Does this mean I’m cycled?

[sparky727]

Good morning my fellow reefers, in my new set up I was having nitrate issues last week. I removed all sand did a major water change and added new oceans direct sand. Nitrates have been down since. Yesterday I got a second bottle of seachem stability and started dosing that along with dr Tim’s ammonia. I dosed enough to have me well above 1ppm close to 2 ppm before bed. I woke up this morning and my ammonia was reading 0.25 and nitrites are reading 1 ppm. Since my tank is processing the ammonia into nitrites my cycle is about complete? Should I test any other levels at this point or what do you guys recommend my next move is? Not rushing anything.

 

[sparky727]

Keep in mind my tank has also been set up about a month and a half. The same rock has been in there the whole time. Just sand bed was removed.

 

[Deiblerj]

Your cycle is not don’t yet. Ammonia needs to be 0 and nitrites at 0. Nitrates and phosphates can be more than 0 but within reason. How bad were your nitrates that made you want to change your sand? Your essentially are restarting your cycle. Your next move should be to wait and test, wait and test, and wait and test. Once you have 0 ammonia and nirtires and your nitrate and phosphate are good you add your cuc. Have them be your testers. They will clean up the ugly stuff and you can see if the water of fish safe or not

 

[sparky727]

I’ve had my hermits in there for about 3 weeks. Before finding out about my sand bed. My nitrates were way over 100 and I figured I would be restarting cycle. I just saw my tank process 2 ppm ammonia into .25 then into some nitrite in 9 hours. So that was a good sign. I understand ammonia and nitrite will be 0 when cycle is complete. I was kind of just asking if I’m almost there cause I thought my ammonia processing was a good sign.

 

[Deiblerj]

You’re heading in the right direction. Sorry for the confusion.

You might want to take your hermits out. That doesn’t seem to healthy for them

 

[sparky727]

yeah I know I feel terrible for them maybe I’ll store them in a cup till my ammonia hits 0. I got screwed with that sand by someone and it really threw my whole tank off. Was doing 80% water changes and nitrates were still over 100

 

[Slim64684]

If you can process 2ppm ammonia to 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite in 24 hours you should be good to go.

 

[sparky727]

That’s what I was thinking. Waiting to test again tonight. Thanks for confirming.

 

[sparky727]

Ok so I just tested levels again. Ammonia has hit 0. Nitrite staying about 1 and nitrates launched back up after ammonia dose last night. Reading about 100 ppm. Should I keep dosing ammonia at this point or wait for nitrite to drop? Then do water change for nitrates.

 

[Deiblerj]

Wait for nitrites to drop. Then do a water change. How big is your tank?

 

[sparky727]

50 gall cube with 25 gallon sump below.

 

[Deiblerj]

Wait till nitrites go to 0 and do a 25% water change. Give it a few hours or a day and check parameters again. Nothing drastic or you might start your cycle over.

 

[sparky727]

Ok thx

 

[sparky727]

25% including size of sump right

 

[Deiblerj]

No worries. Keep us posted on the status of your tank!

 

[Deiblerj]

Yes. This will be a good starting amount to see how your tank reacts. You can always do more water changes later if needed but this amount will still keep the good bacteria in your tank without disturbing too much

 

[sparky727]

Nitrites hit 0 this morning. Will do water change later on today. Then check nitrates

 

[sparky727]

Nitrates still reading 100 ppm this morning

 

[lapin]

As you know if you have any nitrites the nitrate reading will be off. So now you have 0. Time for those water changes to get rid of that nitrate. I would do a 50% and check. It prob wont reduce them 50% but should be close. Make some more water and do another 50% tomorrow. Dont worry about the bacteria. They are in the rock and sand and are hard a work multiplying like guppies.

 

[sparky727]

Ok cool. Been dosing stability too. Thanks.