Cycle?

[Pow3rful]

40 lbs carib sea atag-alive, turbostart 9000, and two clown fish.

Protein skimmer off.

Feeding twice a day.

3 weeks in tests are still reading flat zeros. I have never really noticed any ammonia spike, and have an ammonia alert tag in the tank.

Still need more time? Cycle quick due to live sand and bacteria with low bioload?

Should I add another fish and see?

 

[Pow3rful]

I am cycling in the dark without the light on if that matters. Room gets natural light.

 

[SurfTrack]

Similar situation to mine — I have 15g and did a fish in cycle. I tested every single day. Ammonia did become present however, and then it dropped.

What test kits do you use? And how often have you tested

 

[Pow3rful]

API testing 2x per week.

55g system

 

[SurfTrack]

API testing 2x per week.

55g system

Nitrites or nitrates? All zero?

 

[Pow3rful]

Both.

Trying to post image, but mobile not cooperating.

Here is imgur of todays test

https://imgurcom/a/amWa2aC

 

[SurfTrack]

I think you could get a second opinion. Maybe have it tested by a LFS.

Have you done any water changes?

 

[SurfTrack]

It’s very possible your tank might just require a longer cycle.

 

[JimCali75]

API testing 2x per week.

55g system

API test kits are notoriously inaccurate. Plenty on here talking about that. Salifert kits are good. I slowly transitioned to Hanna Checkers and never looked back.

 

[Pow3rful]

Yeah Hanna seems convenient.

 

[GarrettDie4U]

I'm going threw the same stuff right now . I'm just trying to take it slow :) guess i need to ditch the API and get some Hanna checkers too

 

[ya_boii]

If you used live sand and such, with a lower bioload, it would make sense that your bacteria are able to handle any ammonia production without problems

It's probably ready for more fish to be added slowly

 

[Fish Fan]

turbostart 9000, and two clown fish.

It's the TurboStart that is preventing the ammonia from rising. The TurboStart product specifically (and not Dr. Tim's One and Only or Seachem Stability or any others) is the fastest acting of these bacteria-in-a-bottle products, and the only one where you can add fish in the first 24 hours or so and not experience an ammonia spike.

The bacteria contained in TurboStart are heterotrophic bacteria that are able to very quickly process ammonia to keep it safe for fish, but these are not the autotrophic bacteria that you really want for your biofilter long term. Think of the TurboStart like a bandaid. You still need to allow the slower growing autotrophic bacteria time to populate, but the TurboStart keeps the ammonia low until then.

A few other thoughts that I hope will help:

The API test kits don't get a lot of love here on R2R, but that's entirely blown out of proportion. The API kits have some quirks (like almost all home hobby level set kits), but they are by and large just fine, especially for the initial nitrogen cycle.

Ammonia is not as toxic as many believe, here's some numbers from RHF on ammonia toxicity from this link:

Ammonia is Our Friend!

Ammonia is Our Friend By Randy Holmes-Farley Yes, I know the title is provocative, and likely goes against much of what you read and hear in the reef aquarium hobby. I believe, however, that the hobby may have been harmed by the continual...

www.reef2reef.com

From the above link:
1. While ammonia is toxic at high levels, the levels needed to be lethal to a marine fish are higher than many people think. I’ve not seen any study in the literature that shows an LC50 (half of fish die) in less than 15 ppm total ammonia in seawater over 4 days or more of exposure at normal pH.

2. Sublethal toxic effects of ammonia, such as gill lesions observed by histopathology, do not seem to become significant until levels reach 5-10 ppm total ammonia at pH 8.1.

3. The toxicity of ammonia is a function of pH. At pH 8.5, toxic effects kick in at ammonia levels 2.5x lower than at pH 8.1. Likewise, at pH 7.8, it takes twice as much ammonia to be toxic as at pH 8.1. In a situation where ammonia might well reach toxic levels, such as a shipping bag, raising pH in the bag should not take place.

4. Toxic levels of ammonia are just not reached in typical operating reef aquaria. Seeing a measured value of 0.2 ppm, whether real or test error, is not a concern. It may be a benefit.

Nitrite is non-toxic in marine aquaria (unlike in freshwater), and there's no reason to test for nitrite or be concerned with it at all:

Nitrite Toxicity

Hey guys I have an aquarium system that has about 45gallons of water cycling so I Let it cycle for about week and I added seeded marine pure ceramic balls and the bacteria in a bottle. I had no choice but to add my 2 clownfish from my quarantine into the tank.. because I needed to put a sick...

www.reef2reef.com

Good luck!

 

[Pow3rful]

Thanks for that great reply.

I have some MicroBacter Clean that I'm going to start dosing in a week. I believe that has the hetrophic bacteria to help build up biofilter. Is that correct?

 

[Fish Fan]

Thanks for that great reply.

I have some MicroBacter Clean that I'm going to start dosing in a week. I believe that has the hetrophic bacteria to help build up biofilter. Is that correct?

I’m not really sure what’s in MB Clean, but I would suspect it’s a strain(s) of hetertrophic bacteria that can populate quickly to help breakdown and process waste, so in the short term I would think this product would help. Others may have first hand experience with it.