Why is my reef rock taking forever to cycle?

[IsaiahS609]

Hey guys!
I have a fully stocked 40 gallon and I’m replacing all the rock so I thought it would be best to cycle some dry Marco rock. I put the rocks in a gray tub with saltwater, heater, a powerhead, and one striped damsel for an ammonia source. It has been soaking since December 8 and I still am getting an ammonia read! I used microbacter and it didn’t work so I went to old reliable and used Dr.Tim’s. I was at 2 ppm and 0 out the next day. When I tested 2 days after, I was back at 1 ppm on ammonia and it’s been staying there. What’s going on?

 

[IsaiahS609]

 

[Reef.]

I can’t see how one fish is producing all that ammonia?

is your test correct? Ammonia tests are not great.

 

[IsaiahS609]

I think so. I’m using Red Sea. I had two of em in my tank but one of em died a few weeks ago and it was that green. But then I added DrTims and it was super yellow meaning it was at 0

 

[Reef.]

I think so. I’m using Red Sea. I had two of em in my tank but one of em died a few weeks ago and it was that green. But then I added DrTims and it was super yellow meaning it was at 0

so if it was at 0 then I can’t see how 1 fish has got the ammonia back to 1ppm?

 

[IsaiahS609]

Exactly. Im not sure why the ammonia readings are being so volatile...

 

[Rmckoy]

Call me old school but every time I’ve used any fish for cycling they always died .
Fishless using raw shrimp from the grocery store in a clean nylon tied in a knot

it provided plenty of ammonia which doesn’t fluctuate ,
When you detect nitrate and 0 ammonia or nitrite your cycle is done .

 

[Reef.]

Exactly. Im not sure why the ammonia readings are being so volatile...

Would the fish still be alive at 1ppm?

Is swapping the old rock for the new a little at a time not an option? My guess is it’s cycled now, adding it slowly would be the best thing to do anyway, rather than in one go, if possible.

 

[IsaiahS609]

Call me old school but every time I’ve used any fish for cycling they always died .
Fishless using raw shrimp from the grocery store in a clean nylon tied in a knot

it provided plenty of ammonia which doesn’t fluctuate ,
When you detect nitrate and 0 ammonia or nitrite your cycle is done .

I know that a cycle is complete when there is no ammonia and nitrite in the system. I am just wondering why my ammonia keeps spiking if I seem to have everything right and a lot of time has passed.

 

[IsaiahS609]

Would the fish still be alive at 1ppm?

Is swapping the old rock for the new a little at a time not an option? My guess is it’s cycled now, adding it slowly would be the best thing to do anyway, rather than in one go, if possible.

Unfortunately slowly swapping rocks is not an option because I am having bad green hair algae in my tank currently and would not want to have it spread to the new cycling rock. Im basically starting from scratch as I am holding most of my coral in a separate tank.

 

[Rmckoy]

I know that a cycle is complete when there is no ammonia and nitrite in the system. I am just wondering why my ammonia keeps spiking if I seem to have everything right and a lot of time has passed.

Could be ...
a small ammonia source. .
Nitrifying bacteria that consumes ammonia consuming the small trace amounts but not enough to keep it fed which results in that particular bacteria dying off ?

I was always told to cycle the ammonia level needs to be high enough and constant supply
Even though you want 0 ammonia. ,
There has to be ammonia to be transformed to nitrite and further into nitrate .

 

[IsaiahS609]

I agree. That is why I have a fish in there to make sure there is a constant ammonia source. I did get a bacterial bloom for a few days and it's clearing up. So maybe the ammonia is going up because the overpopulation of bacteria is finally dying and regulating itself to sustain the one fish that's in the bucket. If that's the case I am wondering if my tank is going to crash if I put the rocks in a system where I have 4 medium-sized fish rather than the one damsel...

 

[IsaiahS609]

I agree. That is why I have a fish in there to make sure there is a constant ammonia source. I did get a bacterial bloom for a few days and it's clearing up. So maybe the ammonia is going up because the overpopulation of bacteria is finally dying and regulating itself to sustain the one fish that's in the bucket. If that's the case I am wondering if my tank is going to crash if I put the rocks in a system where I have 4 medium-sized fish rather than the one damsel...

 

[brandon429]

Your cycle is done, but you aren’t using digital test kits so your readings match a ton of online posts, we routinely have full running reefs posting your measures


updated cycling rules do not bend to the test kits, the test kits bend to our rules. Dr Tim’s is ten day bacteria, you’re past that with a known feed source, the cycle is ready. The other bac was double additive and you’ve met that directions date too

If you want to use your tests to run a neat proofing, even with incorrect ammonia tests, then do this:

remove fish

change all water for new

then run what we did here and the three part ammonia test will show movement.

100% Water Change

So in my previous thread, I had an ammonia issue that was out of hand. As suggested, I did a 100% WC and now i’m wondering when I should start adding fish back. If anyone has suggestions, let me know!

www.reef2reef.com

you can also skip this and begin, but people like proofing

*your test already showed the drop we show above*

the re rise to 1 ppm means nothing, its false over report.

a cycling chart also agrees you are cycled and no cycling charts are written for sixty day delay. The main rule update for new cycling is that no reef given as much time, feed and source as yours can fail to be cycled when a cycling chart says it will


todays testing for ammonia and nitrite is bordering totally useless, it’s why we made new rules. None of the test kits we have work correctly for multiple cyclers. Only a lucky few good good readings, roughly 5% of any cycle tested in my exp

 

[ShepherdReefer]

I cycled my rock using a shrimp...took about 1-1.5 months. Good to go, the rock looks super great.

 

[IsaiahS609]

I just don’t want to keep throwing money at it (bacteria is like 16-24 a bottle) and keep having bacterial blooms. I also want to make sure so I don’t kill my fish and tick off/kill my Coral.

 

[brandon429]

this rock is 100% cycled for sure. I know web folks type anything with ease, but mine comes with work threads

if you entered your tank in this thread, same outcome as the rest. change water, add more fish, you're done its cycled and the readings are wrong because we don't have the requisite cloudy water, dead fish, smell, rot etc.

you don't have to change water, but we advise most to because they pump several squirts of ammonia into the water and mess up the metabolites swirling about.

back to clean is a nice anti algae start.

the test kits take a long, long long lag time to report accuracy apparently, because nobody at MACNA has any trouble starting on time. based on this work, does it seem like your rocks are not cycled:

How to unstick any seemingly stuck cycle

non digital ammonia test kit readings (api, Red Sea, nyos, seachem badges) make you think you aren’t cycled when indeed you are if you owned a $200 expensive seneye meter, you’d never be doubting your cycle status. since .01% of the reefing population owns these, we need a way to help the...

www.reef2reef.com

you already have a fish that lives and eats in the system, that's literally the proof we use. not only do we not require any testing to cycle any reef in that thread, we scoff at their inaccuracy as cycling elitists. because that's a fun role lol but really in the end that's a serious collection of updated cycling rules being proven.

first bad call (dead fish, dead corals within 24 hours is the sign of a bad cycle call) Ill post for flogging. but they're all good so far...

 

[IsaiahS609]

Alright I’ll take your word for it. I’m gonna be really depressed if my tank crashes tho

 

[brandon429]

well lets incrementally test it so we don't go too far off into unventured land.

a few snails first, another fish slowly

 

[Garf]

Cyclin a tank with a fish, in 2021, come on man. You guys have been to the moon.