Cycle a tank - Whats happening?

ISpeakForTheSeas

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Yeah, I'd expect to pretty much constantly see some small amounts of ammonia and nitrite (or some not so small amounts, if your test kit isn't particularly good) - as others have mentioned, your tank is cycled already, but if you're nervous about it, you can test to see if your tank is processing ammonia quickly (I generally see this done by raising ammonia to 2ppm, waiting 24 hours, and testing to see if the ammonia has dropped to negligible levels - 0.2ppm is negligible).


For what it's worth, there are some bottle bacteria strains that work immediately (i.e. that contain true, nitrifying bacteria strains), and there are some that don't seem to work at all.

Live rock works by carrying nitrifying strains of bacteria with it into your tank - it works immediately.

Paul b's suggestion of adding rock/soil from your garden is actually solid for the same reason - a lot of types of bacteria are found in a wide variety of environments (soil, freshwater, marine water, etc.), and there's actually a good chance of getting a decent amount of nitrifying bacteria (which can survive in marine environments) with the rock/soil. It might not be the prettiest solution, but it would likely work.
 

AquaLogic

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so i measured at morning still got 0,2 ppm ammonia, so i dump all water and add new one, also i bough dr.tim 30 day for marine cycle, it says that you can add fish and coral second day, so thats my plan, gona wait till fish and coral come its gona be tuesday probably and gona try that way, will keep you updated if everything goes okey :D ... again thank you all

interesting point, yea probably i overcomplicate everything and its gona be fine
You will likely see something like .2 ppm ammonia forever. There will always be some small amount of ammonia once the cycle is started. Also, test kits at that low range aren’t super accurate. Tiny amounts of ammonia on a cycled tank are normal.
 
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LongbowLw

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Yeah, I'd expect to pretty much constantly see some small amounts of ammonia and nitrite (or some not so small amounts, if your test kit isn't particularly good) - as others have mentioned, your tank is cycled already, but if you're nervous about it, you can test to see if your tank is processing ammonia quickly (I generally see this done by raising ammonia to 2ppm, waiting 24 hours, and testing to see if the ammonia has dropped to negligible levels - 0.2ppm is negligible).


For what it's worth, there are some bottle bacteria strains that work immediately (i.e. that contain true, nitrifying bacteria strains), and there are some that don't seem to work at all.

Live rock works by carrying nitrifying strains of bacteria with it into your tank - it works immediately.

Paul b's suggestion of adding rock/soil from your garden is actually solid for the same reason - a lot of types of bacteria are found in a wide variety of environments (soil, freshwater, marine water, etc.), and there's actually a good chance of getting a decent amount of nitrifying bacteria (which can survive in marine environments) with the rock/soil. It might not be the prettiest solution, but it would likely work.
well i tried this, put ammonia to 2 ppm maybe little more and 3 days nothing happened, thats why i post here, but gona try to do with that dr.tims 30 day program will see
 

ISpeakForTheSeas

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well i tried this, put ammonia to 2 ppm maybe little more and 3 days nothing happened, thats why i post here, but gona try to do with that dr.tims 30 day program will see
If you're concerned about it and want to go the bottle bacteria route, pick up some FritzZyme Turbo Start 900 and use that - it has a proven track record for instant cycling.
 

Timfish

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This article might help you understand what maricultured live rock does.

https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/estab...obiome-in-a-new-aquarium-using-live-rock.742/

Reef ecosystems are arguably the most complex ecosystems on the planet and lots of researchers are still trying to figure out how they work. Here's some links you may find useful to understand better what is giong on in your system.

"Coral Reefs in the Microbial Seas" This video compliments Rohwer's book of the same title (Paper back is ~$20, Kindle is ~$10), both deal with the conflicting roles of the different types of DOC in reef ecosystems. While there is overlap bewteen his book and the video both have information not covered by the other and together give a broader view of the complex relationships found in reef ecosystems


Changing Seas - Mysterious Microbes


Microbial view of Coral Decline


Nitrogen cycling in hte coral holobiont


BActeria and Sponges


Maintenance of Coral Reef Health (refferences at the end)


Optical Feedback Loop in Colorful Coral Bleaching


DNA Sequencing and the Reef Tank Microbiome


Richard Ross What's up with phosphate"
 
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LongbowLw

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so fish doing good, ammonia going little up its on 0,5 ppm, but fish seems they are okay, no sign of any issue, coral growing so everything looks fine. NO2 is on 0,05 and NO3 like around 0,5. Iam doing that Dr.Tims 30 days program. So far so good, hope that NO3 gona grow and ammonia drop atleast to 0,2 :)
 
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LongbowLw

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so new revelation, i was measuring NH4, after i check som brandons429 topics, it hits me like, whole time i was measuring wrong ammonia :D, so yea, was cycled whole time.. so thx everybody, have to say, happy with this community so far
 

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