Is my cycle stuck?

[kitti-fish]

Tank is only 6 days old and this is only my second time cycling a saltwater so I’m still a newbie in my eyes..I used Dr Tim’s Ammonia coupled with MicroBacter Starter XLM as well as a live rock from my smaller tank and biomedia in my canister. It promises to cycle a tank within a week but I’m starting to doubt it. I added ammonia accordingly to read 2ppm. However, it’s been stuck at 1ppm for the past 3 days. That being said, I know API test are not the best but I also tested my mature nano tank and the readings were correct (0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 10 nitrate). I added a bit more microbacter as I thought maybe there isn’t enough. Should I continue to wait it out? Should I dose a bit more ammonia to reach 2 ppm again? Testing from my larger tank.

 

[BeanAnimal]

A cycle cannot be starved in a home reef tank...

....please test that claim. report back immediately.

That is not even remotely the topic here.

I'm just curious does anyone else not test ammonia?

I do not - but do not see an issue with testing as a simple means of verification or progress.

why it's fun to be in the middle of cycling troubleshoot threads where few people agree on past, present, future:

Make no mistake, Brandon. Nobody that has to deal with your rhetoric and myopia in these threads is having fun. There is no "past" and "present" with regard to the nitrogen cycle "science" -- that was settled a few billion (2.5?) years ago in the Proterazoic Eon, after the Great Oxidization Event. Well, we didn't really define the science until 1890 when Sergei Winogradsky published his works... But alas, it is not "new" and has not changed

 

[kitti-fish]

Thank you everyone who helped. It looks like ammonia is down to .25, nitrite is at .25, and nitrate is at 40! So the cycle is finally continuing but I have never seen nitrate get so high. Do I wait for it to level out to 20ppm or lower? Or is a water change in order? I’m super excited things are moving along. The more I learn is the more I know!

 

[twentyleagues]

Thank you everyone who helped. It looks like ammonia is down to .25, nitrite is at .25, and nitrate is at 40! So the cycle is finally continuing but I have never seen nitrate get so high. Do I wait for it to level out to 20ppm or lower? Or is a water change in order? I’m super excited things are moving along. The more I learn is the more I know!

Its testing high from the nitrite. A little nitrite registers as a lot of nitrate on a typical nitrate test. Dont worry it will be low like 5 or 10 maybe at most. I took my current tank up to 2.0ppm ammonia 3 times during the initial cycle and only had 15-20ppm nitrates at the end.

 

[kitti-fish]

Its testing high from the nitrite. A little nitrite registers as a lot of nitrate on a typical nitrate test. Dont worry it will be low like 5 or 10 maybe at most. I took my current tank up to 2.0ppm ammonia 3 times during the initial cycle and only had 15-20ppm nitrates at the end.

Is it better to hold out and continuously bring ammonia up once cycle has finished or just to hold out? I’d do end up doing a 40% water change which kept ammonia and nitrite at .25. It brought nitrate down to 20. I’d want to do another water change eventually but because the pressure in our town is still so low due to incompetent monopolistic water company we have as a provider, I risk waiting 3 hours just to change out 10 gallons due to low water pressure.

 

[twentyleagues]

Is it better to hold out and continuously bring ammonia up once cycle has finished or just to hold out? I’d do end up doing a 40% water change which kept ammonia and nitrite at .25. It brought nitrate down to 20. I’d want to do another water change eventually but because the pressure in our town is still so low due to incompetent monopolistic water company we have as a provider, I risk waiting 3 hours just to change out 10 gallons due to low water pressure.

TBH once ammonia is at 0 you are good. A little nitrate is fine 10-20ppm is actually very normal and healthy. Nitrite is not toxic to saltwater fish so really you dont need to worry about it. Like I said above nitrite will throw off your nitrate test so its good to at least know if you are still showing nitrite. That wayyou are not doing to large or too many water changes.
I would wait a bit longer if it were my tank, until nitrites are gone. I like to see the complete cycle. You do not need to wait. You do not need to add more ammonia.

 

[kitti-fish]

TBH once ammonia is at 0 you are good. A little nitrate is fine 10-20ppm is actually very normal and healthy. Nitrite is not toxic to saltwater fish so really you dont need to worry about it. Like I said above nitrite will throw off your nitrate test so its good to at least know if you are still showing nitrite. That wayyou are not doing to large or too many water changes.
I would wait a bit longer if it were my tank, until nitrites are gone. I like to see the complete cycle. You do not need to wait. You do not need to add more ammonia.

Thank you! Sorry to reiterate my concerns!

 

[twentyleagues]

Thank you! Sorry to reiterate my concerns!

Dont worry. You will be ok.
My way of doing stuff is out dated and not up to exact current reef science. I will post what currently is accepted if I know it, and then what I did and saw good results. A lot of what I do and have done is from having fish tanks most of my life and a lot of them being fresh water. I know that the science is different so I have read up on that especially with me being out of the salt side for over 12 years, been back 2 years now. A lot changed in that 12 years.

 

[Reefer Brent]

So, even if the fish I do have from my previous are disease free, they have a chance to catch disease in this new tank even if I used exact same materials/salt/water? They only fish that would be in this tank would be my two clown fish I love dearly and would months down the line stock a goby. I would like to add a pencil urchin maybe 6 months down the line. Of course, coral as well.

Off topic here but be careful with a clown pair. They will view that entire new take as their territory if you wait too long to add another fish. Mine are mean devils that will rip a new fish to shreds. Just my experience.

 

[kitti-fish]

Off topic here but be careful with a clown pair. They will view that entire new take as their territory if you wait too long to add another fish. Mine are mean devils that will rip a new fish to shreds. Just my experience.

I plan to add a goby in the next few weeks as I continue to stock. That is the only other fish I plan to add. It will mainly be coral and anemone dominant.

 

[swerveious]

Tank is only 6 days old and this is only my second time cycling a saltwater so I’m still a newbie in my eyes..I used Dr Tim’s Ammonia coupled with MicroBacter Starter XLM as well as a live rock from my smaller tank and biomedia in my canister. It promises to cycle a tank within a week but I’m starting to doubt it. I added ammonia accordingly to read 2ppm. However, it’s been stuck at 1ppm for the past 3 days. That being said, I know API test are not the best but I also tested my mature nano tank and the readings were correct (0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 10 nitrate). I added a bit more microbacter as I thought maybe there isn’t enough. Should I continue to wait it out? Should I dose a bit more ammonia to reach 2 ppm again? Testing from my larger tank.

Maybe the bacteria was dead, 9 to 11 days with good bacteria you should start to see nitrites. Turbo fritz 900 seems the most used now. The refrigerated type, not the one sitting on the shelf.

 

[kitti-fish]

Maybe the bacteria was dead, 9 to 11 days with good bacteria you should start to see nitrites. Turbo fritz 900 seems the most used now. The refrigerated type, not the one sitting on the shelf.

Hi! After this post I actually moved everything into the tank and it’s been good since. I even added a few new coral additions with no die off. I think the tester I used was not good and will probably get something better down the line.