Live bacteria balls and uv

[Boomertron]

Hi all,

New to this game since having a large tank 20 years ago.
I am in week 4 of a cycle on a 144l tank with sump, my Redsea test kit was showing;
Ammonia - 0.6 (both nh3 and 4)
Ammonia 0.045 (Seachem 4 colour disk)
Nitrite - 0.2
Nitrate - 5
PH - 8.1
Alk - 9
Temp - 24-25c
Sg - 1.025
Tank has;
About 2kg of live rock (wet bought) all the rest dry (white)
Redsea Reefmat 250
Vecton UV 850
Protein skimmer (TMC)
Aquaray light (Set up for acclimation 50%
Live max)
TMC return pump (quite high flow hence my uv choice)
Jecod wavemaker
optical top up
Live sand
I decided to get some life for the tank so have;
3 redleg small germit crabs
3 zombie snails
2 cleaner shrimp
All have been and are eating well, I feed a small amount every other day now.
When I realised the ammonia wasnt dropping I was guided to buy some Evolution Aqua Pure Reef Balance Marine Aquarium Bacteria Starter Balls to help with nitrification. I put them in 8 days ago but nothing really seems to be changing regards the test readings, i am wondering if i just sacrificed all tgat bacteria by throwing tgem in tge sump only to be passed through the uv as 100% of tge water return goes through it?
I also have a liggr dusting of cyanobacteria on the ssnd now but havent removed it as i thought tge crabs might like a change of diet?
Am i right or wrong to keep tge uv on?
I was going to redose with live bacteria this evening to get this ammonia gone.
Any help greatly appreciated

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I would not be using a UV during initial cycling. No need to kill bacteria you are adding.

I don't know anything about how effective those bacteria balls are. Fritz Turbo is generally the fasted cycling bacteria I know of based on tests folks have done here at Reef2Reef.