Tank Chemistry

F22DRVR · Nov 14, 2018

I was wondering, and I may have missed it somewhere else, if you (BRS) could provide some information on the cycling process for the new BRS/WWC RS 750XXL, with regard to water chemistry. (How's the cycling processes going?)

I started my cycle 6 weeks ago this coming Sunday. I'm attempting to follow the instructions to a "T" based on the information I'm learning in the BRS/WWC video series. Here are my details for a question:

Brand new RS 525XL, 104lbs of dry rock in the display, 1 8x8x4 & 1 8x8x1 Marine Pure blocks in the sump. RODI water (starting with good quality city water), then through the BRS 4 stage. Temp at 77F, PH at 8. 2 8oz. bottles of Dr. Tim's, using Dr. Tim's ammonia to 2ppm, and added an additional bottle of 100ml BIO- Spira after 2 weeks.

On the 4th week, Ammonia finally reached zero; however, Nitrites were up over 2ppm. According to Dr. Tim's instructions, no ammonia is to be dosed again until the Nitrites get to, or close to, zero ppm. So I've been waiting, and waiting, and now at almost 6 weeks, I'm still over 2ppm Nitrites. If I don't feed some ammonia soon, I fear that I may starve the particular bacteria that processes ammonia??

Questions: Should I continue to leave ammonia out of the tank until the Nitrites come down? Is this comparable to the process taking place with the BRS 750XXL?

Thanks for all you do!

randyBRS · Nov 14, 2018

F22DRVR said:
I was wondering, and I may have missed it somewhere else, if you (BRS) could provide some information on the cycling process for the new BRS/WWC RS 750XXL, with regard to water chemistry. (How's the cycling processes going?)

I started my cycle 6 weeks ago this coming Sunday. I'm attempting to follow the instructions to a "T" based on the information I'm learning in the BRS/WWC video series. Here are my details for a question:

Brand new RS 525XL, 104lbs of dry rock in the display, 1 8x8x4 & 1 8x8x1 Marine Pure blocks in the sump. RODI water (starting with good quality city water), then through the BRS 4 stage. Temp at 77F, PH at 8. 2 8oz. bottles of Dr. Tim's, using Dr. Tim's ammonia to 2ppm, and added an additional bottle of 100ml BIO- Spira after 2 weeks.

On the 4th week, Ammonia finally reached zero; however, Nitrites were up over 2ppm. According to Dr. Tim's instructions, no ammonia is to be dosed again until the Nitrites get to, or close to, zero ppm. So I've been waiting, and waiting, and now at almost 6 weeks, I'm still over 2ppm Nitrites. If I don't feed some ammonia soon, I fear that I may starve the particular bacteria that processes ammonia??

Questions: Should I continue to leave ammonia out of the tank until the Nitrites come down? Is this comparable to the process taking place with the BRS 750XXL?

Thanks for all you do!

I can honestly say that I don't think we have tested anything on this tank other than salinity and temp. Chad throws a little food in there once in a while and that's really where we are at right now. Since the goal is a 4-month cycle, I'm not sure if it's worth chasing numbers until we get closer to that 3/4month mark. @Ryanbrs will have a complete breakdown of the cycle process we are following, within the next couple of weeks or so.