Hard cycle?

Daveb300

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I started a 55 gallon quarantine tank with a hang on back bio wheel filter, sump with filter sock and two bags of ceramic rings. I put a raw shrimp in and have also been ghost feeding. Ammonia was .25ppm the first two weeks and for the last week has been stuck at .50 ppm. I added Doctor Tims bacteria also because I haven't seen the ammonia start to go down. Is it normal for the ammonia to be stuck for three weeks? I feel like I should have seen the ammonia start to decrease and the nitrite start to increase by now. The ceramic rings were in a tank I had years ago. I just washed them in water and reused them. I hope they were ok to use and not contaminated with something although I don't know what it would be. This isn't my first tank but man I don't remember the first part of the cycle taking this long.

20210604_074519.jpg 20210604_074511.jpg
 

WVNed

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I agree that you should have seen something by now.
I believe many bacterial products are dead by the time we buy them unless extreme care was taken in their handling.
I bought a really big bottle of Fritz that was very expensive, came out of a refrigerator and did nothing.

Try another brand of bacteria if you can get some locally. Seed it with some substrate from a running tank if you have access to one.
 

WVNed

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When I set up my 240 I used 4 different brands of bacteria. My thinking was the more strains the better.
I got small bottles and used them.

That exponential growth of bacteria thing works for you in that case. Using more just makes it happen faster
 

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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Your surface area is in a restricted flow area and its low compared to a tank with rocks and sand. Your tester isn’t able to indicate the true nature of your cycle, all media you have is fully cycled.


it’s totally cycled. You can carry common quarantine tank bioloads if this is to be a qt tank, if it’s meant to be a display you need surface area in the display. Any surface area underwater and fed for this time frame is done, we dont accept your tester / non digital as an accurate reading, see Google results for the name brand on ammonia misreads you’ll see. Your tank can’t carry a huge bioload in the arrangement above that’s a quarantine setup not a display. you will need means other than entry level ammonia testing to discern your cycle. A cycling chart is the alternate means, you’ve completed all time frames from any common cycling chart. Your cycle is not stalled, or partial, it’s done and if you demand testing as proof then get a seneye but that’s not needed.
 
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Daveb300

Daveb300

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Your surface area is in a restricted flow area and its low compared to a tank with rocks and sand. Your tester isn’t able to indicate the true nature of your cycle, all media you have is fully cycled.


it’s totally cycled. You can carry common quarantine tank bioloads if this is to be a qt tank, if it’s meant to be a display you need surface area in the display. Any surface area underwater and fed for this time frame is done, we dont accept your tester / non digital as an accurate reading, see Google results for the name brand on ammonia misreads you’ll see. Your tank can’t carry a huge bioload in the arrangement above that’s a quarantine setup not a display. you will need means other than entry level ammonia testing to discern your cycle. A cycling chart is the alternate means, you’ve completed all time frames from any common cycling chart. Your cycle is not stalled, or partial, it’s done and if you demand testing as proof then get a seneye but that’s not needed.
When you say restricted flow area I'm not sure I understand because there is definitely a lot of flow going through the sump. Yes this tank is intended to be my quarantine tank. Also the bio wheel hanging on the back of the tank should also add in biological filtration. I know Api test kits aren't the best but it does show .50 ppm ammonia and I have to believe there is ammonia present and I don't feel comfortable adding fish until it reads zero.
 
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Daveb300

Daveb300

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I also added a bag of carbon just incase there was any contaminants. I used ro/di water and instant ocean salt. PH is 8.2 and temperature is 77.5
 

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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When you googled your test brand for misreads, how many thousands of pages came back on results and what was the number they most often reported


i did it for you below:
A026C782-375F-4360-95C6-ACFE2D71FD1D.png


after 24 thousand pages of misreads…


just because filters have a high flow doesn’t mean if you used green food dye in the display it would not stay green for two days, you have the main volume swirling about and it has to go through tiny inlets, as I said you’re cycled. Your system is a massively slow filtering arrangement compared to any display, yet you’re applying display cycling rules to it using a kit guaranteed to misread.
 
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Daveb300

Daveb300

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When you googled your test brand for misreads, how many thousands of pages came back on results and what was the number they most often reported


i did it for you below:
A026C782-375F-4360-95C6-ACFE2D71FD1D.png


after 24 thousand pages of misreads…


just because filters have a high flow doesn’t mean if you used green food dye in the display it would not stay green for two days, you have the main volume swirling about and it has to go through tiny inlets, as I said you’re cycled. Your system is a massively slow filtering arrangement compared to any display, yet you’re applying display cycling rules to it using a kit guaranteed to misread.
Two different test kits. Both showing ammonia. I don't believe it has cycled
 

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