ElementReefer
Active Member
Things I have learned about cycling that may be helpful (still fairly new so correct me if I’m off base):
Ammonia will always be present in your tank, it’s what feeds the nitrifying microbes. It should just not be *detectable.*
The problem with the API kit isn’t that it’s unreliable, it’s just not precise. It will show a light green as if you had 0.25 ppm when it’s actually 0.05. However, in my experience it doesn’t give actual false positives. It’s straight up yellow with new water, gets really green during the cycle, then goes back down to “sometimes yellow, sometimes a little light green” once the tank is cycled. In other words, once the tank is established, the API ammo is test is kinda useless.
Bacteria don’t do the heavy lifting with ammonia, archaea do. Archaea reproduce slowly. They are ancient and we don’t know a ton about them. If you put a bottle of quick start in a new tank and don’t also give an ammonia source, the archaea will not reproduce. Nothing happens during that 1-2 weeks you think your tank is cycling. Then when you introduce a source of ammonia, it takes more weeks for the archaea to reproduce and populate the *surfaces* in the aquarium.
The nitrifying microbes usually aren’t free swimming, they colonize surfaces. Once they are colonizing your tank surfaces, water changes won’t remove them. Water changes remove nutrients that may later affect the population of the microbes.
Ammonia will always be present in your tank, it’s what feeds the nitrifying microbes. It should just not be *detectable.*
The problem with the API kit isn’t that it’s unreliable, it’s just not precise. It will show a light green as if you had 0.25 ppm when it’s actually 0.05. However, in my experience it doesn’t give actual false positives. It’s straight up yellow with new water, gets really green during the cycle, then goes back down to “sometimes yellow, sometimes a little light green” once the tank is cycled. In other words, once the tank is established, the API ammo is test is kinda useless.
Bacteria don’t do the heavy lifting with ammonia, archaea do. Archaea reproduce slowly. They are ancient and we don’t know a ton about them. If you put a bottle of quick start in a new tank and don’t also give an ammonia source, the archaea will not reproduce. Nothing happens during that 1-2 weeks you think your tank is cycling. Then when you introduce a source of ammonia, it takes more weeks for the archaea to reproduce and populate the *surfaces* in the aquarium.
The nitrifying microbes usually aren’t free swimming, they colonize surfaces. Once they are colonizing your tank surfaces, water changes won’t remove them. Water changes remove nutrients that may later affect the population of the microbes.
