Cycling process

[Hentie]

Once again a question about cycling your tank.

I have been cycling my tank (using Red Sea starter kit) for about a week now.

I have had no indication that anything is happening, no ugly stage. Is this something to be worried about?

Ammonia - 0.2
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - approx. 5

Any help please

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

The ugly stage will occur within the first 12 months. Did you turn on your lights yet? When you turn them on, you will start seeing start seeing little patches of algae and diatoms within a few weeks. Just one week is too short, not much happens in a week.

Your tank is still cycling, just keep being patient until the ammonia is zero. Good luck.

 

[Sylvester]

Keep on going with whatever you’re doing. Patience,patience, patience!
You’ll get a spike of Ammonia, Nitrite first. Keep waiting till it trickles down to Nitrate. Once Ammonia is 0,I would still wait it out a few weeks.
Be patient with the cycle

 

[wheels4896]

Once again a question about cycling your tank.

I have been cycling my tank (using Red Sea starter kit) for about a week now.

I have had no indication that anything is happening, no ugly stage. Is this something to be worried about?

Ammonia - 0.2
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - approx. 5

Any help please

What test kit are you using? 0.2ppm is possibly an artifact.

You are already showing nitrate and zeroed on nitrite, so that indicates ammonia is being processed. Wait another day or two to see if ammonia drops, and as long as it doesn't do go up you are fine to add fish and/or coral (small amount of course). Alternatively dose some more ammonia and verify it gets converted in a day or two before starting to stock.

Waiting weeks, counterintuitively, can "uncycle" your tank as without any ammonia your nitrifying bacteria may starve and reduce in population unless you are consistently adding ammonia.

 

[Hentie]

Awesome, thanks guys.
Read about how this hobby teaches you patience and here I am hoping for a cycled tank after a week!!

 

[Reef By Steele]

Yes a week is very short for a cycle. I have had one tank cycle in a week, using prodibio start up and dosing pure ammonia from Ace Hardware. As stated the ugly stage takes time to develop. There are ways to help eliminate that. Dosing live phytoplankton will help to keep nutrients down as it will consume nitrates and Phophate, plus if it has a diatom such as Thalassiosira weissflogii, Chaetoceros gracilis etc it will consume silicate which will limit or prevent the brown diatom bloom that generally hits a new tank due to the silicates present in the sand.

Adding copepods after the ammonia cycle is complete will greatly reduce your ugly stage, but will need to be fed phytoplankton to sustain them especially until there is an other life to provide them a food source.

 

[jda]

The cycle is never done. This is why it has this name - cyclical. Your tank might be ready for fish if you can add some ammonia and then it drops to 0-0.20 quickly, but it still needs to develop other things and mature (breath and depth)... so go slow and be smart. Please do not get a false sense of security thinking that something is over since while you can be OK with some fish done smartly, you can overstock and kill them too.

 

[Hentie]

REALLY a PATIENCE game!

Cycling for 3 weeks now. Ammonia - 0.2, Nitrite - 1 (maybe higher), kit only runs to 1, Nitrate - 5.

Do I still wait for those good bacteria to come and sort out the ammonia? Anything I should add?

 

[Dan_P]

REALLY a PATIENCE game!

Cycling for 3 weeks now. Ammonia - 0.2, Nitrite - 1 (maybe higher), kit only runs to 1, Nitrate - 5.

Do I still wait for those good bacteria to come and sort out the ammonia? Anything I should add?

What was the ammonia reading when you first started the cycling process?

Nitrate and nitrite seem low for anything to have actually happened.

 

[Hentie]

Ammonia never really spiked, always been 0.2, only increase in Nitrate. I am also confused as if anything is actually happening in the tank?

 

[Dan_P]

Ammonia never really spiked, always been 0.2, only increase in Nitrate. I am also confused as if anything is actually happening in the tank?

Did you add ammonia?

 

[Hentie]

Never added Ammonia, was following instructions from Red Sea starter kit

You suggest I add?

 

[Sylvester]

REALLY a PATIENCE game!

Cycling for 3 weeks now. Ammonia - 0.2, Nitrite - 1 (maybe higher), kit only runs to 1, Nitrate - 5.

Do I still wait for those good bacteria to come and sort out the ammonia? Anything I should add?

More patience
Feed the tank with pellets or flakes. Provide so e food for bacteria

 

[Hentie]

Prawn maybe?

 

[Dan_P]

Never added Ammonia, was following instructions from Red Sea starter kit

You suggest I add?

Here’s how a typical “cycling” process is established when starting with dry sand and dry rock.

1) Add nitrifying bacteria, for example, Fritz Turbo Start, BioSpira, Dr. Tim’s One And Only. These are the bacteria that convert ammonia to nitrite and nitrite to nitrate.

2) Feed the bacteria by adding ammonium chloride to a level of 1-2 ppm total ammonia.

3) Monitor the disappearance of ammonia. When it reaches zero, there are plenty of bacteria to remove ammonia from the aquarium. Some aquarists double check the capacity of the bacteria to remove ammonia by adding another 1-2 ppm of ammonia and watching it disappear within 24-48 hours. During this time, nitrite will quickly increase and then slowly decrease. The decrease in nitrite indicates that the population of bacteria that convert nitrite to nitrate is growing. At this point most aquarists start over stocking their aquarium.

By the method you are using we cannot tell what is happening. If you were to increase the ammonia level in your aquarium to 0.5-1.0 ppm, monitoring how fast it disappears will tell you something about the bacteria population that removes ammonia.

 

[Hentie]

Hi,

So posted the first question re cycling a month ago. Since then, there has been a spike in ammonia levels to approx. 1. Current reading is 0.4. Nitrite levels which was 0 a month ago still very high >1. Two weeks ago my LFS suggested I add CUC to kickstart process. All of them still alive but for 1 snail (crabs got to him I think).

I want to know, do I try adding another make of bio supplement?

Can i actually restart the cycling process and redo for a second time?

Your help is appreciated. I am running out of ideas

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

From Feb 8 till now, and still have clean up crew living in the tank, the tank is cycled. No need to overthink it, its done.

Add your first fish and start tracking the nitrate and do water changes when the nitrate climbs.

 

[Reef By Steele]

Hi,

So posted the first question re cycling a month ago. Since then, there has been a spike in ammonia levels to approx. 1. Current reading is 0.4. Nitrite levels which was 0 a month ago still very high >1. Two weeks ago my LFS suggested I add CUC to kickstart process. All of them still alive but for 1 snail (crabs got to him I think).

I want to know, do I try adding another make of bio supplement?

Can i actually restart the cycling process and redo for a second time?

Your help is appreciated. I am running out of ideas

What test kit are you using for ammonia and nitrite?

If you have no fish, where is the ammonia coming from? Are you adding it? Letting a piece of shrimp etc rot? Ammonia doesn’t just happen so there has to be a source.

Fish give it off in their waste, excess food creates it as it deteriorates etc. CUC shouldn’t create much on their own.

 

[Hentie]

Using Red Sea as testing kit.

Not adding ammonia.

Bio Blocks in tank.

Took shrimp out a couple of weeks ago.

Currently adding Prime from Seachem daily to detoxify ammonia and nitrite.

Which fish do you think I should add to start off with?

 

[Naekuh]

Currently adding Prime from Seachem daily to detoxify ammonia and nitrite.

Why are you using prime?
You shouldn't be using prime period, its more meant for tap water, as it does not remove ammonia, it just makes it temporarly inert, but leaves it there.

Your cycle should be handling ammonia and nitrite.

You should wait the cycle out until both ammonia and nitrite get close to 0 as possible.
And when your nitrate is about 20ppm.


Then you do a water change... about 30-40% depending on tank size, to flush some excess nitrate you built up during the cycle, and then you add fish.

But if you need prime to detox everyday, your not anywhere near completed with a cycle, and you probably stalled it by using prime.