New cycle Ammonia?

Reefrookie733

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What does this level read to you?
3?
4?
5?

Thanks, tank has been cycling since saturday, first ammonia test. I put 1 oz ammonia for 200G DT plus 35G sump and Dr. Tims One and Only in the tank. LFS guy said dont worry about testing for ammonia for 10-14 days??

Thanks

20200526_203112.jpg 20200526_203026.jpg 20200526_203949.jpg
 

ScottB

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You are doing great. Looks like 4 PPM to me. Keep dosing ammonia and Dr Tims per instructions and stay patient. How much live rock did you begin with? More of that accelerates things. Otherwise just let it cook. Test every couple of days for fun, see if ammonia falls, and nitrite begins, then nitrate.

The API kits are famous for showing a slight false positive (.25) at the end, but once your nitrite is clear and nitrates are up you should be good. Your LFS can do a backup test at the end.
 

Dr Jimmy

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Mine took about a week. Ammonia didn't move... for what felt like forever. API makes a nice color changing test kit for ammonia that will be better than the strips. It isn't that they can't work, but they can be more difficult to interpret. Example from my tank during initial cycle

20200524_214520.jpg
 

R.Weller

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Here's another view of the API kit after the cycle. Ammonia almost always reads between 0 - .25 but that's a false positive. I've used the API kits for years across 4 systems. Also agreed that the amount of time will depend on how much rock you have & if you started with dry or live rock. Enjoy the new build!

Cycle Reading.jpg
 
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Reefrookie733

Reefrookie733

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You are doing great. Looks like 4 PPM to me. Keep dosing ammonia and Dr Tims per instructions and stay patient. How much live rock did you begin with? More of that accelerates things. Otherwise just let it cook. Test every couple of days for fun, see if ammonia falls, and nitrite begins, then nitrate.

The API kits are famous for showing a slight false positive (.25) at the end, but once your nitrite is clear and nitrates are up you should be good. Your LFS can do a backup test at the end.
Thanks Scott,
Its good to hear a nice word from time to time since this is the first time building one of these beasts! Being new sometimes we don't necessarily know what is "bad" and what is good. I have ordered a red sea testing kit so i can test my nitrates and nitrates more accurately.

Also, I only used base rock at this point. I do have about 20#'s of live rock in a AIO tank that i have in another room. Should i take some out of that and seed this one? and if so when, i dont want to put it in too early and kill it. The live rock has been in that tank for 3 years and very healthy.
 
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Reefrookie733

Reefrookie733

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Mine took about a week. Ammonia didn't move... for what felt like forever. API makes a nice color changing test kit for ammonia that will be better than the strips. It isn't that they can't work, but they can be more difficult to interpret. Example from my tank during initial cycle

20200524_214520.jpg
Nice kit Jim! Thanks!
 

ScottB

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Solid test kits are your friend; but for ammonia/nitrite I don't lose sleep over precision. Once your cycle is complete, you won't really use them again unless something real bad happens.

For the first few months, just stay focussed on the super basic but critical elements of Temperature and Salinity. A good refractometer is a must/ And you must learn how to properly calibrate it. There is SO MUCH microbiome changes taking place, that other tests will just be giving a lot of noise months 1 through... 3 or so.

The other stuff comes a little later on. Here are the kits I would be adding to my shopping cart over the next couple months. These are just my personal favorites for ease of use and decent resolution:
ALK, Ca, Mg - salifert
Nitrate - NYOS
Phosphate - Hanna ULR phosphate or phosphorus. (If you think you want to run lower nutrient some day, choose the phosphorus kit and do the conversion math to phosphate). While there are decent substitutes for other elements, Hanna is the only PO4 tester I trust. Even though they are far from the easiest to use.

Expect ALL the uglies to happen. Enjoy them; all part of the maturation process and they will pass. Diatoms first, a little green film algae, then some brown furry stuff, maybe some purple stuff and then some GHA. Maybe a sprinkle of cyano if you are lucky. Finally some little pink circles of coralline algae (yay!). And here is what you do about it: Nothing. Let it do its thing. Interventions early on only serve to set back the process IMO.

Sure, share some pics of each ugly and remind us of what month you are into the process. If we see something that will be a real problem (aiptasia, bryopsis, out of control GHA) then do some research about the risks of intervention. But for the normal uglies, nada.
 
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Reefrookie733

Reefrookie733

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Solid test kits are your friend; but for ammonia/nitrite I don't lose sleep over precision. Once your cycle is complete, you won't really use them again unless something real bad happens.

For the first few months, just stay focussed on the super basic but critical elements of Temperature and Salinity. A good refractometer is a must/ And you must learn how to properly calibrate it. There is SO MUCH microbiome changes taking place, that other tests will just be giving a lot of noise months 1 through... 3 or so.

The other stuff comes a little later on. Here are the kits I would be adding to my shopping cart over the next couple months. These are just my personal favorites for ease of use and decent resolution:
ALK, Ca, Mg - salifert
Nitrate - NYOS
Phosphate - Hanna ULR phosphate or phosphorus. (If you think you want to run lower nutrient some day, choose the phosphorus kit and do the conversion math to phosphate). While there are decent substitutes for other elements, Hanna is the only PO4 tester I trust. Even though they are far from the easiest to use.

Expect ALL the uglies to happen. Enjoy them; all part of the maturation process and they will pass. Diatoms first, a little green film algae, then some brown furry stuff, maybe some purple stuff and then some GHA. Maybe a sprinkle of cyano if you are lucky. Finally some little pink circles of coralline algae (yay!). And here is what you do about it: Nothing. Let it do its thing. Interventions early on only serve to set back the process IMO.

Sure, share some pics of each ugly and remind us of what month you are into the process. If we see something that will be a real problem (aiptasia, bryopsis, out of control GHA) then do some research about the risks of intervention. But for the normal uglies, nada.
Solid test kits are your friend; but for ammonia/nitrite I don't lose sleep over precision. Once your cycle is complete, you won't really use them again unless something real bad happens.

For the first few months, just stay focussed on the super basic but critical elements of Temperature and Salinity. A good refractometer is a must/ And you must learn how to properly calibrate it. There is SO MUCH microbiome changes taking place, that other tests will just be giving a lot of noise months 1 through... 3 or so.

The other stuff comes a little later on. Here are the kits I would be adding to my shopping cart over the next couple months. These are just my personal favorites for ease of use and decent resolution:
ALK, Ca, Mg - salifert
Nitrate - NYOS
Phosphate - Hanna ULR phosphate or phosphorus. (If you think you want to run lower nutrient some day, choose the phosphorus kit and do the conversion math to phosphate). While there are decent substitutes for other elements, Hanna is the only PO4 tester I trust. Even though they are far from the easiest to use.

Expect ALL the uglies to happen. Enjoy them; all part of the maturation process and they will pass. Diatoms first, a little green film algae, then some brown furry stuff, maybe some purple stuff and then some GHA. Maybe a sprinkle of cyano if you are lucky. Finally some little pink circles of coralline algae (yay!). And here is what you do about it: Nothing. Let it do its thing. Interventions early on only serve to set back the process IMO.

Sure, share some pics of each ugly and remind us of what month you are into the process. If we see something that will be a real problem (aiptasia, bryopsis, out of control GHA) then do some research about the risks of intervention. But for the normal uglies, nada.
Thanks alot for the info. Good stuff.
 
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