No ammonia rise?

[Tyguy35]

Hey, I started my cycle on December 14 2020. I added fritz 9 as well as tossed in spectrum food every day or two since. I can see the die off on the rocks happening a sit it turning white.
My ammonia is still at 0 tested with Salifert
My Nitrite is reading a little less than 0.50
Nitrate is at 20ppm.
Should I throw in a shrimp?
what’s going on here seems like a little while before ammonia showing.

 

[brandon429]

you are done, can begin if you have rocks and sand in the system for attachment points

your ammonia may not have peaked enough to test the system since it wasn't liquid, but that doesn't matter. you can't make fritz not a 2 day bacteria speed cycler, Dr. Reef has an extensive thread testing timeframes and its two day bac (or no day, thousands use it for skip cycling with fish day one)

that you've taken time to add fish food and wait ten days means you are cycled

can u register any nitrate> run a nitrate test real quick

its possible and easy to make ammonia rise and then watch it go down, over two days on most test kits...but that wont be needed if you can detect any nitrate at all. if the nitrate is hard zero then we can try proofing but I bet there's some nitrate unless the feed input has been very restricted.

 

[Reef.]

Salifert ammonia test I would not trust, as it’s very hard to read.

if my tank I would buy DR Tim’s ammonia, add 2ppm and retest in 24 with a different ammonia test kit, if it’s 0 then you are ready to do a water change and add stock.

 

[Tyguy35]

Salifert ammonia test I would not trust, as it’s very hard to read.

if my tank I would buy DR Tim’s ammonia, add 2ppm and retest in 24 with a different ammonia test kit, if it’s 0 then you are ready to do a water change and add stock.

Currently running a API test now as well.

you are done, can begin if you have rocks and sand in the system for attachment points

your ammonia may not have peaked enough to test the system since it wasn't liquid, but that doesn't matter. you can't make fritz not a 2 day bacteria speed cycler, Dr. Reef has an extensive thread testing timeframes and its two day bac (or no day, thousands use it for skip cycling with fish day one)

that you've taken time to add fish food and wait ten days means you are cycled

can u register any nitrate> run a nitrate test real quick

its possible and easy to make ammonia rise and then watch it go down, over two days on most test kits...but that wont be needed if you can detect any nitrate at all. if the nitrate is hard zero then we can try proofing but I bet there's some nitrate unless the feed input has been very restricted.

I have 20ppm of nitrate and 0.50 of nitrite

 

[brandon429]

in our thread about unsticking stuck cycles this tank meets all start criteria and you wouldn't need the big water change at the end, the system hasn't been overdriven at all. When you add some life pls update and we can track its outcome in our work threads, very neat.

we don't factor the nitrite at all in our thread. the reason you can begin is because we can see now in testing that oxidation is alive and well, and that bottle bac would have worked fine anyway if you'd added nothing feedwise and just dumped in the bottle with some fish ten days ago.

*if you start with fish, that robs you of choosing fallow and quarantine protocols, so select carefully-disease risks. more common is clean up crew and a few easy corals etc

 

[Reef.]

Currently running a API test now as well.

I have 20ppm of nitrate and 0.50 of nitrite

my point was, what I have suggested is a test to see if the cycle has completed, and that the amount of food you added was enough to produce the required amount of ammonia to feed the bacteria, if you follow what I’ve suggested it will confirm if the tank has cycled.

Testing now will not tell you that, it will only say what ammonia is in the tank now, not how much ammonia has been in the tank to cycle it, and was it enough.

 

[Tyguy35]

in our thread about unsticking stuck cycles this tank meets all start criteria and you wouldn't need the big water change at the end, the system hasn't been overdriven at all. When you add some life pls update and we can track its outcome in our work threads, very neat.

we don't factor the nitrite at all in our thread. the reason you can begin is because we can see now in testing that oxidation is alive and well, and that bottle bac would have worked fine anyway if you'd added nothing feedwise and just dumped in the bottle with some fish ten days ago.

So on the API test I just did for ammonia I’m reading 0.50 now. The salifert test was a very clear zero.

my point was, what I have suggested is a test to see if the cycle has completed, and that the amount of food you added was enough to produce the required amount of ammonia to feed the bacteria, if you follow what I’ve suggested it will confirm if the tank has cycled.

Testing now will not tell you that, it will only say what ammonia is in the tank now, not how much ammonia has been in the tank to cycle it, and was it enough.

 

[brandon429]

that discrepancy in ammonia reading is why we made that thread, that duality causes so many headaches, SO many re-purchases of bottle bac since they think the first strain is only partially alive etc

your readings match every single post collected in our not-stalled cycle thread. none were stalled thankfully, it was all test misreads.

post a pic of the tank, to see rock and sand ratios curious

 

[Reef.]

So on the API test I just did for ammonia I’m reading 0.50 now. The salifert test was a very clear zero.

API test is known to show a false positive for ammonia, normally .25 not .50, I would used Red Sea test.

I’m surprised you can be so sure the salifert is showing zero, I found it next to useless.

 

[Tyguy35]

that discrepancy in ammonia reading is why we made that thread, that duality causes so many headaches, SO many re-purchases of bottle bac since they think the first strain is only partially alive etc

post a pic of the tank, to see rock and sand ratios curious

 

[brandon429]

hey is that formerly dry but painted liferock or is that wet live rock from a pet store

its got the same degree of attachment points as any other reef, for sure its ready. but it showed up ready if that was wet live rock ~

 

[Tyguy35]

hey is that the formerly dry but painted liferock or is that wet live rock from a pet store

The rock was used for 9 months when I had the tank previously running. Left to dry for 6 months. Was previously covered in algae and coralline

 

[brandon429]

ok nice a redone dry start, all set. We bank for eight pages that if you add animals to that tank, they live. nice clean setup there

you did exactly what forum posters wish fish-in cyclers would do...give a little buildup time.

Brightwell is trending to be slow bacteria, u might not be ready if it was that brand we see in patterns

fritz and biospira were tops/fastest in posts and in Dr Reef's bottle bac thread.

 

[Tyguy35]

ok nice a redone dry start, all set. We bank for eight pages that if you add animals to that tank, they live. nice clean setup there

you did exactly what forum posters wish fish-in cyclers would do...give a little buildup time.

Brightwell is trending to be slow bacteria, u might not be ready if it was that brand we see in patterns

fritz and biospira were tops/fastest in posts and in Dr Reef's bottle bac thread.

I completely forgot that last minute I switched to dry sand as well.

 

[brandon429]

no problem there the rocks were all we cared about in this case they're right in the middle of high current contact areas, plenty of workable surface area and already some organic feed inside nicely hydrated and re-available for bac

 

[Tyguy35]

no problem there the rocks were all we cared about in this case they're right in the middle of high current contact areas, plenty of workable surface area and already some organic feed inside nicely hydrated and re-available for bac

Ok, so should I add a small fish a see what happens in 24 hours? Or should I do a water change now?

 

[brandon429]

no water change needed, add him he'll be fine. excellent test for sure, and vs. raw guessing we're applying patterns from our study thread for # days compared to cycling chart (the ammonia portion), attachment points, timeframe off bottle directions all met here and then luckily some action from nitrite etc. because of those meters its ok to begin and break all former cycling laws.

the day we have a mis-call Ill paypal someone the cost of their fish within reason...please no eighty dollar platinums lost due to acclimation lol we're failed if we get cloudy water within 24 hours, fish labored at the top, and then keeled over for a fine start to the holidays ~

but what will happen if patterns are reliable is fish acting fine, breathing fine, water fine, feeding fine.

 

[Tyguy35]

no water change needed, add him he'll be fine. excellent test for sure, and vs. raw guessing we're applying patterns from our study thread for # days compared to cycling chart (the ammonia portion), attachment points, timeframe off bottle directions all met here and then luckily some action from nitrite etc. because of those meters its ok to begin and break all former cycling laws.

the day we have a mis-call Ill paypal someone the cost of their fish within reason...please no eighty dollar platinums lost due to acclimation lol we're failed if we get cloudy water within 24 hours, fish labored at the top, and then keeled over for a fine start to the holidays ~

but what will happen is fish acting fine, breathing fine, water fine, feeding fine

Thank you appreciate the help. It’s Xmas, I don’t even have 80 bucks lol

 

[brandon429]

some might be concerned the rock would be curing out lots of waste, it doesn't look that way/cloud w be present if it was above systemic ability. and that water will stink

on whiff test, smells norm?

 

[Tyguy35]

some might be concerned the rock would be curing out lots of waste, it doesn't look that way/cloud w be present if it was above systemic ability. and that water will stink

on whiff test, smells norm?

When I first put the water in, it smelt like a hot tub. As of now it smells like the ocean. I am just a bit surprised because when I first started about 2 years ago my tank took 2 months. Interested. Technology is getting better