Day 48 into Cycle - Slow Progress, is this normal?

[pheyo]

Hi There

Noobie here first time owning an aquarium.
I'm not 100% sure if I'm on track with the tank cycle or if something has stalled the cycling process. Any feedback is appreciated.

Used Dr Tims One and only + ammonia
Was a little heavy handed with the ammonia dose initially, and it spiked to +2ppm.
Ammonia reading now shows zero with nitrite spiking over 1ppm and nitrates peaking at 10-20ppm over last 10 days now coming down to 2-5ppm
My concern is, Nitrite is still very high and it doesn't seem to be converting it to Nitrates.

Read somewhere that bacteria needs certain elements to continue to grow, else it will stall.
Main culprit being phosphate which will deplete during the cycle.
Phosphate is currently sitting at 0.05ppm, do I need to start dosing phosphate to kick the process along or stay where I am.

Have done x2 30% water changes over the past week also.


Setup 100Gal
Cannister Filter OASM 600
Media Reactor - using as refugium growing Chaeto (not used during cycling)
InLine UV Reactor (not turned on during cycling)

 

[Dan_P]

Hi There

Noobie here first time owning an aquarium.
I'm not 100% sure if I'm on track with the tank cycle or if something has stalled the cycling process. Any feedback is appreciated.

Used Dr Tims One and only + ammonia
Was a little heavy handed with the ammonia dose initially, and it spiked to +2ppm.
Ammonia reading now shows zero with nitrite spiking over 1ppm and nitrates peaking at 10-20ppm over last 10 days now coming down to 2-5ppm
My concern is, Nitrite is still very high and it doesn't seem to be converting it to Nitrates.

Read somewhere that bacteria needs certain elements to continue to grow, else it will stall.
Main culprit being phosphate which will deplete during the cycle.
Phosphate is currently sitting at 0.05ppm, do I need to start dosing phosphate to kick the process along or stay where I am.

Have done x2 30% water changes over the past week also.


Setup 100Gal
Cannister Filter OASM 600
Media Reactor - using as refugium growing Chaeto (not used during cycling)
InLine UV Reactor (not turned on during cycling)

Nitrite can be slow to disappear. If you have Cheato and nitrite is 1 ppm, the Cheato is not really growing. How much did the nitrite decrease after each water change?

 

[pheyo]

Nitrite can be slow to disappear. If you have Cheato and nitrite is 1 ppm, the Cheato is not really growing. How much did the nitrite decrease after each water change?

Hey thanks for the response Dan

I haven't turned on the "refugium" as yet, so not growing any chaeto at the moment.

After the 2 water changes, nitrite decreased from 2ppm to 1ppm
I'm assuming this isn't the ideal way to lower nitrite, as I should be relying on the bacteria to convert nitrite to nitrate?

 

[Dan_P]

Hey thanks for the response Dan

I haven't turned on the "refugium" as yet, so not growing any chaeto at the moment.

After the 2 water changes, nitrite decreased from 2ppm to 1ppm
I'm assuming this isn't the ideal way to lower nitrite, as I should be relying on the bacteria to convert nitrite to nitrate?

In saltwater, nitrite is not such a big issue for fish like it is in freshwater.

 

[PhilMStudy]

IMO that part of the cycle will be volatile for awhile, the range you’re staying in is fine for FOWLR and that’s all you’ll have for the most part for the next few months…

You’re on the right path, slow is fast in this hobby, unless you want to start chasing parameters with supplements from day 1, and that’s a really expensive way to try this

 

[fishyjoes]

My favorite thing lately is posting a link to the cycling bacteria testing thread.
Dr. Tims is one of the slower products, see here for details

Not all Cycling Bacteria are created equal. Who's who, and what do they need?

My hypothesis is that there are very different types of Bacteria that are being used to "cycle" tanks to prevent ammonia accumulation, and it's not entirely clear which products contain which group, and it's also poorly understood what the requirements are for one of these groups to do their...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[randomfishdude]

You have been cycling for 48 days???

 

[lil sumpin]

I thought I was patient when I cycled up for 24 days

 

[randomfishdude]

I thought I was patient when I cycled up for 24 days

My first tank I cycled foe 3 weeks. Second I cycled for 5 days.

I know some people cycled for 3.mknths and others that say wait 6 months for coral.

 

[pheyo]

My first tank I cycled foe 3 weeks. Second I cycled for 5 days.

I know some people cycled for 3.mknths and others that say wait 6 months for coral.

Yeah, reason why I join the forum to ask if my tank is still somewhat cycling/stalled or if I'm good to go to start adding fish.

 

[crazyfishmom]

These days I cycle my tanks with coral in them. Works like a charm. Slow and steady. Dosing nitrate and phosphate to keep them happy and they do the rest.

 

[pheyo]

These days I cycle my tanks with coral in them. Works like a charm. Slow and steady. Dosing nitrate and phosphate to keep them happy and they do the rest.

Can I ask which brand nitrate/phosphate you are dosing with? I'm leaning towards going down this route

 

[crazyfishmom]

Can I ask which brand nitrate/phosphate you are dosing with? I'm leaning towards going down this route

I dose Plus NP from Tropic Marin at first for a couple of weeks to keep Coral happy. And go slowly with coral addition. Mostly watch how the coral are doing rather than worry about anything else. Once I add fish I start to monitor nitrate and phosphate closely as feeding will affect levels of those and can get them to raise to levels I don’t want. And then I control with carbon dosing and dose NeoNitro or neophos as needed until the system is fully established. It takes patience and being on top of the tank to be honest. But it makes it so that I enjoy the process more because I can set up tanks very quickly. I only recommend doing it this way if you’re going to stay on top of it daily. If not, go the longer route. It sounds like you’re almost there.

 

[Naekuh]

My cycle took almost 8 weeks of hell.
I used Base Rock and dry sand tho, but i had a large seed from my previous tank in the form of cermaic bricks i just moved over.

But short simple, it still took 8 weeks.

I think the bulk of it was on the same part your stuck at... the Nitrite -> Nitrate.
I also read if you keep your alk up, it will help it, as i noticed during this part of the cycle, my Alk was being leached, and required dosing.

Check your alk is what i would say first.

And no never dose Phosphate / Nitrate, unless you know exactly what you are doing, because you will be seeding a algae bloom on a bibilical genisis levels, unless you know exactly what your dosing and how much of it you require.

The tank will balance itself out without you needing to do anything but possibly adding more ALK.