Waterbox Cube 20 Fishless Cycle

[acsnanoreef]

Hey everyone! So I’m on day 4 of the Dr. Tim’s fishless cycle.

pH (8.15) and nitrite (0.1) seem good but my ammonia is at 0.5?

is that okay? I feel like the bacteria should be bringing this down already right?

Any advice or insight helps!

 

[TriggersAmuck]

If you take a look at my build thread you will see that I did not have good luck with two bottles of Dr. Tim's. Only once I later put in a bottle of Fritz Turbo Start did I see the NH3 drop significantly. I think they advise that you don't allow the NH3 to increase above 5ppm, with the ideal dosed amount being around 2ppm? (It has been awhile, like a year, since I researched this). My other experience doing a dry rock/bottled bacteria start was that it was months before Nitrite (NO2) came all the way down to 0, but these low levels (of Nitrite) would not affect fish (unlike in the freshwater world where Nitrite can be fatal). Read Randy Holmes-Farley's article on Nitrite for more info on that.

 

[TriggersAmuck]

You mentioned you are doing a fishless cycle, but I guess I just assumed you are dosing ammonia chloride to kick it off, which might not be the case. Are you using ammonia drops, or are you just using fish food/table shrimp, etc. to kick off the ammonia?

 

[acsnanoreef]

You mentioned you are doing a fishless cycle, but I guess I just assumed you are dosing ammonia chloride to kick it off, which might not be the case. Are you using ammonia drops, or are you just using fish food/table shrimp, etc. to kick off the ammonia?

I’m only dosing the ammonia chloride the dr. Tim’s kit comes with

 

[TriggersAmuck]

My advice, if you don't see that ammonia come down in a week or two's time, get ahold of a refrigerated bottle of the Fritzyme Turbo Start 900.

 

[TriggersAmuck]

Actually, if you initially dosed to 2ppm, then you have already seen something of a drop, correct?

 

[acsnanoreef]

My advice, if you don't see that ammonia come down in a week or two's time, get ahold of a refrigerated bottle of the Fritzyme Turbo Start 900.

Will do! Thank you! :)