New Tank Cycle HELP

[kensterp]

Hi everyone so on 9-17-23 I got my first saltwater aquarium wet. I’m using a 16 gallon bio cube with coralife rock and caribsea live sand for a bio filter. I also have stock bio cube filter in the tank and am using seachem media my LFS recommended me. On 9-18-23 I added dr Tim’s one and only nitrifying bacteria per instructions, and added the dr tons ammonium chloride as well. Things were looking normal the next day. And the following day I dosed ammonia for the second time. The 4th day I had already started seeing an ammonia spike and started measuring nitrite in the tank as well. I was surprised to see it and then on day 6 I was reading numbers much higher for both ammonia and nitrite so opted out of a third ammonia dose. Today is day 7 and I’m measuring ammonia at 2-4ppm and nitrite still reading the same as day 6. However I measured nitrate today and for the first time im seeing measurable numbers of it. It looks to be at about 20ppm. I’ll attach a picture with my test results today(not including ph I already measured it at 8.0 today). I guess I really just want to know if the numbers I’m seeing in my tank as of right now are okay or if I did something wrong and if so what should I do? I’m using the API saltwater test kit which I’ve heard isn’t very accurate but wondering if anyone has had same results as me on day 7. Thanks everyone.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

The tank is still cycling (i.e. building up nitrifying bacteria). Don't add any more ammonia. Give it more time for the bacterial colonies to grow and when your ammo is 0-0.25, you will be good to add one fish.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

*And API is perfectly fine, especially when cycling a tank. The results are accurate, just not as precise as some others (API gives you ranges, not exact numbers)

 

[Cichlid Dad]

Hi everyone so on 9-17-23 I got my first saltwater aquarium wet. I’m using a 16 gallon bio cube with coralife rock and caribsea live sand for a bio filter. I also have stock bio cube filter in the tank and am using seachem media my LFS recommended me. On 9-18-23 I added dr Tim’s one and only nitrifying bacteria per instructions, and added the dr tons ammonium chloride as well. Things were looking normal the next day. And the following day I dosed ammonia for the second time. The 4th day I had already started seeing an ammonia spike and started measuring nitrite in the tank as well. I was surprised to see it and then on day 6 I was reading numbers much higher for both ammonia and nitrite so opted out of a third ammonia dose. Today is day 7 and I’m measuring ammonia at 2-4ppm and nitrite still reading the same as day 6. However I measured nitrate today and for the first time im seeing measurable numbers of it. It looks to be at about 20ppm. I’ll attach a picture with my test results today(not including ph I already measured it at 8.0 today). I guess I really just want to know if the numbers I’m seeing in my tank as of right now are okay or if I did something wrong and if so what should I do? I’m using the API saltwater test kit which I’ve heard isn’t very accurate but wondering if anyone has had same results as me on day 7. Thanks everyone.

You have nitrates. Good sign

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

*Oh, and charge your phone! Lol

 

[Garf]

You have nitrates. Good sign

Or at least nitrites, which give false nitrate test results

 

[taricha]

The confusing issue is that both ammonia and nitrite are too dark (strongly colored) to see changes at high levels - but ammonia is being consumed and NO2 is being produced.
All is good.
(don't bother testing for NO3 until after the NO2 drops to near zero. Interference as @Garf said.)

 

[Cichlid Dad]

Or at least nitrites, which give false nitrate test results

Good to know

 

[kensterp]

So as of today I’m reading roughly 2ppm ammonia and still looking at 5ppm nitrite or more. So looks like ammonia went down slightly but nitrite stayed the same or maybe increased . Not sure. Should I dose more ammonia in my tank if I’m still seeing high nitrite levels? Or wait it out, keep testing? Which is my first choice. Don’t want to overdo the ammonia dosage on my first reef tank, thanks everyone who’s helped out so far on here!!

 

[Spare time]

So as of today I’m reading roughly 2ppm ammonia and still looking at 5ppm nitrite or more. So looks like ammonia went down slightly but nitrite stayed the same or maybe increased . Not sure. Should I dose more ammonia in my tank if I’m still seeing high nitrite levels? Or wait it out, keep testing? Which is my first choice. Don’t want to overdo the ammonia dosage on my first reef tank, thanks everyone who’s helped out so far on here!!

Stop adding ammonia and let it go. You'll need to do a water change when its done.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

So as of today I’m reading roughly 2ppm ammonia and still looking at 5ppm nitrite or more. So looks like ammonia went down slightly but nitrite stayed the same or maybe increased . Not sure. Should I dose more ammonia in my tank if I’m still seeing high nitrite levels? Or wait it out, keep testing? Which is my first choice. Don’t want to overdo the ammonia dosage on my first reef tank, thanks everyone who’s helped out so far on here!!

No! Don't dose any more ammonia. You're done with that step. You want to see (on the API color scale) ammonia of 0.25 or less, and appreciable nitrates (10 or more- higher is ok).
As Spare time mentioned, you'll want to do a water change after your ammonia has dropped to 0-0.25.