Ammonia stuck at 1 ppm

[DFandango]

Hi everyone!

I’m currently on day 9 of cycling my new reef tank and would appreciate some advice.

Here’s my setup:

• Dry rock
• Ocean Direct Live Sand
• AF Life Bio Fil
• Added ARKA Special Blend immediately after setting up the tank
• Dosing Seachem Stability daily

Unfortunately, I initially used a faulty test kit, which resulted in me overdosing ammonia without realising it. When I eventually tested with a working kit, ammonia was reading around 5 ppm.

Over the following few days, ammonia gradually dropped. Initially, 5 ppm, a few days later 2 ppm and currently 1 ppm

My current parameters are:

• Ammonia: 1 ppm
• Nitrite: 0.25 ppm
• Nitrate: 1 ppm

Weird thing is that these readings haven’t changed for the past three days.

My questions are:

1. Could the initial high ammonia concentration (around 5 ppm) have killed off some of the beneficial bacteria or inhibited their growth, slowing down the cycling process?
2. Is it normal for the cycle to stall at these readings for a few days?
3. Would you recommend doing a partial water change to bring the ammonia level down, or should I leave the tank alone and let the bacteria continue developing?

I’d rather avoid interfering with the cycle unnecessarily, but I also don’t want to risk damaging the bacteria.

Any advice or personal experience would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

A dry rock cycle takes about 3-4 weeks. Its just a waiting game for it to come down to zero.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

How are you measuring ammonia?
If it really dropped from 5 to 1 ppm then stopped, it may be test error, not actual ammonia.

But I'd keep watching a bit longer

 

[Decamicron Labs Verified Sponsor]

I'd just wait it out to be honest. A 4 ppm reduction in ammonia corresponds to ~13ppm nitrates, so I am guessing there may be some error in one of your test kits.

5ppm is known to slow down nitrifiers, but I wouldn't do a water change at this stage simply because the headache of figuring out which test is wrong will be more of a headache than its worth. If you want to speed things up I'd ask your local LFS for some rubble or an old filter to help seed your tank instead.

 

[Bmaytime]

Patience, I just went through the same thing. Ammonia didn’t drop for me until week 3, then another week my nitrites dropped.

 

[DFandango]

A dry rock cycle takes about 3-4 weeks. Its just a waiting game for it to come down to zero.

Slow and steady always wins the race! Will for sure wait a bit longer but I’m always curious to find out how this happens

 

[DFandango]

How are you measuring ammonia?
If it really dropped from 5 to 1 ppm then stopped, it may be test error, not actual ammonia.

But I'd keep watching a bit longer

Testing with Colombo tests. First used Salifert for the ammonia but could not get a reading on any ammonia for the whole cycle. Tested the 5 ppm immediately after getting the Colombo one. Rinsing everything with RODI before and after tests.

The drop from 5ppm to 1ppm happened over the course of a few days with a measurement of 2ppm in between. So I hope I can assume the test is to be trusted. Weird thing is I’m not seeing a matching rise in nitrites but I do see a rise in nitrates. Tested the RODI water as well, came out at 0 for all 3 parameters. I’ll definitely ride it out till zero! Just curious to see if these patterns/stalls are more common when cycling with dry rock