- Joined
- Feb 9, 2020
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Hi Everyone,
I have been cycling a 20 gallon Waterbox Cube with marco rock and live sand now for 5 weeks. I started this tank doing a fish less cycle with Dr. Tim's One and Only along with his ammonium chloride. After following his instructions and doing the ammonium chloride dosing, by day 4 I had an ammonia spike of 8 ppm. Knowing that was way too high then what was recommended I did a 3 gallon water change to reduce those levels below 5 ppm. Eventually I was able to get the ammonia levels down to zero but since then I have been having issues with my nitrite being sky high for the last three weeks. I reached out to Dr. Tim's and was told the following "the live sand contains organics which decay into ammonia producing a constant source of ammonia which is why the ammonia (and nitrite) go up without you adding any ammonium chloride." I have stopped dosing ammonium chloride added the filter sock back in and did a 1/3 water change as instructed. My question is has anyone else had this problem? And if so when did you start actually seeing any progress? Considering that I read many people never even see a nitrite spike or a very little one when using this product I am kind of shocked that mine has gone as long as is has. I hope by doing these steps that I can finally overcome this hurdle. Any insight or suggestions is appreciated!
Thanks,
Nick
I have been cycling a 20 gallon Waterbox Cube with marco rock and live sand now for 5 weeks. I started this tank doing a fish less cycle with Dr. Tim's One and Only along with his ammonium chloride. After following his instructions and doing the ammonium chloride dosing, by day 4 I had an ammonia spike of 8 ppm. Knowing that was way too high then what was recommended I did a 3 gallon water change to reduce those levels below 5 ppm. Eventually I was able to get the ammonia levels down to zero but since then I have been having issues with my nitrite being sky high for the last three weeks. I reached out to Dr. Tim's and was told the following "the live sand contains organics which decay into ammonia producing a constant source of ammonia which is why the ammonia (and nitrite) go up without you adding any ammonium chloride." I have stopped dosing ammonium chloride added the filter sock back in and did a 1/3 water change as instructed. My question is has anyone else had this problem? And if so when did you start actually seeing any progress? Considering that I read many people never even see a nitrite spike or a very little one when using this product I am kind of shocked that mine has gone as long as is has. I hope by doing these steps that I can finally overcome this hurdle. Any insight or suggestions is appreciated!
Thanks,
Nick