Weird reef tank cycle.

brandon429

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Few bucks for dr tims ammonium chloride and we w be set for the test. I think it can pass a directed oxidation test but it has to be calibrated with three pics above from post #2 to make the tester work.

if it can’t, then you’ve input no other marine bac sources and the bottle bac was dead or expired. It’s prudent to test ammonia the right way before adding life.
change water first, export rotting waste, start new AC test on clean tank water, not the current wastewater.


i bet you’ll even see some nitrates from AC usage, if the bottle bac was alive when used, which is likely. Killing bacteria in a liquid solution sitting in a room is very very hard to do
 

brandon429

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A cool part of your thread is that it’s not wierd or misbehaving

What makes it seem wierd:
-the variable ammonia output from feeding food, and requiring sparse natural bacteria / heterotrophic degraders to render it into ammonia. nitrifiers dont eat the food, heterotrophs break it down and make ammonia; nitrifiers feed there. Heterotrophs are naturally contaminating bacteria you’ve added by not cycling in a positive pressure bacteria lab.

-a tester better designed to indicate a dead fish / big spike is making all the claims about what bac do, vs a seneye tester. We calibrate for this and still use your tester with a baseline after water change zero ammonia pic, to calibrate zero. Then an ammonia test showing about 1 ppm new readings from tank water, and then a pic next day.

in those steps above we align the suspect portions of your cycle into something clear. That above finalizes ammonia proofing, even to skeptical chemists reading. Whether or not nitrite or nitrate matters thereafter you’ll have to choose a cycling source and just go with it, no harm no foul. You will know ammonia and be able to account for it, with a water change and re proofing w pics and AC
 
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John A!10

John A!10

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A cool part of your thread is that it’s not wierd or misbehaving

What makes it seem wierd:
-the variable ammonia output from feeding food, and requiring sparse natural bacteria / heterotrophic degraders to render it into ammonia. nitrifiers dont eat the food, heterotrophs break it down and make ammonia; nitrifiers feed there. Heterotrophs are naturally contaminating bacteria you’ve added by not cycling in a positive pressure bacteria lab.

-a tester better designed to indicate a dead fish / big spike is making all the claims about what bac do, vs a seneye tester. We calibrate for this and still use your tester with a baseline after water change zero ammonia pic, to calibrate zero. Then an ammonia test showing about 1 ppm new readings from tank water, and then a pic next day.

in those steps above we align the suspect portions of your cycle into something clear. That above finalizes ammonia proofing, even to skeptical chemists reading. Whether or not nitrite or nitrate matters thereafter you’ll have to choose a cycling source and just go with it, no harm no foul. You will know ammonia and be able to account for it, with a water change and re proofing w pics and AC
So basically, I dose dr Tim’s to 1ppm ammonia, and then when it is down to 0 my cycle is done?
 

brandon429

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That's the point you can add fish, starter clean up crews, things we see in macna exhibit tanks. Whether or not you should add fish without going through fallow/ opinions vary but that's your allowed start date, I call that a closed cycle

After your big water change if it still moves down that means bacteria adhered to rocks and sand did the work, the pre test water change removes suspended bacteria. The steps above align your cycle just right considering the tools at hand, we'll know for sure if you're ready

Let's see if the reading holds as is till next day, or moves down/ goes to zero to make the final call
 
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John A!10

John A!10

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That's the point you can add fish, starter clean up crews, things we see in macna exhibit tanks. Whether or not you should add fish without going through fallow/ opinions vary but that's your allowed start date, I call that a closed cycle

After your big water change if it still moves down that means bacteria adhered to rocks and sand did the work, the pre test water change removes suspended bacteria. The steps above align your cycle just right considering the tools at hand, we'll know for sure if you're ready

Let's see if the reading holds as is till next day, or moves down/ goes to zero to make the final call
So today the ammonia tested at 2ppm. I don’t think it’s necessary to buy the ammonium any more. Does this mean the bacteria didn’t work? And should I do the complete cycle now that makes bacteria on its own? Do I feed again, or only when ammoni is down to 0? Thanks a lot.
 

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Stop now and test again tomorrow. If it goes to 0 in 24 hours then I'd say you're cycled.
 

brandon429

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Degrading feed is catching up, compounding again this isn’t a surprise. It was stated earlier to change water, remove the rot and only use exacting AC on clean water, with calibrated pics. Having a waste source continually stacking ammonia is a different test that using AC liquid with no residual/ongoing production ability. unstated water preps like prime often cause reading issues in ammonia proofing threads, all the prior steps were arranged to eliminate mis testing variables, details not communicated/verified or shown by test pics etc

am out
 
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John A!10

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Degrading feed is catching up, compounding again this isn’t a surprise. It was stated earlier to change water, remove the rot and only use exacting AC on clean water, with calibrated pics. Having a waste source continually stacking ammonia is a different test that using AC liquid with no residual/ongoing production ability. unstated water preps like prime often cause reading issues in ammonia proofing threads, all the prior steps were arranged to eliminate mis testing variables, details not communicated/verified or shown by test pics etc

am out
I’m sorry, I couldn’t do it because I had no ammonium chloride on hand.
 

Skynyrd Fish

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John you need to kick back and let the tank do its thing. Stop buying bacteria and additives. Your tank will cycle naturally. I would give it a couple weeks with the lights off. Then you can add a quarantined fish or two. I’ve attached a good video from BRS on this. It’s the 4 month cycle. It has a bunch of good info.

 
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John A!10

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John you need to kick back and let the tank do its thing. Stop buying bacteria and additives. Your tank will cycle naturally. I would give it a couple weeks with the lights off. Then you can add a quarantined fish or two. I’ve attached a good video from BRS on this. It’s the 4 month cycle. It has a bunch of good info.


Ok.
 
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John A!10

John A!10

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John you need to kick back and let the tank do its thing. Stop buying bacteria and additives. Your tank will cycle naturally. I would give it a couple weeks with the lights off. Then you can add a quarantined fish or two. I’ve attached a good video from BRS on this. It’s the 4 month cycle. It has a bunch of good info.


So Saturday I tested, and found 2ppm ammonia, still not nitrite,nitrate. Today I tested and found ≈1ppm ammonia. ≈.1ppm nitrite, 0 nitrate. Should I leave it like this till the ammonia is down to zero, as well as the nitrite. Should I ghost feed? I’m guessing no. Even if their is no ammonia?
 

Skynyrd Fish

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You could do a small ghost feed. Once ammonia is zero I would say give it a few more days then a water change, then fish. Do you have a qt set up?
 
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