fishless cycle

I have setup a 125 gal DT with a 40b as a sump. Looking for some help with the fishless cycling. I started cycling with fritz on exactly three weeks ago. After six days I tested and found that there was still 2ppm NH3 and 0 Nitrites and 0 nitrates. Seemed to me that the fritz bacteria had been...

Hi all, I’m very new to reefing and looking for some guidance with my cycle. I’d like to sanity-check whether things are progressing normally or if I’ve done something wrong. Tank & Setup Tank: Red Sea Reefer 300 G3 Rock: Dry rock Sand: Dry sand Test Kits Hanna Salinity Hanna Nitrate HR...

Hi all, Im doing fishless cycle with dry rock and live sand and i am 20 days in. Last week i added some copepods because i thought it wouldnt do any harm but i think many of them died off. Current parameters: • Ammonia: 2+ ppm (was lower ~4 days ago, then increased) • Nitrite...

Hey everyone! Excited to finally join Reef2Reef and share my first saltwater build. I’m currently about halfway through the fishless cycle on my 20-gallon Waterbox AIO, running lights-off while the bacteria do their thing. Ammonia has dropped nicely, but nitrite is still off the charts, while...

Hi, so I was setting up my new 60-litre saltwater tank. It has dry white sand, and 1 dry sansibar rock. I had begun fishless cycling two weeks back ( with lab grade 25% ammonia solution). Since the water volume is 45 litres, I calculated I needed a little less than 0.5 ml of the ammonia solution...

New 70 gallon eshopps Mariner tank with sump. Setup on 4/10 My nitrites have been stuck 1+ for about 3 weeks. What is stalling it? Should I do 25% water change (this is what ChatGPT said but I figured I’d check with real experts first 😂) Ammonia has already spiked and been basically 0 the...

I’m about to start my cycle using dr. Tim’s on the instructions provided it says : -Test ammonia, nitrite, and pH. Record the values in the chart below -Are your ammonia AND nitrite values less than 5ppm NH3-N/NO2-N? YES - You can add more ammonia. Using DrTim's ammonium I’m using a salifert...

Started on 2-11-25. Topfin 29gal tank starter kit with heater and filter included. “Microbe lift special blend” and “Topfin readistart nitrifying bacteria starter” added along with some starter live rocks (more to come soon) 2-13-25 Added a topfin “small power head aquarium pump” changed...

So I’m doing a fishless (minus 1 coral my friend gave me that we have no idea what it is and I’m almost 100% sure it died but I was expecting that) cycle on my 29gal tank, I added “microbe lift special blend” along with “topfin readistart” and also left a little food In the tank to help the...

How’s it going! I’m new tot he hobby and my first tank is a Coralife Biocube Jr smart. It says it’s a 14g tank but I can’t only seem to get 10g in it. I used Caribsea live sand with some caribsea aragonite, and 7lbs of caribsea live rock. I filled with imagitarium pacific saltwater, and...

Call me crazy, but after some Dr Tim’s + Ammonia and a lot of waiting, I thought I was on a great cycling track. Then my ammonia levels started rising for an empty tank. Does anyone know what’s happening here?

hi friends, wondering if i am doing this correct :) redsea 170 42g brightwell aquatics microbacteria start dr tim’s ammonium no filter or skimmer running i’m on day 4 of my fishless cycle, here’s what i have been doing(i realize i have been adding too much ammonia-oops): 15 capfuls of bacteria...

Hey everyone! Need some guidance, I’m new to the hobby, when I started my fishless cycle I added dr Tim’s one and only and I added ammonia, I didn’t test the water until week 3 cause I thought I was meant to just wait weeks on end and be patience, and I didn’t get the memo that I was suppose to...

Hello everyone, Five days ago I started my fishless cycle using Dr Tim's one and only, my water volume is 14.5 gallons and I dosed the whole 4oz bottle. The reading for each day are the same each day Ph 8.0, Ammonia 1.0 and Nitrite 0. I tested my Nitrates today and it's at 5. Is my tank...

Hello, Just added rock, sand, and water to my 16 gallon macro algae display project (feel free to check build thread for stocking and equipment information) and am wondering about the best way to go about cycling this. A lot of the information I see comes from people with either live rock or...

im currently extremely confused i have been cycling dry rock in a bin using bottled bacteria till i had my tank set up and ready to go and initially did tests watching the ammonia go down and the nitrites go up it has been running for about a month now and i just did a test and my ammonia was...

Hi everyone, I know everyone will be bored of the fish-less cycling questions and I sincerely apologise in advance. I have a 300L tank. I’ve been setting up since July. I have the aqua scape in place, made from dry rock. The sand is in place and the saltwater has been added. The salinity is...

On day 8 of Dr Tim’s fishless cycle with one and only and ammonium chloride in an IM Nuvo 15. Set up is mostly 15lbs dry rock and dry aragonite with maybe 5lbs of live rock from my 20gal so not starting with a large established bacterial population. followed the chart but only dosed the...

I raised my ammonia too high to 4 ppm before adding fritz turbostart 900. After 3 days, my ammonia has gone down to 0.25 ppm (I'm using an API test kit, so I know that I won't get a 0 ppm reading, but this is the lowest on the chart). My nitrite has spiked a lot (+5 ppm, the highest reading)...

I am waiting for my IM 15 to ship and arrive, and in the mean time have started cycling my aqua scape in a brute trash can. I was wondering if there was an agreed upon method for continuing to grow the bacteria culture until my tank arrives. intuition tells me that dosing to 2 ppm with...

i would like to start another tank, coral only, and maybe introduce some fish later down the line. Do I Cycle w/ dr Tim’s fishless , water change then go straight in with coral? I know people can battle for weeks to lower nitrates. Do I ghost feed/ feed coral food/ dose nitrates back in after...

First post here on R2R! … I am new to the hobby but have been reading/studying it for years. I finally have space at home to begin. I will be following up in the future with build threads for my salt water mixing station, QT tanks (invert and fish), and display tank that I’m still building...

First off, the title is misleading... I have no idea what is and isn't abnormal . I just filled and started my cycle last night. At 9pm, In my 16 gallon cube I put 4oz of FritzZyme Turbo Start 900 then brought my tank up to 2.0ppm of ammonia. This morning before I left for work at 4:30 am, I...

Hello! I am having some trouble with my tank and I have some questions. This is my first time using Dr. Tims one and only. I have a 24 gallon nano cube, I used CaribSea life rock(I really did not want hitchhikers this time) and CaribSea live sand, along with imagitarium pacific ocean water...

Update: Once I added a HOB refugium to my sumpless 40B, it was game over. The tank started leaking within a week because the extra weight pulled the tank too far out of level. As such, I upgraded to a Red Sea Reefer 250. If you'd like to start there, click here. If you'd like to read through my...