Qt cycle sky high nitrates

[johnsamm7]

It’s been three months and my 8 gal still isn’t cycled using dr tims bacteria with dr tims ammonia my tank isn’t reading ammonia but nitrite is 2-4 ppm and the last two days nitrate is reading 100 I did a 3 gal change yesterday as well as another three gal tonight and nitrates are still 100 and nitrites are the same about 2-4
I think my cycle stalled because of the nitrates being so high and I don’t know how to get the nitrates low enough to finish my cycle tank is a bare bottom with two pvc pipes have a yellow im sponge in the rear chamber for the bacteria to store in with some poly floss really starting to bother me any have any clue how to lower the nitrates

 

[johnsamm7]

Also using salifert test kits I have api test kits as well and there nitrate test is reading significantly lower at around 0-5ppm

 

[johnsamm7]

Bump

 

[brandon429]

I don't think it's stalled


You should do a 100% water change, spike the ammonia back to only 1 ppm, then report in 24 hours

You are describing a very low surface area setup, use only slight ammonia with those not the full 2 ppm

this will help out as feedback in our cycling threads too cant wait to see smaller increment testing, so glad you have salifert that's rare

 

[johnsamm7]

Okay will def try that

 

[brandon429]

for sure after 3 mos its cycled, can't wait to see the range of ammonia it can handle after the water table is reset

there is no filter sponge right>? those really help tremendously with surface area where applicable

I know you posted your metabolites were out of whack a few times, we just don't see that actually stalling much given that much time to balance out. Your ability to oxidize ammonia should be related to how much surface area you have for filtration, in spite of any dosing imperfections over the course of this cycle. can't wait to see a smaller digest test

 

[johnsamm7]

There is a filter sponge as well as a bunch of poly filter pads

 

[johnsamm7]

Did a 100% water change nitrates are now reading at 10-25 nitrites are a 0-.1

 

[brandon429]

Good deal. Things look nicer with a fresh water table reset

The very last step to close out your cycle is the reset back to 1 ppm ammonia. Then if it moves at all within 24 hours closer to zero you are done cycling, even if it doesn’t go all the way. Any movement down from 1 ppm, with three months submersion time being the most important part, means cycled. We watch only what ammonia does, the other two aren’t needed for cycling.

Change it all again/add a chloride back to 1 ppm/ test in 24

Hey if you would post the salifert ammonia at 1 ppm and then the 24 hour reading that will help people on my cycling thread for sure, I’ll link this up when complete

 

[johnsamm7]

So dosed 1 ppm ammonia last night


Today test results
Ammonia -0
Nitrite -.5-1
Nitrate -25

 

[Idoc]

So dosed 1 ppm ammonia last night


Today test results
Ammonia -0
Nitrite -.5-1
Nitrate -25

Awesome! Your system was able to process the ammonia in 24hrs!

 

[brandon429]

agreed

and per cycling articles we don't mind the nitrite, too many confounds can cause the readings, and you've met the submersion times required to be cycled + known ammonia performance. Linked here on page 1 post 6
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-microbiology-of-reef-tank-cycling.214618/

It would be neat to use the first fish you intend to cycle as stepped indication of ability so there's no risk to stock. Vs adding multi fish, starting with just one and taking readings (rare to get salifert ammonia) let's us intercept problems early

The first time prime is added here, all our tests are confounded so far we see pure bacterial measure.

If your system cannot keep free ammonia from a single fish initially added (once known by one fish is good) then it goes against typical findings and must indicate lack of surface area. Once you redirected to show there is a sponge filter + underwater that long + boosters we base large threads on ammonia behaving after certain time frames

Your thread is helpful for cyclers to get test info from

The source of any failed test needs to be in advance of 1ppm urinary output heh, if we start with small fish it's safe bet.

 

[johnsamm7]

Yea but don’t ammonia and nitrite both have to be zero for the cycle to complete any amount of nitrite detectable is harmful to fish correct

 

[brandon429]

Not needed nitrite
Per that first post link it's ok to test for it, but past a certain point it always follows what ammonia does so we don't bother testing nitrite

Only needing to know submersion times and what ammonia does, we don’t need to know trate and trite per links in that first post. You can easily wait longer, there’s no finite timeframe to when you must start. We only wanted to establish reliable start times in that thread should people want a repeatable date they can begin, so we simplified it down to only needing to know submersion time and what ammonia does

We’re usually dealing in false reading api

Rare we get accurate ammonia data

 

[johnsamm7]

Sorry I just read the article great info and thank you for the help and quick responses