Dr Tim’s Cycle

[Empire]

Dont add anything. No more adding ammonia or food. Just simply wait for ammonia to hit 0.
Nitrites dont really have to be 0 for you to add fish but sure if you wanna wait till they hit 0 go ahead.

Note: I highly recommend everyone cycling their tanks with bacteria in bottle to throw a pinch of fish food in your tank. Heterotrophic bacteria requires carbon and our sterile tanks have none which stalls the cycle.

I have done a massive study and its posted here at R2R under "bacteria in bottle myth or fact"

Thanks! i started with ammonium chloride and the one and only nitrfying bacteria

 

[Empire]

Don't add anything. Wait for the ammonia hit 0, then your Nitrites will go down to 0 and you will have a high Nitrates that you can fix with a 10% water change. Also, don't use the skimmer or lights, system doesn't need it now.

thank you!

 

[Empire]

Ok need some help reading my tests. Hate this game!! Please and thanks

 

[Ruben's Reef]

Ok @Empire, you're almost there. Something that I did was getting a salifert test kit to test Nitrites and Nitrates cuz the API was giving me a way off false reading. Also I got a Seachem ammonia batch on Amazon for $5 and it help a lot. You can see that on my build thread. Probably your tank is already cycled but I would double check or take a water sample to your local LFS and see what's their reading. Sometimes the also use API

 

[Reefman71]

Hi All -
On Day 3 of a Dr T cycle. Still reading ammonia after initial dose. I’m assuming I don’t need to dose anymore and just wait ?

I’m on day 16. My ammonia is zero, nitrite is barely detectable. Are you adding more ammonia?

 

[Reefman71]

Wow! I thought I was the only one!! Im on day 16 everything is at zero, ammonia and nitrite anyway. So now is just a waiting game for nitrate to build up?

 

[Empire]

I had similar issues until I threw some food in. I dosed ammonia twice then stopped. I have diatoms now but fish and softies are healthy.

 

[Empire]

Spyder and Dr Reef were super helpful. I’m sure they will chime in soon.

 

[Dr. Reef]

If you started with some ammonia and it's down to 0 but nitrites and nitrates are still undetectable then there is something not right.
With addition of bacteria in bottle you can see 0 ammonia and nitrite but not 0 nitrates.

Stariting with 1 ppm ammonia produces 2.7 ppm nitrites which produces 3.6 ppm nitrites.

And most nitrate kits at hobby level are not accurate as they use nitrate to nitrite reduction method which is not very accurate thus show a lot higher ppm on nitrates.
With all that info I am surprised you are not seeing nitrates?
What test kit are you using? Is it expired ?

 

[Reefman71]

a tank being cycled by ghost feeding normally takes 4-6 weeks. honestly, I'd be fairly disappointed if I spent money on Dr. Tim's and had to wait the same amount of time. Follow your test kits but in general 2 weeks is often enough to make it safe for fish when using bottled bacteria.

My nitrites are gone after day 16 my nitrate is getting really high now. Zero ammonia zero nitrate. Dr. Tims works

 

[Reefman71]

I’m in the same boat - waiting...today is day 31 since I added Dr Tim’s. The ammonia spiked and then went after day 10, nitrite still off the charts.
[/QUOTE

I would say give a little time . I was the same way .My nitrite spiked about day 10 as week but around day 14 it was almost gone and my nitrates were off the charts so ion even my ammonia and nitrite was both at 0 I done a full dose of ammonia and checked it 24 hrs later and it was at 0 so I went ahead with big water change and it has been great.

Thats where i am exactly. Nitrate is high. Everything else, zero. Day 16

 

[Reefman71]

So if I’m understanding this thread correctly. Im zero ammonia zero nitrite now. Had my spike now I’m getting high nitrate reading. Water change and I’m cycled? It took about 10 days for my ammonia to drop, then nitrite was detectable. Both are zero now with nitrate rising. I’m good? I’ll shut up after this post! . This has been the most helpful thread I’ve ever read about a cycle thank you everybody!

 

[Dr. Reef]

If anyone had doubts on using bacteria in bottle, read this study i conducted couple of years back.

Bacteria in a bottle, Myth or Fact

Call me old school, back in the day we placed a deli shrimp in a tank to kick start the cycle. When tank reached 1.5-2 ppm ammonia we pulled it out and waited sometimes weeks to months for bacteria to colonize and drop ammonia and nitrites down to 0 to make tank safe for livestock. With recent...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Reefman71]

If anyone had doubts on using bacteria in bottle, read this study i conducted couple of years back.

Bacteria in a bottle, Myth or Fact

Call me old school, back in the day we placed a deli shrimp in a tank to kick start the cycle. When tank reached 1.5-2 ppm ammonia we pulled it out and waited sometimes weeks to months for bacteria to colonize and drop ammonia and nitrites down to 0 to make tank safe for livestock. With recent...

www.reef2reef.com

I don’t doubt it at all, I’m glad I did it. Like I said I’m pretty sure my tank is cycled thanks to Dr. Tim’s after 17 days.

 

[acropora4u]

Did you use Dr. Tims One and Only or just the Ammonium Chloride? If just the Ammonium Chloride, the cycle could take quite a while to complete (4-6 weeks). If you also used One and Only, I would expect that to be halved. You still want to allow ample time for the bacteria to get a good foothold in your system. DO NOT rush the cycle, waiting for the cycle to complete is awful, but stocking the tank before it is properly cycled is far worse.



This has NEVER been my experience. My last cycle took almost 6 weeks even with about $200 worth of One and Only (though that was a freshwater discus tank with a very low pH). My 40b mixed reef took almost a month to fully cycle.

what if you use just dr tims one and only and no ammonia? this is a barebottom with just some rock and no fish yet...lights out during cycle as well

 

[tankstudy]

what if you use just dr tims one and only and no ammonia? this is a barebottom with just some rock and no fish yet...lights out during cycle as well

Without an ammonia source, you wouldn't be growing much bacteria. Whatever concentration of bacteria is in the bottle is what you'll have in that tank.

 

[lpsouth1978]

what if you use just dr tims one and only and no ammonia? this is a barebottom with just some rock and no fish yet...lights out during cycle as well

You need some source of ammonia, be that pure ammonia, shrimp, fish food, etc. Without there is nothing to feed the bacteria, therefore no cycle will occur.