Is something wrong with my cycle? 20days in and has not observed a single nitrite.

[reefnewb69]

Are you sure it is dead, snails go through a stress phase as well, it can last a number of days depending on the type of snail. and there are a number of other things that could have caused your issue. Really the only way I know of to tell if a snail is dead (and I know there is someone who will correct me) is to pluck it out of the water after a day or so, and give it a whiff... if it smells like the unholiest death that you have ever smelt... it is dead... otherwise it is alive.

How was the salinity of the water the snail was in, and your water (come to think of it what is the salinity of your water?).

Also what temperature are you keeping your water?
What did you use to increase your ammonia level?

Nassalius and Turbo. It's been around 4 hours after addition and they havent moved an inch or came out from their shell. Maybe ill leave it for a day and do a sniff test as suggested .
LFS water , 1.026, mine was 1.025. Floated to temp acclimate 30mins followed by a 30minutes drip.


Water temp at 25C dosed Dr.Tim's ammonium chloride to raise ammonia level.

 

[tc3driver]

Nassalius and Turbo. It's been around 4 hours after addition and they havent moved an inch or came out from their shell. Maybe ill leave it for a day and do a sniff test as suggested .
LFS water , 1.026, mine was 1.025. Floated to temp acclimate 30mins followed by a 30minutes drip.


Water temp at 25C dosed Dr.Tim's ammonium chloride to raise ammonia level.

1.025 to 1.026 should not be devastating... give it a day or two

Hopefully this will alleviate some of the fears you have:
https://www.reefcleaners.org/acclimation

Relax... breathe... [almost] nothing good happens fast in a fish tank

 

[ying yang]

You added the amnonia then added the snails or what im saying is the snails was in the water whilst you had or was testing if amnonia dropped from 2ppm ?
Thats what im guessing but maybe i read wrong ?

 

[reefnewb69]

You added the amnonia then added the snails or what im saying is the snails was in the water whilst you had or was testing if amnonia dropped from 2ppm ?
Thats what im guessing but maybe i read wrong ?

Added whilst testing if ammo dropped .

1.025 to 1.026 should not be devastating... give it a day or two

Hopefully this will alleviate some of the fears you have:
https://www.reefcleaners.org/acclimation

Relax... breathe... [almost] nothing good happens fast in a fish tank

Thanks for an informative read.
Yeap, nothing good comes fast in this hobby, im gonna take it real slow as im not in a rush or anything.
Made tons of stupid mistakes through my freshwater journey and not gonna repeat them again this timeround.

 

[fachatga]

As a note the seneye isn’t a test like salifert. It’s a probe kind of thing. It stays in the water and plugs into computer. I use it because it also measures light intensity. But it also reads in real time ammonia, temperature, ph and some other things. After my last cycle I always got like .2-.4 ammonia readings on my test kits but the seneye probe was always at .001. It’s generally much better at ammonia detection. But it’s $200 so not so many people have one. Don’t think I’ve seen anybody explain that yet and I did see you asked.

 

[fachatga]

Oh. And it doesn’t measure nitrite nitrate or really any of the other tests we’re talking about.

 

[brandon429]

I noticed you didn’t change water first as we did for pages in the link given to you page one


the water change isn’t for free ammonia either, you don’t have any


also

show us pic of dead snails in the tank. When they die they roll over keeled dead and rot within a day and the water goes cloudy. Need pics of tank


your cycle is done, change water and begin reefing. Your ammonia is where the ammonia is on a cycling chart at day 20. Do the water change anyway, it’s why we do well for fifteen pages on the cycling link from page one. Also factoring: we just tested snails in a bucket with zero filtration, after the initial fill, and an entire bottle of Dr Tims ammonium chloride didn’t kill them for days, they’re tough, yours was not an ammonia death so don’t customize the cycle assessment we show merely do what we did and you’ll be fine.

 

[reefnewb69]

UPDATE

It's been 3weeks since I've last updated here and since then, I've figured out the problem and fixed it.
The problem was my source of water. Called the supplier and was told that they were oxygenated right before packing it and unfortunately(or maybe they were doing their job), I received the fresh batch, so the Ozone level in that particular batch was so high that killed off all the initial bacteria from fritz Zyme9 thus I was dosing high amount of ammonia without actually seeding with any bacteria in a bottle product, which led to an extremely slow cycle.
This wasn't their first time receiving an inquiry for aquarium-related trouble and one of their staff advised me to wait for 48hours upon receiving the water for the ozone to completely deplete and then it will be suitable for the aquarium.
Followed that advice and dosed another batch of bottled bac, did 1 large water changes, and BAM! my tank kick-started =) went through small diatom appearing here and there , starting to clearing up

Since then, I've stocked my tank with a pair of clownfish, zoas, candy cane, photosynthetic gorgonian, and some nice hammer and torches. Had a really good deal from the local reefers and couldn't resist it, knowing that I'm stocking it way too fast.

I'm gonna stop with the stocking for while and start thinking of how should I Place my corals on the rock. I heard that euphyllias are pretty aggressive and should be separated far apart from any other corals, but in such a small tank, it's hard for me to secure these spaces. Gonna attach a pic and video of my current tank, hope someone can advice me with below
Current param
Salinity 1.025
Temp 77~79
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 20
PH 8.3
Alk 7.5
Cal 420
Mg 1300

1. Is the flow too strong for torches?
I'm seeing mixed opinions regarding this online, some say they hate flow and some say mid~strong flows are essential.

2. How should i place my corals? Should I be dosing?
I scaped my rock without actually thinking ( knowing) too much about what I wanted my tank to look like, so now I'm lost. Will attach some idea I have in my mind rn. want to know what you guys think about it, will it work out? Was told by my friend and LFS that weekly 15% wc is sufficient for nano tank doesn't need dosing unless stocked heavily with Acros but is that true? I have absolutely no plan on doing acros, at least for now.

3. What should be my final fish?
Not planning to stock any more fish for at least 2 months from now as I'm more into corals than fish, but would love to have 1 or 2(MAX) more fish in the future. wondering whats the perfect fish to fit the spot or should I even be doing it?



@brandon429
This ain't gonna be your 1st ever observed cycle failure, as there was obviously a factor out of normality involved (Extreme ozone). As soon as I added my next batch of bacteria, my tank start showing nitrates within 3days, so you were right on this. Bottled bac nowadays indeed, speed things up

 

[brandon429]

no that didnt occur intially, nobody sold you bad water. nothing killed off your bacteria but very nice reef for sure

 

[brandon429]

I better clarify: clearly there's motive for me to deny anyone has a stuck cycle lol

The objective data we're looking for is clear inability to control ammonia and losses, plural (rules out acclimation issues, bad genes in a single mollusc etc) and we're looking for digital confirmation of rising nh3 after the core timelines have been met which is anytime after Fritz dosing. If not digital, then Dan and Taricha-level api handling w calibrating pics before and after the test.

when tanks crash from group fish death/truly overcoming the processing system in a reef overnite those posts/reports online always, always have cloudy smelly water. Randy told us that ammonia itself is clear-- we think in return the cloud comes from the mixed strains of bacteria capitalizing on raw waste and their numbers grow to the point water clouds, ammonia nearly always triggers clouding, secondarily, in reefs that can't control it. this is why pics of the tank during distress showing cloudy smelly water are legit for troubleshoot requests.


I know it seems like Im always moving the meter conveniently but hopefully even prior posts show we're looking for foul water in the least as a proof, not just a single test kit reading from api or red sea.

 

[Azedenkae]

It's been 3weeks since I've last updated here and since then, I've figured out the problem and fixed it.
The problem was my source of water. Called the supplier and was told that they were oxygenated right before packing it and unfortunately(or maybe they were doing their job), I received the fresh batch, so the Ozone level in that particular batch was so high that killed off all the initial bacteria from fritz Zyme9 thus I was dosing high amount of ammonia without actually seeding with any bacteria in a bottle product, which led to an extremely slow cycle.
This wasn't their first time receiving an inquiry for aquarium-related trouble and one of their staff advised me to wait for 48hours upon receiving the water for the ozone to completely deplete and then it will be suitable for the aquarium.
Followed that advice and dosed another batch of bottled bac, did 1 large water changes, and BAM! my tank kick-started =) went through small diatom appearing here and there , starting to clearing up

Oh wow, who would have thought! :O But I guess that is why testing to ensure a cycle is so important, rather than basing something off of an arbitrary timeframe. After all, there can always be confounding factors we simply cannot envision (like ozone in water, who'd have thunk...) but can account for.

Annoying that it happened at all in the first place though, though glad to hear it turned out fine in the end. Totally agree with how good bottled bac products are, at least specific ones like FritzZyme. That's why I always suggest it.

Can't help you with your other questions though, I am not well-versed enough with them. D:

P.S. Don't worry about Brandon's assertions, he regards anything that does not fit his narrative as fake news. Between Brandon and somebody who actually works at your water supplier, I'd be more inclined to listen to the latter if they seem like they know what they are doing (I hope they do, they handle your water lol).

 

[Cell]

"Ozone is highly reactive, with a very short half-life once it has dissolved into water. The natural reaction for Ozone (O3) is to return to its oxygen form (O2), with the reaction time typically 10-20 minutes at 20ºC." Mar 30, 2017

 

[reefnewb69]

"Ozone is highly reactive, with a very short half-life once it has dissolved into water. The natural reaction for Ozone (O3) is to return to its oxygen form (O2), with the reaction time typically 10-20 minutes at 20ºC." Mar 30, 2017

well, i'm no expert in water chemistry but that's what I've been told by my supplier.
arowanas are very popular in my country and they had multiple histories of ticked-off customer after a very pricey aro tank being nuked using their fresh batch for WC . I was the first guy to contact them for a saltwater tank though.

well, not trying to start any argument here, what matter the most is my tank is finally kicking in and I'm enjoying every bit of it. hoping to get best of the advise from fellow reefers out there , peace.

 

[brandon429]

this is a great post its no argument. we need good point and counter point to evolve reefing practices.

that reef looks polished and shiny and the fish+ corals happy, you've guided it well. love the rocks, that's so nicer than bone white reflecting rocks for eight months.

 

[Azedenkae]

well, i'm no expert in water chemistry but that's what I've been told by my supplier.
arowanas are very popular in my country and they had multiple histories of ticked-off customer after a very pricey aro tank being nuked using their fresh batch for WC . I was the first guy to contact them for a saltwater tank though.

I'd imagine it has to do with the concentration too, plus you received a very fresh batch. Perhaps 48 hours is just to be extra cautious.

Either way though, there is a reason why the second round worked and the first did not. This seems like a reasonable cause.

 

[Cell]

I'm not ready to say the first round didn't work. Ammonia decrease was observed and Nitrate was measured.

 

[Azedenkae]

I'm not ready to say the first round didn't work. Ammonia decrease was observed and Nitrate was measured.

I was under the impression op meant s/he used the water some time since day 7, since that was when things seemed to have stagnated. I guess op did not actually specify. If it was from day 1, then yeah that would have not been the cause.

 

[reefnewb69]

picked up orphek lense and can't be happier. Finally I can get some decent　shot of my tank =) still looking for coral placement advise , hope someone can guide me with it.

 

[brandon429]

the torch would make everyone in my town jealous, nice one

 

[ying yang]

Im new to saltwater so only advice i could give you is from what i read from my many 100's of hours of research and no real experience as only got 1 x zoa frag and 1x paly for 5 days lol.
But what i will say is monti caps one my favourite corals and what i think of when think of natural coral reef,read it grows relatively fast and can shade all corals beneath it and i see you want it right at the top of your rock in middle of tank.not sure if you wanting to place it at back of rocks so doesnt shade other corals as it grows?
I know for myself when i start buying and placing corals is do my research on what corals need like low-medium-high flow or low-medium-high light and will research how the coral will grow and look like once established then this will dictate where i place my corals as will try place my corals to what will look like in 1- 2 years time giving each coral enough room to grow and not sting each other or shade each other unless this what im wanting.
As some corals like shade like nps corals or like less light etc.
Always got option of moving/ fragging corals as they grow but i will try keep my hands out tank as best i can.
I read monti caps are easy to frag by just snapping piece off but you get what im saying.
Anyhow good luck and hopefully someone with real experience can give you bit of advice of where you want corals good or bad or could be better etc