Tony Antunez
Community Member
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2026
- Messages
- 32
- Reaction score
- 39
- Location
- Seattle, WA
- What state or country do you live in
- Washington
Hey yall, first saltwater tank (Innovative Marine SR-60, ~55gal system volume). Fishless cycle, dry rock ( 10lbs EcoScape, 10lbs dry RealReef) + 30lbs CaribSea OceanDirect live sand, seeded with Fritz TurboStart 900 on 06/01. Dosed Fritz ammonia and overshot a bit to ~4-6ppm at the start.
Where I'm at on day 9:
- Ammonia: 0, and has been locked at 0 since day 6
- Nitrite: still reading high — API kit pegs at the top (5+) so it's unreadable up there. I've been running a 50/50 dilution test (2.5mL tank + 2.5mL fresh SW, ×2) to track the real number, and it was ~4–6 ppm last night, down from an estimated 8–10+ a few days ago. So it IS falling, just slowly.
- Nitrate: liquid kit says 10, test strip says 50 — I know the nitrite is interfering with the nitrate reading so I'm not trusting either right now.
- Phosphate: 0.25
- pH: 8.0
The cycle progression: ammonia climbed then dropped cleanly to 0 by day 6, nitrite spiked early and is now in what looks like the tail-end crash. I did one 50% water change on day 6 when nitrite was clearly off the chart.
My TBS Jar Package is supposed to arrive tomorrow. My understanding is the microfauna are fine going into elevated nitrite — marine nitrite doesn't carry the toxicity it does in freshwater, and ammonia at 0 is the number that actually matters for livestock. But I'd rather hear it from people who've actually done it before I dump a $$$ box of living biodiversity into the tank.
Questions:
1. Anyone added a TBS Package (or similar pod/microfauna shipment) into a tank with nitrite still in the 4–6 ppm range? Did the pods/inverts come through fine?
2. Any reason to hold the jar in a bucket with an airstone for a few days until nitrite clears, or is that overcautious? Especially after TBS states NOT to do so.
3. Am I right that the high nitrite from the dry rock will just get processed faster once the TBS live rock/sand goes in (more established bacteria)?
Thanks in advance!
Where I'm at on day 9:
- Ammonia: 0, and has been locked at 0 since day 6
- Nitrite: still reading high — API kit pegs at the top (5+) so it's unreadable up there. I've been running a 50/50 dilution test (2.5mL tank + 2.5mL fresh SW, ×2) to track the real number, and it was ~4–6 ppm last night, down from an estimated 8–10+ a few days ago. So it IS falling, just slowly.
- Nitrate: liquid kit says 10, test strip says 50 — I know the nitrite is interfering with the nitrate reading so I'm not trusting either right now.
- Phosphate: 0.25
- pH: 8.0
The cycle progression: ammonia climbed then dropped cleanly to 0 by day 6, nitrite spiked early and is now in what looks like the tail-end crash. I did one 50% water change on day 6 when nitrite was clearly off the chart.
My TBS Jar Package is supposed to arrive tomorrow. My understanding is the microfauna are fine going into elevated nitrite — marine nitrite doesn't carry the toxicity it does in freshwater, and ammonia at 0 is the number that actually matters for livestock. But I'd rather hear it from people who've actually done it before I dump a $$$ box of living biodiversity into the tank.
Questions:
1. Anyone added a TBS Package (or similar pod/microfauna shipment) into a tank with nitrite still in the 4–6 ppm range? Did the pods/inverts come through fine?
2. Any reason to hold the jar in a bucket with an airstone for a few days until nitrite clears, or is that overcautious? Especially after TBS states NOT to do so.
3. Am I right that the high nitrite from the dry rock will just get processed faster once the TBS live rock/sand goes in (more established bacteria)?
Thanks in advance!
