Cycling. Not a newbie but I did a newbie thing.

mandi29221 · Mar 20, 2018

So I started. Cycling my tank. But like a newbie I completely forgot about curing my dry rock. Started out ok. Then by day 3 of adding ammonia chloride to my beneficial bacteria that I added it got bad my nitrites were at 5pp, nitrates were at 160ppm. Now at day 12 it's starting to drop top picture. Day 8 is the lower picture. So my question is since it's finally starting to go to zero. What else should I do? Is it going in the right direction? Should I do anything like a water change or leave it be till it's all at 0ppm.

Big G · Mar 20, 2018

Usually you wait until the NITRITE drops to zero. Problem is that when you have high NITRATES the hobby test kits we use can give a false reading for some residual NITRITES. So when your NITRITES get pretty low, and don't seem to be going any lower. Do the water changes to lower the NITRATES, which will be sky high. Don't be surprised if you have to end up with a total of 100% or more water changed to get your NITRATES down to a livable range 10-20ish.

saltyfilmfolks · Mar 21, 2018

I wouldn’t sweat it. Just wait and see what happens.
It’s pretty common to just drop dry rock in a tank now. Just go slow with additions. The biofilter will catch up.

Jesterrace · Mar 21, 2018

I would recommend ditching the API kit in favor of something more reliable (ie Red Sea, Salifert, etc.)

mandi29221 · Mar 21, 2018

Jesterrace said:
I would recommend ditching the API kit in favor of something more reliable (ie Red Sea, Salifert, etc.)

I definitely am. But I'm under a buget for the next 5 months.

Jesterrace · Mar 21, 2018

mandi29221 said:
I definitely am. But I'm under a buget for the next 5 months.

I understand. I never got the big deal until I went from using my Red Sea Test kit to trying an API. 10-20 and 40-80 are virtually the same on nitrates, vial caps that leak, no syringe for test sample, vials that don't have accurate measurements.

mjlash22 · Mar 21, 2018

As long as you have patience, you're doing nothing wrong. Just let it do its thing. Cycle looks like it's heading in the right direction. I also second a better testing kit, but completely understand being tight on funds when this hobby can get super expensive.

mandi29221 · Mar 21, 2018

Big G said:
Usually you wait until the NITRITE drops to zero. Problem is that when you have high NITRATES the hobby test kits we use can give a false reading for some residual NITRITES. So when your NITRITES get pretty low, and don't seem to be going any lower. Do the water changes to lower the NITRATES, which will be sky high. Don't be surprised if you have to end up with a total of 100% or more water changed to get your NITRATES down to a livable range 10-20ish.

This is tonight's testing. I think I'm ready to put my puffers in? I'm doing 10 gal water change tomorrow tho