Cycling question (using dr Tim one & only + Ammonium Chloride

[Kika]

Tank: RedSea 250G1
Total volume: 65G
Currently using 40 lbs of Caribsea live sand and just under 40 lbs of caribsea life rocks (shapes)
Test Kit: RedSea
Only running return pump.

On day 1 I added full 8oz bottle of one and only bacteria. I went with 8oz bc 4oz was for 60 gallons and as per instructions you cannot overdose bacteria. I added ~ 208 drops (~10.4ml of dr Tim ammonium chloride) and I obtained ~2 ppm ammonia after couple of hrs which is fine.

I am on day 2, just tested after ~24 hrs. I obtained close to 0 ppm for both ammonia and Nitrite, which makes me doubt if I did something wrong, or the bacteria are eating ammonium very quickly. I just dosed ammonium chloride again and will test tomorrow…

I am kind of new to the hobby and this is my first cycling process, hence I would like to hear your opinion if close to 0 ammonia and nitrite on day 2 is expected or may happen.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Fish Fan]

Hello!

It doesn't seem likely that a brand new tank went from 2.0 ppm ammonia to zero in such a short period of time. The Red Sea test kit is usually pretty solid though.

How did you arrive at the 208 drops? I believe Dr. Tim's instructions are 4 drops per gallon, which would be 260 drops for your 65 gallon system. But testing the concentration with your test kit is the way to be sure as drops can be inconsistent in size.

The only thing I've got at the moment is that because you added so much extra bacteria that they did in fact process the ammonia, but I'm skeptical even as I type this The Dr. Tim's One and Only is a great product, but it typically takes a good few days to a week before you start to see the ammonia going down. Some do report a full cycle with this product in a week as advertised, so it's possible.

Here's what I would suggest. The "test" for if your tank is cycled is that it can process ~2.0 ppm ammonia to nearly zero in 24 hours. I would again dose the ammonia to ~2.0 ppm ammonia, and then check 24 hours later, and if indeed your ammonia is nearly zero, congrats; you had one of this 1 week cycle

Good luck, let us know how it's going!

 

[Kika]

Hello!

It doesn't seem likely that a brand new tank went from 2.0 ppm ammonia to zero in such a short period of time. The Red Sea test kit is usually pretty solid though.

How did you arrive at the 208 drops? I believe Dr. Tim's instructions are 4 drops per gallon, which would be 260 drops for your 65 gallon system. But testing the concentration with your test kit is the way to be sure as drops can be inconsistent in size.

The only thing I've got at the moment is that because you added so much extra bacteria that they did in fact process the ammonia, but I'm skeptical even as I type this The Dr. Tim's One and Only is a great product, but it typically takes a good few days to a week before you start to see the ammonia going down. Some do report a full cycle with this product in a week as advertised, so it's possible.

Here's what I would suggest. The "test" for if your tank is cycled is that it can process ~2.0 ppm ammonia to nearly zero in 24 hours. I would again dose the ammonia to ~2.0 ppm ammonia, and then check 24 hours later, and if indeed your ammonia is nearly zero, congrats; you had one of this 1 week cycle

Good luck, let us know how it's going!

Thank you for your quick response. I did get to the 208 drops because Dr Tim bottle instructions says to subtract ~20% of total volume if you have rocks.. 65 G - 20% is 54 x 4 drops = 208 (10.4 ml).

The tank is not new, it was actually a mature tank. However, I cleaned it up and started from 0.

I also assumed that given the fact that I added the entire 8z bottle of bacteria to this tank, it quickly took over the ammonium.

But yea, I dosed again 208 drops, will see tomorrow. Would be the fasted cycle ever LoL

 

[msaleh26]

I’m in a similar situation with my Red Sea G2 250. I dosed 260 drops of ammonia right after adding 12 oz of bottled bacteria. Within 24 hours, ammonia dropped to zero. I then re-dosed with 200 drops, accounting for roughly 20% less water volume.


Since then, it’s been 4 days and ammonia is still stuck at 2 ppm, with nitrite still at 0. pH is stable, the powerhead has been running nonstop, and I also turned on the skimmer and the floss filter—but the water is still very hazy.

Still new to the hobby and any help is appreciated.




I’m not sure what to do next. Should I wait it out until ammonia starts to process and nitrites appear, or should I dose more bacteria?

 

[Kika]

I’m in a similar situation with my Red Sea G2 250. I dosed 260 drops of ammonia right after adding 12 oz of bottled bacteria. Within 24 hours, ammonia dropped to zero. I then re-dosed with 200 drops, accounting for roughly 20% less water volume.


Since then, it’s been 4 days and ammonia is still stuck at 2 ppm, with nitrite still at 0. pH is stable, the powerhead has been running nonstop, and I also turned on the skimmer and the floss filter—but the water is still very hazy.

Still new to the hobby and any help is appreciated.




I’m not sure what to do next. Should I wait it out until ammonia starts to process and nitrites appear, or should I dose more bacteria?

I’m not sure about dosing bacteria again nor running the skimmer would be best… I would just keep the RTN pump and gyre on, nothing else.. @Fishfan and other folks are helping in this thread https://www.reef2reef.com/posts/13779148/

 

[Kika]

@Fish Fan is helping, sorry for the incorrect user tag

 

[Fish Fan]

I’m in a similar situation with my Red Sea G2 250. I dosed 260 drops of ammonia right after adding 12 oz of bottled bacteria. Within 24 hours, ammonia dropped to zero. I then re-dosed with 200 drops, accounting for roughly 20% less water volume.


Since then, it’s been 4 days and ammonia is still stuck at 2 ppm, with nitrite still at 0. pH is stable, the powerhead has been running nonstop, and I also turned on the skimmer and the floss filter—but the water is still very hazy.

Still new to the hobby and any help is appreciated.




I’m not sure what to do next. Should I wait it out until ammonia starts to process and nitrites appear, or should I dose more bacteria?

I can't explain why some of you are seeing a nearly instant drop in ammonia, except if may using a bacteria-in-a-bottle product like Fritz TurboStart, which is known to work very, very fast (though it's not really the correct bacteria that you want to be growing).

Personally, I would wait this out. Typically, a fish-less cycle takes about 3 weeks, give or take. Your cloudy water is either just from newly mixed saltwater that sometimes looks cloudy, or because you have fine particles of sand blowing around (that will settle out in a few days or so) or it's a bacteria bloom. There's no reason to run the skimmer just yet, there's literally nothing in the water for it to skim yet. Wait until you start to see high nitrates then turn your skimmer on. Typically, I don't suggest using mechanical media during a cycle, but given your cloudy water you can use some here, I don't think it would be an issue.

What have you used for a bottle of bacteria, and what kits are you using?

 

[msaleh26]

I used Dr. Tim’s saltwater bacteria and the API test kit. I set up the system and let it run for about a week until the water cleared up and became crystal clear. On Thursday at 5 PM, I dosed 12 ounces of Dr. Tim’s bacteria and added 260 drops of ammonia. After 24 hours, ammonia dropped to zero.


Following Dr. Tim’s instructions, I re-dosed with 200 drops of ammonia. It’s now been 4 days, and ammonia is still reading 2 ppm. No nitrite or nitrate has appeared, and the water has become very cloudy.





The skimmer is currently pulling out yellowish water. Initially, it was producing a large amount of watery skimmate, but now it’s only collecting small amounts every few hours.

 

[Fish Fan]

I used Dr. Tim’s saltwater bacteria and the API test kit. I set up the system and let it run for about a week until the water cleared up and became crystal clear. On Thursday at 5 PM, I dosed 12 ounces of Dr. Tim’s bacteria and added 260 drops of ammonia. After 24 hours, ammonia dropped to zero.


Following Dr. Tim’s instructions, I re-dosed with 200 drops of ammonia. It’s now been 4 days, and ammonia is still reading 2 ppm. No nitrite or nitrate has appeared, and the water has become very cloudy.





The skimmer is currently pulling out yellowish water. Initially, it was producing a large amount of watery skimmate, but now it’s only collecting small amounts every few hours.

That all sounds good, though I can't explain why the ammonia went to zero initially. But 4 or 5 days into a cycle with Dr. Tim's isn't very long, I would expect this to take two or three weeks to complete. I would wait this out.

You don't have to wait for your nitrite to drop to zero, you can safely ignore nitrite in saltwater tanks. Just wait for your ammonia to drop to nearly-zero, then you're likely good to go for some hardy livestock.

 

[msaleh26]

That all sounds good, though I can't explain why the ammonia went to zero initially. But 4 or 5 days into a cycle with Dr. Tim's isn't very long, I would expect this to take two or three weeks to complete. I would wait this out.

You don't have to wait for your nitrite to drop to zero, you can safely ignore nitrite in saltwater tanks. Just wait for your ammonia to drop to nearly-zero, then you're likely good to go for some hardy livestock.

Should I keep the skimmer and the auto floss on at this early stage cycle?

 

[Fish Fan]

Should I keep the skimmer and the auto floss on at this early stage cycle?

It's generally recommend not to run your skimmer or mechanical media (like a fleece roller) when you're cycling your tank. At this early stage the skimmer doesn't really have anything to pull out, except the bacteria that you've added. And you want the bacteria to settle on and populate the rocks and sand, and not get trapped and removed by your mechanical media. Running either at this point won't really hurt anything, it's just not really helping either

 

[Kika]

I used Dr. Tim’s saltwater bacteria and the API test kit. I set up the system and let it run for about a week until the water cleared up and became crystal clear. On Thursday at 5 PM, I dosed 12 ounces of Dr. Tim’s bacteria and added 260 drops of ammonia. After 24 hours, ammonia dropped to zero.


Following Dr. Tim’s instructions, I re-dosed with 200 drops of ammonia. It’s now been 4 days, and ammonia is still reading 2 ppm. No nitrite or nitrate has appeared, and the water has become very cloudy.





The skimmer is currently pulling out yellowish water. Initially, it was producing a large amount of watery skimmate, but now it’s only collecting small amounts every few hours.

Adding that should be good for 4z one and only (if that’s the bacteria you used) if so, that’s explain the cloudy tank, same thing happened to me, I added 8z. However, my tank got cleared after a week or so.. 4z of Dr Tim said to be good for up to 60G. Out 250s are 65 but if you subtract ~20 of rocks, that would be 52G hence why the 4os should be enough. Nevertheless, they said you can’t overdose the bacteria, however, cloudiness may be expected if too much is added. Don’t worry, should clear in a few days…

 

[msaleh26]

It's generally recommend not to run your skimmer or mechanical media (like a fleece roller) when you're cycling your tank. At this early stage the skimmer doesn't really have anything to pull out, except the bacteria that you've added. And you want the bacteria to settle on and populate the rocks and sand, and not get trapped and removed by your mechanical media. Running either at this point won't really hurt anything, it's just not really helping either

Nitrate and nitrite both at 0 still, ammonia stuck at 0.5 since Wednesday, the water is much clearer than yesterday and before yesterday, diatoms showed up 2 days ago,I am now at day 8 of the cycle, the cycle is progressing slowly I think, I am a little worried about the ammonia, it’s been 0.5 since Wednesday.

 

[vittpsu21]

Nitrate and nitrite both at 0 still, ammonia stuck at 0.5 since Wednesday, the water is much clearer than yesterday and before yesterday, diatoms showed up 2 days ago,I am now at day 8 of the cycle, the cycle is progressing slowly I think, I am a little worried about the ammonia, it’s been 0.5 since Wednesday.

There is a QR code on the bacteria bottle that takes you directly to Dr Tims instructions, I believe different ones for each type you use but... alas

https://www.drtimsaquatics.com/resources/library/quick-guide-to-fishless-cycling-with-one-and-only/

 

[msaleh26]

Hi everyone,


I’m on day 16 of my cycle and seeing something strange.

• First ammonia dose: 2 ppm → 0 ppm in 24 hrs
• Second ammonia dose: 2 ppm → 0.5 ppm in about 1 week
• Then, without adding any chemicals or food, ammonia spiked back up to 2 ppm
• pH steady around 8.0
• Return pump + 2 powerheads running 24/7
• 30 lbs sterilized rock + 20 lbs live CaribSea
• Sand is completely sterilized
• Water was hazy for 10 days, now clear
• Diatoms appeared in week 2
• I’ve scraped biofilm off the glass
• Nitrite and nitrate are still zero
• Dosed 12 oz of Dr. Tim’s One & Only on day 1

Is it normal for ammonia to spike again like this without adding a source? Could the live rock or biofilm be releasing something back into the water? Any advice on whether this is a stall or just a weird phase?