Can (should) I add One and Only again?

[becky46]

I'm cycling a tank and about 4-5 days into the cycle, I dosed the ammonia way too high by accident and killed the cycle. I did a massive water change and the ammonia is back down, but I am wondering if I should add more of Dr. Tim's One and Only before I add more ammonia. I initially used the One and Only, but I'm not sure if I killed it all off. Since the ammonia spike, the ammonia is dropping, but not as quickly as it normally does. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[RobB'z Reef]

adding some more certainly isn't going to be detrimental imo. how were you able to determine you killed the cycle?

 

[becky46]

adding some more certainly isn't going to be detrimental imo. how were you able to determine you killed the cycle?

I don't know for sure, but things were really going well for the first 5 days with Dr. Tim's One and Only and his ammonium chloride. When I dosed the ammonium chloride again, I pushed it way too high and it would not drop for about a week, at which point I did the very large water change.

 

[RobB'z Reef]

I don't know for sure, but things were really going well for the first 5 days with Dr. Tim's One and Only and his ammonium chloride. When I dosed the ammonium chloride again, I pushed it way too high and it would not drop for about a week, at which point I did the very large water change.

gotcha, in my experience Tim's works great but you're in for a two week cycle at least as it's a dormant bacteria it takes a while to get some traction. I use it to cycle qt tanks when I'm not in a hurry and after the initial dose of ammonia I don't bother redosing it again once it shows that it's decreasing and nitrates are increasing. Either way after two weeks or so it's guaranteed to be cycled just based on the way cycling works in general. I start throwing fish in after that, avoid over crowding initially as the bacteria will need time to grow and catch up with the population.

 

[Azedenkae]

I don't know for sure, but things were really going well for the first 5 days with Dr. Tim's One and Only and his ammonium chloride. When I dosed the ammonium chloride again, I pushed it way too high and it would not drop for about a week, at which point I did the very large water change.

Quick question, do you happen to know/remember what was your ammonia reading? Was it just kinda off-the-charts?

 

[dedragon]

Agreed with above, patience in the best thing now and bacteria will usually do its job. What is the ammonia at right now?

 

[dedragon]

I do prefer fritz turbostart as it has worked super fast for me

 

[RobB'z Reef]

I do prefer fritz turbostart as it has worked super fast for me

that's exactly what i use when I'm in a hurry to cycle haha

 

[becky46]

Quick question, do you happen to know/remember what was your ammonia reading? Was it just kinda off-the-charts?

It was off the charts. It was too high for the tests to register (Tropic Marin tests.) Did a 25% water change and was still off the charts. Did a 50% and brought it down to 1.5ish.

 

[Azedenkae]

It was off the charts. It was too high for the tests to register (Tropic Marin tests.) Did a 25% water change and was still off the charts. Did a 50% and brought it down to 1.5ish.

So prior to the 50% water change it should be around 3ppm, and before that would be around 4ppm. Somewhere thereabouts.

It's fine then, even double that (8ppm) would not have killed off your nitrifiers. ^_^ Don't worry too much about it I guess is what I am saying. You can dose more nitrifiers if you want, it won't affect things too much. I mean ammonia still dropping still shows that there is ammonia oxidation going on and hence your nitrifiers are still alive, after all.

 

[Dan_P]

I'm cycling a tank and about 4-5 days into the cycle, I dosed the ammonia way too high by accident and killed the cycle. I did a massive water change and the ammonia is back down, but I am wondering if I should add more of Dr. Tim's One and Only before I add more ammonia. I initially used the One and Only, but I'm not sure if I killed it all off. Since the ammonia spike, the ammonia is dropping, but not as quickly as it normally does. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Buy another brand of bacteria from Fritz or Instant Ocean. I found they were much more active than One and Only.