Cycled tank

manuel josephh

Community Member
View Badges
Joined
Sep 19, 2021
Messages
66
Reaction score
13
Location
singapore
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Hey guys, I really need help badly. I’ll try to give as much information as possible.

So my tank has been cycling for 23 days. At day 15 I changed the entire aquascape. Added new rocks, but kept half of the previous rocks so that I could still have some of the beneficial bacteria. After changing the aqua scape my test kits results were

Ammonia 0.25ppm
Nitrite 1ppm
Nitrate 20ppm
Ph 7.8
(still the same as before just that the nitrate dropped by 20ppm)

On day 20 my test kits results showed,

0-0.25ppm ammonia - was skeptical about the ammonia because I heard api test kits might show inaccurate results. But I posted a thread asking wether my tank was cycled and everyone said yes. Still I wanted to wait for a few days to see if the ammonia would go down

0ppm nitrite
40ppm nitrate

so after 2 days(yesterday) I went out to buy a different test kit by salifert. Went back home and tested the ammonia and it showed zero so I’m like yayyyy my tank is cycled I get to go to collect my pair of clownfish that my LFS had been holding for me. And obviously before adding livestock you would always want to make sure everything is stable, so I dosed around 1-2ppm of ammonia last night to see if the bacteria would convert it into nitrate.

next day(today) I tested my tank again.
Salifert
ammonia 0ppm

Api test kit
ammonia 1ppm
Nitrite 2-5ppm
Nitrate 40ppm

I’m like BRUHHHH…. UGHHHHHHH I’m so fustrated!! I don’t know which test kit to follow.

so what I’m trying to ask is, did I cause a mini cycle cause I dosed ammonia or maybe the tank crashed? Or is the test kit really just **** and giving me inaccurate results.

bacteria I’m using is microbacter start xlm by brightwell.
FFA63C0C-F970-48A4-81F0-ACDC6A4E9085.jpeg



F531000F-8EB1-4AF2-AE7A-1828C9D170A2.png
B2F2C320-864C-44E9-A27B-25E8AE4D7C64.png

368EB1F0-ECB1-4DA9-84E6-490658AE196A.png
 

Idech

2500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 21, 2021
Messages
3,272
Reaction score
2,912
Location
Canada
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
You’re probably cycled, but you dosed more ammonia than the established bacteria can handle. So it will be « eaten », but it will take more time.

Retest in 24-48 hours and hopefully it’s gone.
 

mdb_talon

2500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Dec 6, 2010
Messages
4,938
Reaction score
7,753
Location
Illinois
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I would have zero concerns about being cycled. Once you have that nitrifying bacteria built up(and you do) it can adjust very quickly to changes in bioload caused by adding a couple fish. You may very well see some "ugly" stages in the tank still and that happens frequently as it matures, but again I would not be the slightest bit concerned about the tanks ability to process ammonia at this point.
 

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
View Badges
Joined
Dec 9, 2014
Messages
29,481
Reaction score
23,570
Location
tejas
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Agreed, welcome to non digital cheap testing, it misleads. You’re done, cease cycle testing now and can reef
 
OP
OP
M

manuel josephh

Community Member
View Badges
Joined
Sep 19, 2021
Messages
66
Reaction score
13
Location
singapore
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I would have zero concerns about being cycled. Once you have that nitrifying bacteria built up(and you do) it can adjust very quickly to changes in bioload caused by adding a couple fish. You may very well see some "ugly" stages in the tank still and that happens frequently as it matures, but again I would not be the slightest bit concerned about the tanks ability to process ammonia at this point.
Ammonia lowered to 0-0.25ppm now. Nitrite is still at 2-5ppm. Hopefully it goes down tonight hahahaa
 

A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

  • I currently have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 64 36.8%
  • Not currently, but I have had feather dusters in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 59 33.9%
  • I have not had feather dusters, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 25 14.4%
  • I have no plans to have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 26 14.9%
  • Other.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
Back
Top