Can't Decrease Ammonia Level

[Nate92]

Hello,

I'm in the process of starting up my first tank, and it has been has been cycling with no livestock for over a week. I have a full setup, including live sand, cured live rock, powerhead, and sump with skimmer. When I started cycling, the ammonia level was somewhere between .5PPM and 1PPM. The ammonia level hasn't changed in 8 days. I added Dr. Tim's One and Only on day 1, and API Quick Start on days 3 and 4. Any ideas as to why my ammonia level hasn't dropped at all? Thank you very much!

-Nate

 

[EmdeReef]

It’s possible your live rock was not completely cured and has decaying matter. It’s also possibly a testing error.

 

[Nate92]

It’s possible your live rock was not completely cured and has decaying matter. It’s also possibly a testing error.

Thanks for your response. I double checked the test kit on some RO/DI water and it showed 0ppm, so I know the test kit is working ok. I do see some decaying “scum” on the rocks. Is there anything I can do about that? However, my skimmer really isn’t collecting too much gunk. Thanks again!

 

[EmdeReef]

Depends how much decaying matter there is on LR. You can dose more bacteria, it may speed it up. Otherwise in a week or so the levels should be undetectable or at the minimum start dropping.

 

[Nate92]

Depends how much decaying matter there is on LR. You can dose more bacteria, it may speed it up. Otherwise in a week or so the levels should be undetectable or at the minimum start dropping.

Thanks again for your response. Is 2 weeks a standard cycle time? And I’ve dosed so much bacteria already, but I guess it doesn’t hurt to add more!

 

[EmdeReef]

You’re welcome!

Cycling can take a couple weeks or even longer. Before we started using bacteria etc it would take several weeks even up to 40 days so nothing to worry about. Many of us cured rocks while cycling too lol.

After your ammonia drops to zero, it’s always a good idea to stress test your system once with some more ammonia and make sure it drops off within 24hrs.

 

[Sparkymarc]

When I cycled my tank I raised ammonia to 2ppm. I believe higher ammonia levels help start bacteria growth. I used ammonia and kept levels at 2ppm. It took about four weeks but I never see ammonia or nitrates

 

[Nate92]

You’re welcome!

Cycling can take a couple weeks or even longer. Before we started using bacteria etc it would take several weeks even up to 40 days so nothing to worry about. Many of us cured rocks while cycling too lol.

After your ammonia drops to zero, it’s always a good idea to stress test your system once with some more ammonia and make sure it drops off within 24hrs.

Got it- thanks again!

 

[Nate92]

When I cycled my tank I raised ammonia to 2ppm. I believe higher ammonia levels help start bacteria growth. I used ammonia and kept levels at 2ppm. It took about four weeks but I never see ammonia or nitrates

Thanks for the feedback!