Cycling Problems

[Dragon52]

I am

I am using API and yes I have heard that and I believe that has been a happening as well. Tested again tonight after raising it from 0 to 1ppm and it reads .25 ammonia but it is slightly lighter than the card, so I believe that is 0 ammonia.

You should get different test kits, Salifert, Red Sea & Hanna are the ones I use.

 

[CoralBuddy]

I second that ^, get a better testing kit to start. Hanna is my pick.

 

[Badzmaru]

I’m in same situation but on 2 week mark, the nitrites hasn’t gone down and i do know i have to be patient. One thing that i’m not sure of is do i need to keep dosing ammonia is that the bacteria that deals ammonia has something to feed on or can you stop dosing ammonia until the nitrites drops?

 

[DanH86]

You don’t need to keep dosing; bacteria can survive for quite some time without the ammonia. I think I only dosed twice in my cycle and that was very early on.

 

[Badzmaru]

You don’t need to keep dosing; bacteria can survive for quite some time without the ammonia. I think I only dosed twice in my cycle and that was very early on.

thanks Dan, i couldn’t find the answer anywhere on this but now i understand.

 

[Zachary S.]

I’m in same situation but on 2 week mark, the nitrites hasn’t gone down and i do know i have to be patient. One thing that i’m not sure of is do i need to keep dosing ammonia is that the bacteria that deals ammonia has something to feed on or can you stop dosing ammonia until the nitrites drops?

My nitrites are very high as well, I’m gonna wait it out but might be doing some small water changes to get the nitrites lower so it will be much easier to bring down. This should not affect the biological filter because the bacteria lives in the sand bed and live/dry rock. As long as the bacteria is there then it should still bring down ammonia the next day even after you change the water. With less nitrites it should take a little less time in bringing them down and then after that you can at least tell where it’s at on the card rather then the levels off of the charts. I’m probably gonna feed it once a week to 1 ppm just so they have something.

 

[Zachary S.]

So it’s been a week since I started cycling my tank with Dr. Tim’s and the nitrite levels have been off the charts since the second day (meaning that the levels were unreadable on the chart since they were so high) two days ago I raised the ammonia to 1 ppm just to feed the bacteria and left it there since then (didn’t do no testing since then).
The nitrites were still off the charts when I did that so today I decided to do a 20% water change just to lower the nitrites a tad bit, but I never measured my parameters before that.. just kinda assumed that they would be high. I changed the water and let the tank run for about 30 mins before doing any testing.

These are my parameters after testing:
PH: 8
Ammonia: 0 - 0.25 ppm (API Test kit)
NITRITE: 0.25ppm!!!!!!!!
Nitrate: 40-80ppm

The nitrites had gone down a ton (5+ to 0.25ppm). I don’t believe that a 18-20% WC would have brought the levels down that much, so do you guys think that it possible went down on its own in those two days?? Is the tank almost cycled? Gonna dose another 2ppm ammonia to see if the levels drop within 24 hours.

 

[Zachary S.]

Also was wondering if I could use this nitrate reducer to keep the nitrates down during the cycling phase? Heard good reviews about it and was just wondering if I should use it. Nitrates are about 80ppm. Picture may show darker.

 

[S.Pepper]

I’m in same situation but on 2 week mark, the nitrites hasn’t gone down and i do know i have to be patient. One thing that i’m not sure of is do i need to keep dosing ammonia is that the bacteria that deals ammonia has something to feed on or can you stop dosing ammonia until the nitrites drops?

Also was wondering if I could use this nitrate reducer to keep the nitrates down during the cycling phase? Heard good reviews about it and was just wondering if I should use it. Nitrates are about 80ppm. Picture may show darker.

Don't worry about your nitrates. I wouldn't add anything to my system until it's finished cycling and then would only consider adding some good bacteria. I added Purple Helix from Arcreef.com. Slow down and let the process work. Peace, out.

 

[Zachary S.]

Don't worry about your nitrates. I wouldn't add anything to my system until it's finished cycling and then would only consider adding some good bacteria. I added Purple Helix from Arcreef.com. Slow down and let the process work. Peace, out.

Does the purple helix actually help grow core alone algae??

 

[Zachary S.]

Update after dosing 1ppm ammonia:

Ph: 8.0
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrites: .50ppm
Nitrate: 80 ppm

 

[Zachary S.]

Was wondering if re- aquascaping would affect the biological filter?

 

[flsalty]

Was wondering if re- aquascaping would affect the biological filter?

Not if you are just rearranging the same rocks.

 

[Zachary S.]

Not if you are just rearranging the same rocks.

Okay good, it was just the same rocks

 

[Zachary S.]

Parameters update:

PH: 8
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite:0ppm
Nitrate: 80ppm

Raised the ammonia up to see if the levels go down within the 24 hours.

Also it looks to me like I’m getting really bright green spots on my rocks, not much but definitely there, what algae is bright bright green?

 

[GregDaKeg]

Parameters update:

PH: 8
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite:0ppm
Nitrate: 80ppm

Raised the ammonia up to see if the levels go down within the 24 hours.

Also it looks to me like I’m getting really bright green spots on my rocks, not much but definitely there, what algae is bright bright green?

Same here. Does it look like this?

 

[Zachary S.]

Same here. Does it look like this?

exactly like that, the super bright algae that is, my rock is new so there’s no algae on it besides that bright stuff.
(Not very much just spots like yours).

 

[GregDaKeg]

exactly like that, the super bright algae that is, my rock is new so there’s no algae on it besides that bright stuff.
(Not very much just spots like yours).

Did you get a diatom bloom? Running lights?

 

[Zachary S.]

Did you get a diatom bloom? Running lights?

Not yet and I’ve been running lights occasionally not that much though

 

[Zachary S.]

Update after dosing ammonia:

Ph: 8
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 1-2ppm
Nitrate: 80ish ppm

The parameters are getting better, been going down pretty good, just got to give it time for more bacteria to grow for the nitrites but the nitrites do go down. Do you guys suggest that I don’t add more ammonia until the nitrites hit 0 again?