Peculiar cycling problem/question.

sas226

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Hey folks, in the beginning of July I set up a new 20g tank. With previous tanks, I ghost fed, cycled rocks in tubs etc. This time around I went the bottled bacteria route. Followed directions on bottle (Brightwell Microbacter Start XLM) and added less ammonia than the bottle suggest (Brightwell Quickcycle) as I've had some friends use it and the ammonia amount was just insane. Anyway, mid July parameter check was Ammonia 8PPM, Nitrites 1ppm, didn't check nitrates wasn't too concerned with them with ammonia and nitrites in the system. A week later I checked again ammonia was 2, nitrites 0, nitrates were off the chart as I expected them to be. Another two weeks, same result. Started to get a little curious about the stuck 2ppm ammonia. Ended up being a trash API test kit, RedSea one came in and it was 0,0,300 for Ammonia, Trites, Trates. Did a 80% water change and then another 50%, nitrates down. Ordered a small CUC. They got here, been doing fine. Tested my water again and this is where I get lost. For about a two weeks now I've been getting nitrite readings .5/1. No ammonia. The CUC (A few small hermites, few nerties) are doing well. The rocks are covered in some white algae? Lights are only on for a few hours a day until I can be sure the nitrates are under control.

The TL;DR is.. my tank has nitrites. Measured on both an API kit and a RedSea kit. It doesn't make any sense to me. If it was ammonia that's one thing, nitrates another but nitrites is just weird to me for them to be present in a tank than can process a large amount of ammonia and that can process nitrites as well especially after almost two months of cycling that I monitored and checked to make sure everything was in order. Thanks for any input.
 

MJ in Boise

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Just watched a video where Dr. Tim discussed this. 17min mark.
 
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sas226

sas226

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So after watching. I'm still at a bit of a loss as to what the issue is. He stated that it's a a sign of stress in the bacteria that I'm showing nitrites again but I'm not quite sure what could be causing it. I should note my concern is why my nitrites have gone up and haven't been processed in two week not the level of nitrites. Honestly it's processing part that worries me the most. Everything for the 1st month went well and as expected. This is new and haven't encountered it before.
 
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brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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your tank is cycled and no nitrite testers work well in the hobby, you can disregard any info that says you have a stalled cycle the testers are wrong, ignore nitrite always. Your reef is fine, that’s why it’s looking and running normally and only test kits give the concern.
 

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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This thread is meant to be opposite of that video. The video generates bottle bac sales, we stop them, it’s opposite.


no cycle stalls in reefing.

Here is proof no cycle stalls. All animals in this thread are doing fine, as the api kits disagree. Any work link we add here is going to have the same result, a claimed stalled cycle is not from seneye readings it’s api and red sea

no cycle stalls and they don’t have to be exacting, if you add water and bottle bac and feed, it’s going to cycle in a few days. 100% of viewable cycling charts show nitrite under control by day twenty, that is the case even if testers can’t read it. And before day twenty, nitrite doesn’t matter we don’t care if some is legit there it’s a neutral param of no impact to reef tanks, it has impact to freshwater systems though.

sas226 simply stop testing for cycle params. Test for calcium and alk and nitrate to tune colors and algae. Not a thing is wrong with your reef and no purchases or offsets are needed. You completed the cycle just fine.
 
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brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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I know its so hard to know what to do when literally all cycling info says to wait until ammonia, trites are zero to reef. for 30 years thats all we've been told, but stuff is evolving, mightily slow lol


but your tank is cycled also confirmed by the new growths on the rock, anytime an organism has had time to attach to a rock, that came from the new water environ, that's a cycled rock as bac got there first.
 

rmurken

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So I may be more old-fashioned, but it seems like you’re moving in the right direction. The nitrite step can take longer because there’s less energy to be gleaned going from NO2 to NO3 than there is in going from NH3 to NO2. Seems like it can take forever, and then it just happens.

Also nitrites don’t pose the same level of danger to SW organisms that they do for FW. My understanding is that chloride is taken up more favorably by gills than NO2, so harder for it to get into the fish. Dunno about inverts. But in FW systems one way to help get livestock through a nitrite spike is to add some salt for the chloride.
 

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