Fritz zyme 9

[mraysberg]

Have a fluval evo 13.5 tank. Been a week of cycling so far. Added in Fritz zyme 9 to speed up the process but I didn’t add any ammonia in with it. Readings are currently ammonia .5ppm, nitrite 5.0ppm and nitrite 160ppm. I feel like the nitrate and nitrite are a bit high. Not sure if I’m doing anything wrong or just let the process keep going. Maybe a water change is necessary to get those levels down a bit. Should I add fish food to get more ammonia into the tank and see if it processes and lowers the other stuff. Also not running any lights, no carbon, no skimmer, oh and there are no livestock in the tank at this very moment. Don’t want to kill the bacteria that is forming in the tank. If someone has any suggestions or advice that would be awesome

 

[vetteguy53081]

Have a fluval evo 13.5 tank. Been a week of cycling so far. Added in Fritz zyme 9 to speed up the process but I didn’t add any ammonia in with it. Readings are currently ammonia .5ppm, nitrite 5.0ppm and nitrite 160ppm. I feel like the nitrate and nitrite are a bit high. Not sure if I’m doing anything wrong or just let the process keep going. Maybe a water change is necessary to get those levels down a bit. Should I add fish food to get more ammonia into the tank and see if it processes and lowers the other stuff. Also not running any lights, no carbon, no skimmer, oh and there are no livestock in the tank at this very moment. Don’t want to kill the bacteria that is forming in the tank. If someone has any suggestions or advice that would be awesome

Fritz zyme is good stuff but ideally, you want to add ammonia and then when ammonia rises then falls and achieves a steady reading of Zero for at least 5 days and when nitrate rises and falls and holds at 20 or below- you are cycled.

 

[mraysberg]

Fritz zyme is good stuff but ideally, you want to add ammonia and then when ammonia rises then falls and achieves a steady reading of Zero for at least 5 days and when nitrate rises and falls and holds at 20 or below- you are cycled.

my ammonia was much higher before than lowered and the rest went up like crazy. Should I buy ammonia and dose my tank with it or just wait?

 

[vetteguy53081]

my ammonia was much higher before than lowered and the rest went up like crazy. Should I buy ammonia and dose my tank with it or just wait?

You can wait it out But put a small piece of shrimp in tank for 36-48 hours and remove and flush. Your ammonia will rise a little and then should be falling

 

[mraysberg]

You can wait it out But put a small piece of shrimp in tank for 36-48 hours and remove and flush. Your ammonia will rise a little and then should be falling

one shrimp is okay or is that too much? Frozen is okay?

 

[vetteguy53081]

one shrimp is okay or is that too much? Frozen is okay?

one sufficient

 

[mraysberg]

I’ll try that will get back to you with results

 

[mraysberg]

@vetteguy53081 decided to check my tank before going to get shrimp since I had none yesterday. Ammonia down to 0ppm, nitrate 2.0-5ppm and nitrite 40-80ppm

 

[Troylee]

@vetteguy53081 decided to check my tank before going to get shrimp since I had none yesterday. Ammonia down to 0ppm, nitrate 2.0-5ppm and nitrite 40-80ppm

I think you have nitrate and nitrite readings backwards… any amount of nitrite will give you a false high reading of nitrate “n03”

 

[mraysberg]

I think you have nitrate and nitrite readings backwards… any amount of nitrite will give you a false high reading of nitrate “n03”

Yupp wrote the wrong one they are backwards nitrite at 2-5 and nitrate at 40-80 whoops

 

[Cell]

No point in testing nitrate until nitrite goes down.

 

[Naekuh]

what are you testing for ammonia?

API is notorious for giving .25 even on a cycled tank, and will continue to do so until many months later.

 

[mraysberg]

Gotcha just going to do the ammonia testing with the shrimp method to see if ammonia raises and goes to zero and holds

 

[mraysberg]

what are you testing for ammonia?

API is notorious for giving .25 even on a cycled tank, and will continue to do so until many months later.

Currently I am using api at the moment. I’ve only had the tank up and being cycled for a week now. What are some good test kits to look at? Just heard for cycling tank API should suffice and than I would get a better test kit for more accurate readings when I actually have any livestock in the tank

 

[vetteguy53081]

@vetteguy53081 decided to check my tank before going to get shrimp since I had none yesterday. Ammonia down to 0ppm, nitrate 2.0-5ppm and nitrite 40-80ppm

Assure steady for 3-5 days and disregard nitrite which applies to freshwater. If API kit, prior to stocking, take a water sample to a store that does NOT use Api kits and have them test your ammonia and nitrates and compare readings- then you'll know where your levels truly are at

 

[mraysberg]

Assure steady for 3-5 days and disregard nitrite which applies to freshwater. If API kit, prior to stocking, take a water sample to a store that does NOT use Api kits and have them test your ammonia and nitrates and compare readings- then you'll know where your levels truly

What are good test kits? I’m going to go buy a different one to have ready to go when cycle is over with

 

[vetteguy53081]

What are good test kits? I’m going to go buy a different one to have ready to go when cycle is over with

Hanna and Salifert
Hanna very user friendly. Shop around as The prices vary for the same kit

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

I have used fritz 9. Never had a cycle. But I also added corals and live stock immediatly. If it were me, 100 percent water change then throw livestock in slowly. Bacteriais already replicating on rocks. Just dont do what I did and end up doing 100% with freshwater...lol.

But first question is where are tge rocks from? Odd to have nitrite and be cycling.

 

[mraysberg]

I have used fritz 9. Never had a cycle. But I also added corals and live stock immediatly. If it were me, 100 percent water change then throw livestock in slowly. Bacteriais already replicating on rocks. Just dont do what I did and end up doing 100% with freshwater...lol.

But first question is where are tge rocks from? Odd to have nitrite and be cycling.

Rocks are the Caribsea life rock. They were the dry purple ones. Also the Fritz 9 zyme specifies it is ammonia and nitrite though

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

Ok. Some times people will have dry rock that was live at one point. Then throw in and nutrients start rising. Also test kits could be old or faulty but seems your addressing that.