Ammonia not reducing even after adding colombo bio start

[arkareefo]

Hello all,

newbie here. so i set up my 20 gallon tank a month ago. Used salt from Dupla marin. I then added a starter bacteria for fishless cycle. It had a pungent smell, and after adding it i had ammonia of 1ppm aaprx. The bottle suggested to dose daily until ammonia drops to zero and so i did. no change. Then i bought another bacteria from Colombo bacto marin and dosed as instructed. Tbh, dosed it a bit more sometimes to see if it helps, but ammonia still constant. i raised the tank temperature after that to 29 from 25. still same. i do have very little nitrite and nitrate. using ro/di water always. i know patience is the key but shouldnt i have found a little change in ammonia levels? what am i missing here? using both colombo and tropic marin test kits for accuracy and cross-check.


thank you for your help in advance.

history of tank:- set up system initially with arka reef rock(dry rocks) without sand. no skimmer as i do not need it now. then later i added sand after 2 weeks i guess.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Can you please advise the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels? Thanks.

 

[arkareefo]

Can you please advise the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels? Thanks.

here they are:-


nitrate:- 1ppm
nitrite:- 0.5 ppm
ammonia:- 1ppm

 

[PeterC99]

Why am I getting an email saying I’m tagged in this thread?

 

[PeterC99]

Why am I getting an email saying that I have been tagged in this thread?

 

[eliaslikesfish]

here they are:-


nitrate:- 1ppm
nitrite:- 0.5 ppm
ammonia:- 1ppm

what tests are you using?

 

[arkareefo]

Why am I getting an email saying that I have been tagged in this thread?

sorry, was exploring the tag options to get some active members to reply here in my post assuming they could help me.

 

[arkareefo]

what tests are you using?

tropic marin tests

 

[arkareefo]

Why am I getting an email saying that I have been tagged in this thread?

sorry, was exploring the tag options to get some active members to reply here in my post assuming they could help me.

 

[brandon429]

hey I would like to help

lets run your cycle through this giant work thread of cycles.

check this out.

How to unstick any seemingly stuck cycle

non digital ammonia test kit readings (api, Red Sea, nyos, seachem badges) make you think you aren’t cycled when indeed you are if you owned a $200 expensive seneye meter, you’d never be doubting your cycle status. since .01% of the reefing population owns these, we need a way to help the...

www.reef2reef.com

per every tank posted there, your cycle is long done. We don't use testing, so your stated test levels are of no consideration. we cover why they're ignored in that thread.

we were able to cycle all those reef tanks $ without one single fail because we weren't using those tests you have, or any other test (other than a seneye, any seneye owner can audit the patterns and report back. its the only test we value as a verifier of time-based reef tank cycling)

what we do use to measure every tank in that giant work thread is a countable number of days the tank sits with food and bottle bacteria or bacteria from other sources in place. there's a known number of wait days that makes any reef tank ready, non digital test kits simply don't apply. they're too subjective to use in cycling, which is why we made a giant testless cycle thread with 200 jobs.

your tank is cycled, per that thread.

so lets test that claim

do a water change, add some life, let's see how it swims.

note: every cycling chart ever created in a book or online has two lines of info: a wait time axis, and a responding parameter axis. you can solve for the important parameter (ammonia) by using the time axis, about ten days. we're not inventing any rule, just reminding the public how bad non digital test kits for ammonia are. they're so bad, they nearly ruined cycling.


real reef cycling is naming the exact date any reef tank will be completed, before it is even built, and then having 200 entrants with happy fish as proof.

 

[brandon429]

per that thread, you can't fail to be cycled. you're four times longer wait time than we use

 

[brandon429]

you were cycled because: i set up my 20 gallon tank a month ago. those are all ten day cycling waits. your real challenge is fish disease, not cycling, I'm hoping that's the most important takeaway from page one of the intro to the thread. I have never read any article on time-based cycling, or even seen a single writeup ever posted on testless reef tank cycling, so it's fair to state that's 1st run material above. having your tank in the group (when you add fish/life and post a pic update and everything is doing fine) will add to crucial pattern testing.

 

[arkareefo]

you were cycled because: i set up my 20 gallon tank a month ago. those are all ten day cycling waits. your real challenge is fish disease, not cycling, I'm hoping that's the most important takeaway from page one of the intro to the thread. I have never read any article on time-based cycling, or even seen a single writeup ever posted on testless reef tank cycling, so it's fair to state that's 1st run material above. having your tank in the group (when you add fish/life and post a pic update and everything is doing fine) will add to crucial pattern testing.

hello @brandon429 , thank you for your advice. I went through the thread you shared. in some level it does make sense what you said.

 

[brandon429]

Let’s do as large of a water change you can do and add some life. I bet your tank will reef just fine after we remove wastewater and put back clean

The biofilms that have filter bac will remain behind. It sure was easy to fix your cycle using updated cycling science

 

[brandon429]

update us so I can add your tank to our work thread it would be fun to show others the outcome you get so they can copy the method

remember the hardest part: no more testing ran. that's the entire point of the whole thread, so foregoing testing here isn't something new it's going on page 41 of hundreds of other tanks doing the same

what you're updating are pics of the tank, several days after you've put in life we can see.

watch your acclimation. bad acclimation kills fish that everyone blames on a stuck cycle (because the cheap test kits misreads right at the time osmotic shock kills the fish)

before you add fish, must read the stickies in the disease forum that include disease risks and acclimation handling. drip acclimating by bag can kill your fish, and most people do it that way.

knowing when your cycle is done helps you because it allows you to re-aim focus into what matters now for keeping fish alive. pet stores hold them at very low salinity, we have higher salinity, you can't make that change fast in a safe manner it will help to know that acclimation and disease are now your regulators. that, and quality of stock purchased. what won't be an issue is the basic biofilter layer that is always ready 30 days into the wait timing for any common reef tank cycle.

 

[brandon429]

whats the outcome here, are you reefing yet

 

[arkareefo]

whats the outcome here, are you reefing yet

so a little bit of late update, before just putting in my fish, i tried to reason with some other probable causes.
1. I am suspecting that my ro/di unit is not rejecting ammonia and when i tested the water, it showed presence of ammonia even when the tds is near to 0. Might that be the reason why my ammonia is at constant high? I have an ATO which keeps on refilling the tank with that water. If that is the reason, what should i do?

2. My tank is experiencing an algae bloom, after the last addition of bacteria.

Any idea on what should be the further approach?