Fishless Cycle 4th day

[Dan_P]

Ok so im new to to reef aquariums , Im Cycling a red sea max 20gal tank, dry rock, live sand and filled my media basket(3D printed media filter) with Aquaforest live bio fil.
I added the right ammount of drops for my tank(80 drops) of Fritz Aquatics Fishless Fuel Ammonia to get it to 2ppm.
I then added the required ammount of MicroBacter Start XLM , I know i shouldnt but i have been testing for ammonia and nitrite daily with Salifert test kits.
this have been my readings for the past 3 days
Day 1
Nitrite: Not tested(didnt have test kit)
Ammonia: 2
Temp: 78
Day 2
Nitrite:1 looking the test kit from the side
Ammonia:1.5
PH: 8.0
Temp: 78
Day 3
Nitrite: 1
Ammonia: 1.5
Temp: 78
Day 4
Nitrite: 4 looking the vial from the side (.25 looking from the top )
Ammonia:1.5
Temp: 78
Is it normal that I've been getting the same ammonia reading?
Also for Nitrite reading should i read it from the top or the side? intructions show it can be done both ways.

If you had used Bio Spira or Frirz Turbo Start, the ammonia would have started to decline in ~24 hours. Not sure what XLM Start is.

 

[BeanAnimal]

I was talking about bottled bacteria which has massively improved - not implying that the nitrogen cycle didn't exist until 2008!

I don’t see the bottled bacteria is much of an advance… at least for new aquarists. Threads like this with new aquarists people obsessing about test values and counting the minutes until they can go full stocked Reef, only to post the requisite emergency thread a week later.

 

[Dan_P]

I don’t see the bottled bacteria is much of an advance… at least for new aquarists. Threads like this with new aquarists people obsessing about test values and counting the minutes until they can go full stocked Reef, only to post the requisite emergency thread a week later.

Might be a matter of biased data.

We only see the few emergencies on R2R and not the hundreds of new aquaria that are setup reliably and quickly...I am totally guessing on the “hundreds” of successful starts. I have set up do ens of experimental aquaria and creating a reliable nitrifying filter with a Bio Spira is a snap. Dr. Tim’s and Turbo Start are two other examples of very useful bottled bacteria.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Might be a matter of biased data.

We only see the few emergencies on R2R and not the hundreds of new aquaria that are setup reliably and quickly...I am totally guessing on the “hundreds” of successful starts. I have set up do ens of experimental aquaria and creating a reliable nitrifying filter with a Bio Spira is a snap. Dr. Tim’s and Turbo Start are two other examples of very useful bottled bacteria

I am not saying that the bottle bac doesn't work. I am saying the advise doled out surrounding its use and the "new way" of teaching those new to the hobby, is setting them up for failure, or at best a bumpy road.

A "few" emergencies? This forum is littered with "Please help I put 79 fish and 10 SPS colonies in the tank I got 3 days ago because you guys said my 'cycle' was done, and everything is dead.

Time tested way = patiently let tank mature and add stuff slowly over the first year. Don't worry so much about testing, it is hard to get things out of balance.

New 'better' way = pour in a bottle of bacteria - test for 2 days and you have a reef, dump in some fish and coral and start worrying about and dosing phosphate and nitrate, etc.

 

[Dan_P]

I am not saying that the bottle bac doesn't work. I am saying the advise doled out surrounding its use and the "new way" of teaching those new to the hobby, is setting them up for failure, or at best a bumpy road.

A "few" emergencies? This forum is littered with "Please help I put 79 fish and 10 SPS colonies in the tank I got 3 days ago because you guys said my 'cycle' was done, and everything is dead.

Time tested way = patiently let tank mature and add stuff slowly over the first year. Don't worry so much about testing, it is hard to get things out of balance.

New 'better' way = pour in a bottle of bacteria - test for 2 days and you have a reef, dump in some fish and coral and start worrying about and dosing phosphate and nitrate, etc.

Oh, I understand now, and agree with the benefits of a slow stocking rate, but it is an “old fashion idea”.

Going slow is of little interest these days. The data to support this perspective are the number of miracle products on the market to support “go-go reefing”and to address problems generated by the “insta-reef” approach. It’s like planned obsolescence in that it is a business model based on failure and replacement.

 

[Zizzer]

This is my 2 month old tank. A bit of brown algae but it's not terrible I don't guess. The back glass is pretty dirty but I just put galaxy pods in yesterday and was gonna let them reproduce one or two times before I scraped it. Bought some frags that I was told were mushroom corals but look like some kind of flower pot coral to me. Not really sure though. I would like to take a razor blade and pop them off of that tile once i know they're in a good spot but not sure if that's the right way to do it. Read that they are a bit difficult so fingers crossed on that. Bought a little green star polyp frag too and can't stand the look of those little disk they're on. Do I glue the mat to the island rock after I scrape it off the disk or just lay it on there? Also, Scared to put Xenia on my main rock too cause I'm not sure how hard it will be to control/prune back if it gets too happy. I know they can be invasive but does that mean hard to control? Just seems that anything that takes this long to grow couldn't be that hard to handle. I mean It looks the same size as it did yesterday haha.