Day 17 fishless tank cycle. Ammonia 0, Nitrite/Nitrate to the roof.

[Gabbone]

Hi all,

I am doing a fishless cycle with dry rock, live deep sand, and I am at day 17. I've used Red Sea Mature Starter Kit.

None of what they claimed in their instruction was accurate but somehow I managed to get 2 days ago the Ammonia at 0ppm for the first time. (I am using Hanna checkers). I only did a 5% water change on day 10.

The skimmer was off since I did not use NoPox (If you know this product you know makes messes for new tanks).

Values are pretty stable
S: 1024
T: 26* C
Ph 8.0
Dkh: 11.9 (I use red sea coral pro salt which is very high in dkh)
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: ? The checker blinks since it's an ULR and therefore the value it's higher than the maximum reading 1ppm. (Also on the red sea nitrite test the colour seems three times stronger than 1ppm).
Nitrate: 70ppm (I guess because nitrites are higher can interfere?)

My question is, what should I do now?

- Just wait for Nitrite to drop? And then wait for the nitrate to drop?
- Do a 50% Water change and introduce the first snails.

I have no rush in putting creatures since I'd rather prefer to develop strong bacteria cultures. But I am kind of stuck. The nitrite level seems never to drop and nitrate seems getting higher day after day.

Keep in mind that I got 0 ppm ammonia only 2-3 days ago.

It's my first time cycling a saltwater aquarium, be kind

Ciaooo

 

[KrisReef]

Stop feeding the tank, add some snails and hermits and what not and send me $10.00 for my insanely kind post.

Highly recommend adding a tiny chunk of live rock if you want to get diversity closer to the reality of an ocean reef. (Just kidding about the $10.00 dollars). My kindness and stupid jokes are free.

Are you running the lights yet? What other critters and corals and fishes do you plan to be keeping?

Well I am running out of questions and kindness and I should be getting ready to drive to work so

 

[taricha]

- Just wait for Nitrite to drop? And then wait for the nitrate to drop?
- Do a 50% Water change and introduce the first snails.

There isn't any reason to wait. Neither Nitrite, nor nitrate are harmful.
You can do water changes to bring them down. The only issue with nitrite is that it makes monitoring NO3 nitrate nearly impossible until it NO2 drops to near zero.

 

[Gabbone]

Hi guys, thank you for the insights.

- I've stopped feeding since day 10. We are at day 18 today.
- The lights are off. In fact, I had almost no algae.
- I am planning to add initial CUC and then clown fish + goby. After a while some LPS.
- I've performed yesterday a 20% water change. I am gonna test today to see where am I.

 

[Gabbone]

Tested Nitrite, still very very high but I can't see the value.

Nitrate now are 50ppm compared to 70ppm (before water change)

Ph has dropped from 8.0 to 7.7

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Tested Nitrite, still very very high but I can't see the value.

What does that mean? There may be no need for water changes.

 

[Gabbone]

What does that mean? There may be no need for water changes.

I have Hanna checker nitrite ULR and the actual value is above the maximum the checker can detect.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I have Hanna checker nitrite ULR and the actual value is above the maximum the checker can detect.

That's very low range, with a max of 0.2 ppm. It's not an indication that a water change is needed.

Saltwater Aquarium Ultra Low Range Nitrite Colorimeter – Checker® HC HI764

The HI764 Checker®HC (Handheld Colorimeter) provides a simple, accurate and cost- effective way to measure low range nitries in marine environments.

www.hannainst.com

Range

0 to 200 ppb

 

[Gabbone]

Yeah... What should I do? I did yesterday a 20% water change.. I guess I should just wait until nitrites start to drop? Or add some nitro bac?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

How are you measuring nitrate?

 

[Gabbone]

How are you measuring nitrate?

Yes, before water change was 70ppm. After water change is 50ppm.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Yes, before water change was 70ppm. After water change is 50ppm.

How, not what values. What kit?

 

[Gabbone]

How, not what values. What kit?

Hanna Checkers

 

[PotatoPig]

I have Hanna checker nitrite ULR and the actual value is above the maximum the checker can detect.

ULR means “ultra low range”. The intended use for this is typically in specialty aquarium systems where nutrients are kept barely above zero for various reasons. This type of system isn’t the norm, and is not required to add fish, snails, or even most corals.

Being off the charts on a ULR test doesn’t mean you have “high” anything, just you’re using a test whose sensitivity maxes out at “very low” and your values are somewhere above “very low”.

 

[Gabbone]

ULR means “ultra low range”. The intended use for this is typically in specialty aquarium systems where nutrients are kept barely above zero for various reasons. This type of system isn’t the norm, and is not required to add fish, snails, or even most corals.

Being off the charts on a ULR test doesn’t mean you have “high” anything, just you’re using a test whose sensitivity maxes out at “very low” and your values are somewhere above “very low”.

I absolutely agree with you. However, I also did a red sea nitrate test and the colour is way way way darker than the 1ppm colour chart which is the maximum on that test.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I think the nitrite interference in the Hanna nitrate checker is fairly low, so 50 ppm likely means either substantial nitrite or nitrate and another water change might be useful, but in any case I’d move on to adding some clean up crew organisms.

 

[Gabbone]

Can I do another water change after a day I did the last one?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Can I do another water change after a day I did the last one?

Sure.

 

[Gabbone]

Theoretically with 5ppm nitrite / 50ppm nitrate could I add cuc?

 

[twentyleagues]

I am doing a fishless cycle with marco rock currently also. Seemed to take longer for the ammonia to come downlike 10-14 days to start. As of friday I had a slight color difference (maybe not) on an api and salifert test from 0. Checked nitrite 5.0ppm I know they say nitrite is/does not effect saltwater fish but I still dont trust that info 100%.Probably true but im not in a hurry. I did add some reefroids to the tank just to get a po4 reading on sunday. On monday nitrite still hadnt moved wednesday it dropped to 2.0. Unsure if that was just because the bacteria that converts nitrite had finally begun to act or if the phosphate/carbon helped. I dont have a reliable (api) phosphate tester yet so low levels are not detectable. But if you were adding food from what ive read above I dont see carbon being the limiting factor.