Fish less cycle Dr. Tim’s

[jimmy3323]

Hello been away from the hobby several years and am getting back in. Have a coralife biocube 32 LED with about 20 pounds dry rock and 20# bag of live sand. I used a 4oz bottle of dr Tim’s one and only and my LFS mixed up the ammonia that I added. I forgot to test ammonia when I started. I am now at day 11 and ammonia tests at 0 nitrite is at 5 and nitrate is at 100. Nitrate seems very high to me. I wasn’t expecting to see nitrites with nitrates so high. I am hesitant to do a water change so not to mess with the cycle. Should I just be patient and wait till nitrites are gone and then do water change?

 

[Rjukan]

Try retesting the nitrate, could be a inaccurate result.

 

[jimmy3323]

Try retesting the nitrate, could be a inaccurate result.

Thought the exact thing and retested this morning. Same result.

 

[ArmyReefer]

If you are using API test kit check the expiration date, and maybe take a sample to your LFS. It is possible if you overdosed ammonia and it was all processed which would make your nitrates that high. My suggestion to you would be to dose ammonia per Dr Tims instruction and check 24 hours later. If there is no ammonia then your tank is "cycled". If it is cycled, I would leave the lights off and do a series of 10 gallon daily water changes till your nitrates are at 10.

On another note I am not sure what you mean by your LFS mixed up your ammonia. Dr Tims fishless cycle uses a bottle of ammonia, and you should be dosing 4 drops per gallon on the schedule that is recommended. I don't remember off the top of my head, but I think it was day 1, 3, 6

 

[jimmy3323]

If you are using API test kit check the expiration date, and maybe take a sample to your LFS. It is possible if you overdosed ammonia and it was all processed which would make your nitrates that high. My suggestion to you would be to dose ammonia per Dr Tims instruction and check 24 hours later. If there is no ammonia then your tank is "cycled". If it is cycled, I would leave the lights off and do a series of 10 gallon daily water changes till your nitrates are at 10.

On another note I am not sure what you mean by your LFS mixed up your ammonia. Dr Tims fishless cycle uses a bottle of ammonia, and you should be dosing 4 drops per gallon on the schedule that is recommended. I don't remember off the top of my head, but I think it was day 1, 3, 6

Thanks for the reply. The nitrite is API exp 2024, the nitrate is Salifert exp 2023 and ammonia is Red Sea exp 2022. I’m not sure what he mixed up but he didn’t have any of the dr Tim’s in stock and suggested I get it from amazon which I did. He just told me that was my ammonia to use. He knew the size tank I had since I got it from him. I wasn’t aware of the Dr Tim’s “process” until just a couple days ago really. I will look into getting some of his ammonia.

 

[Funston07]

Thanks for the reply. The nitrite is API exp 2024, the nitrate is Salifert exp 2023 and ammonia is Red Sea exp 2022. I’m not sure what he mixed up but he didn’t have any of the dr Tim’s in stock and suggested I get it from amazon which I did. He just told me that was my ammonia to use. He knew the size tank I had since I got it from him. I wasn’t aware of the Dr Tim’s “process” until just a couple days ago really. I will look into getting some of his ammonia.

If you have even 1ppm nitrite it will throw your nitrate test off and read 100ppm nitrate from what I've read. The nitrite interferes with the nitrate test from its design

 

[brandon429]

this cycle is complete, see this thread

if you do whats listed here, then your tank is off and running:

How to unstick any seemingly stuck cycle

non digital ammonia test kit readings (api, Red Sea, nyos, seachem badges) make you think you aren’t cycled when indeed you are if you owned a $200 expensive seneye meter, you’d never be doubting your cycle status. since .01% of the reefing population owns these, we need a way to help the...

www.reef2reef.com

reasons you are cycled: you've met the timeframes from the directions on the bottle, and are showing nitrogen conversion species, so change the water and begin, you are cycled


what api or red sea says about wastewater does not factor at all, its all about the submersions times with bottle bac and feed, which you've met. change water up to all of it if possible, less algae fuel for the new reef, refill w new saltwater, add life, it lives, very simple.

If you were 3 days in, all ammonia no other nitrite or nitrate Id be concerned. The hallmark ability of a completed cycle is no degree of water changes will affect the system, you're there. wet live sand was a double inoculant.

 

[sas226]

Another tip for API test kits. You have to thoroughly and I mean thoroughly clean the test tubes before each test. I've had the nitrates read off the charts because of a dirty tube despite me cleaning it every time I used it. When you can, step away from API. RedSea, Salifert, etc are better in my opinion and leave less question.

 

[brandon429]

nice call. ive also heard of taking readings in different rooms changing light hue, reagent shaking before use yes/no varying the outcome, wait times on the sample read (what it shows in 20 seconds may not be final call) and fill line adherence affecting the readings/ that being said, we think API is too sensitive, not that its weak lol I guess thats a plus if we can just wield that rascal correctly somehow

 

[PatW]

If you got a little heavy handed with Ammonia, you could get a pretty high result. Ammonia has a molecular weight of, I think, 15. Nitrate has a molecular weight of 60. So 5 ppm of ammonia will convert over to 20 ppm nitrate. If you got a little heavy handed with ammonia, you could have a pretty high nitrate reading. Also, remember at the high end, many test kits get kind of hard to accurately gauge. That is fine. The reading you get is HIGH and that is what you need to know. You might try diluting your sample about 10 fold and testing again. You might end up with a pretty different result. Be that as it may, even if it is 100, just do a massive water change. That will fix it.

 

[Spare time]

You can't test nitrate with nitrite present. It will cause nitrate to appear way higher than it actually is (this is according to Dr. Tim).

 

[ChrisB4]

I'm going to jump on this thread, too, because I have similar questions. I just got back into this after over 15 years. I'm starting a dwarf seahorse tank, so I decided to forgo any live rock or sand to avoid any hitchhikers that could be harmful to the seahorses. I started up my little tank (a 5 gal AIO) with dry sand. I added Dr. Tim's All in One. I was a little unclear about how much to add (the whole bottle or the minimum dose?).

On Day 1, I added the minimum dose. Day 1-4 the ammonia has stayed at 2 ppm. No nitrates or nitrites. On Day 3, I decided maybe I should've added more bacteria, so I dumped in about half the bottle. Today there is still no change. Should I have seen something at this point? Do you think I might have received a bad bottle or is it normal for absolutely nothing to happen for 4 days?

 

[Spare time]

I'm going to jump on this thread, too, because I have similar questions. I just got back into this after over 15 years. I'm starting a dwarf seahorse tank, so I decided to forgo any live rock or sand to avoid any hitchhikers that could be harmful to the seahorses. I started up my little tank (a 5 gal AIO) with dry sand. I added Dr. Tim's All in One. I was a little unclear about how much to add (the whole bottle or the minimum dose?).

On Day 1, I added the minimum dose. Day 1-4 the ammonia has stayed at 2 ppm. No nitrates or nitrites. On Day 3, I decided maybe I should've added more bacteria, so I dumped in about half the bottle. Today there is still no change. Should I have seen something at this point? Do you think I might have received a bad bottle or is it normal for absolutely nothing to happen for 4 days?

You should add the whole bottle with dr tims.

There is a chance that the bottle you got had accidentally gotten too hot or something since Dr. Tim's (as well as microbacter xlm and turbo start 900) are live bacteria, not dormant and are susceptible to this. If you see no ammonia change then it could be this (or the test kit itself).

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

I'm going to jump on this thread, too, because I have similar questions. I just got back into this after over 15 years. I'm starting a dwarf seahorse tank, so I decided to forgo any live rock or sand to avoid any hitchhikers that could be harmful to the seahorses. I started up my little tank (a 5 gal AIO) with dry sand. I added Dr. Tim's All in One. I was a little unclear about how much to add (the whole bottle or the minimum dose?).

On Day 1, I added the minimum dose. Day 1-4 the ammonia has stayed at 2 ppm. No nitrates or nitrites. On Day 3, I decided maybe I should've added more bacteria, so I dumped in about half the bottle. Today there is still no change. Should I have seen something at this point? Do you think I might have received a bad bottle or is it normal for absolutely nothing to happen for 4 days?

Bacteria like surfaces so I've heard that it's common for the bacteria to want to stick to the insides of the bottle. By dosing just part you possibly left much of the bacteria behind. When I dosed bottled bacteria I used the whole thing even though the bottle was rated for twice my tank size. I shook it up, dumped it in, filled it with tank water and gave it another go to make sure I got everything out.