend too much$$$ I’d cop another bottle first. I’d get a nice piece of rock post cycle.
some brands recommend against mixing strains, I’ve never split hairs that much...Maybe try Brightwell this go round...cycles can get stuck, and sometime bottles are dead .....

Cycle can’t stack. It will happen even if you don’t want it.

Dr tims takes forever, I do not know why it is so praised, use Biospira , cycles overnight.

DR Tim’s took me 4 days to have full cycle no ammonia or nitrate.

As mentioned above, all bacteria bottles are mute when comparing to using a nice piece of cycled rock

For diversity yes but bacteria in bottle works like a charm. I am all for live rock for seeding bacteria to dry rock but those bacteria I am after with live rock is nothing to do with nitrogen cycle

 

[Don Lidtke]

I ran into the same thing when I cycled my Display Tank and my quarantine tanks. I have switched to MicrōBacter Start XLM and it's worked for me.

 

[piranhaman00]

What about nitrate and phosphate?
You may never measure nitrite. With DR Tim’s I never seen it straight to nitrate in my case.
do a water change and test again.


Cycle can’t stack. It will happen even if you mm

For diversity yes but bacteria in bottle works like a charm. I am all for live rock for seeding bacteria to dry rock but those bacteria I am after with live rock is nothing to do with nitrogen cycle

Incorrect