Fishless Cycling with Dr Tims

[wk1980]

Hey Guys

I began a fishless cycle in my 625 litre tank with Dr. Tims One & Only and ammonium chloride around 4 weeks ago...

I'm using CaribSea Live Sand to a depth of around an inch, approx. 125lbs of CaribSea LifeRock and Marine Pure bio balls in 2 filter cups in the sump. Lights off, skimmer off and no filter socks. Temperature is at an elevated 27.5C for now to aid nitrifying bacteria growth, PH is 8, KH is 9 and salinity is at 1.025

Following the instructions for a Dr. Tims fishless cycle, I dosed 1 drop of ammonium chloride per litre of water, then added an 8oz bottle of One & Only. After around 3 days, ammonia was down at around 0.5ppm and stayed at that level for around 4 weeks. During this time, nitrite was fairly constant as well at around 0.2ppm, with nitrate also constant around 6.5ppm.

2 days ago, after just over 4 weeks, ammonia was down to around 0.3 ppm, nitrite 0.178 ppm and nitrate was at 8.7ppm, so I dosed another 1 drop of ammonium chloride per litre to see how fast the tank could get it down. Testing today, 48 hours later, ammonia is down to around 0.6ppm with nitrite at 0.186ppm

I was really hoping that dosing ammonia second time round would result in faster processing of the ammonia and I'm sure I'll be berated here for lack of patience, but wanted to get peoples opinion on adding a second bottle of One & Only at this stage? Main reason I'm asking the question is the doubt at the back of my mind about the 8oz bottle of One & Only I used to get started which is only good for 454 litres according to instructions. I justified it to myself at the time of purchase by thinking that live cultures in the sand and the dormant bacteria apparently present in CaribSea's LifeRock would bolster populations, but in truth, I'm impatient and that was that last bottle they had at my LFS!

Be great if anyone can share their experiences of adding more One & Only at this stage. I'm assuming it can't do any harm but would really appreciate the benefit of you guys experience!?

 

[ScubaFish802]

At this point you are just feeding the cycle you set out to create at the start. If you are converting ammonia to nitrate then you are probably good to go.
I used one and only and turbostart on my last tank with the ammonia, I think I left it a whole week to sit, but after 24 hours or so I was seeing nitrates.

Adding more (even with fish in the tank later down the road) wont hurt anything though!

 

[ScubaFish802]

also, welcome to R2R!

 

[wk1980]

At this point you are just feeding the cycle you set out to create at the start. If you are converting ammonia to nitrate then you are probably good to go.
I used one and only and turbostart on my last tank with the ammonia, I think I left it a whole week to sit, but after 24 hours or so I was seeing nitrates.

Thanks for taking the time to reply. Just tested nitrate again and it's up at 11.2ppm now, so you're right, there's definitely conversion happening, and fairly quickly I assume given the big jump in nitrate.

But for the cycle to be considered done, I'm thinking the tank needs to be able to bring the ammonia down faster, and all the way to 0. If I add another bottle of One & Only, my thinking is that there will be more nitrifying bacteria to process ammonia faster, or am I looking at that the wrong way?

 

[ScubaFish802]

Thanks for taking the time to reply. Just tested nitrate again and it's up at 11.2ppm now, so you're right, there's definitely conversion happening, and fairly quickly I assume given the big jump in nitrate.

But for the cycle to be considered done, I'm thinking the tank needs to be able to bring the ammonia down faster, and all the way to 0. If I add another bottle of One & Only, my thinking is that there will be more nitrifying bacteria to process ammonia faster, or am I looking at that the wrong way?

It couldn't hurt anything to add another bottle if you have one or would like to get one.

The bacteria need time to attach / colonize the surfaces in the tank, so that will most likely take some time either way.

You are most likely safe to add a hardy fish like a clownfish once the latest round of ammonia has dropped to zero. Or continue adding the ammonia to feed the bacteria for more time if you would prefer, either way it sounds like you are cycling. As long as you let things continue to go and don't overload the tank with large bioloads at single periods of time you should be safe to continue on

 

[wk1980]

Looks like my ammonia test was giving incorrect readings! Bought a Salifert test today and it gives an ammonia reading of <0.15 compared to the API test which gives 0.6. Nitrite is at 0.09 ppm and nitrate at 16ppm (both measured with Hannah checker) so going to do a decent size water change and get a couple of clownfish added.

I’d like to add some copepods to get a population established in the hope that it’ll help me avoid some of the algae problems associated with new tanks. Would now be a good time to add them or do they need an established food source? Could I feed phytoplankton or would that be a bad idea?