Why wont my tank cycle

[shajcan876]

I’ve tank my reef about a year now im always have ammonia problems my tank keeps back cycling i dont know why can anyone explain…..the tanks been running for 2 months now with no fish ammonia still high….I've lost so much $ help plzzzz

 

[Dan_P]

I’ve tank my reef about a year now im always have ammonia problems my tank keeps back cycling i dont know why can anyone explain…..the tanks been running for 2 months now with no fish ammonia still high….I've lost so much $ help plzzzz

We will need a bit more information about the process used to establish nitrifying bacteria and how you measured ammonia.

 

[Jekyl]

My guess is API test kit.

 

[shajcan876]

We will need a bit more information about the process used to establish nitrifying bacteria and how you measured ammonia.

Thanks for seeing’s this…..im using a API salt water test kit i I’ve tried dr tims, brightwell’s and turbo start nothing as worked for me i have a sump with brightwell bio block and bio cubes

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Is the tank a year old, or two months old? You said both.

If your tank is a year old, you are not having backsliding ammonia problems. You're having API test kit problems because it's a piece of junk that should not be sold. You are having other tank issues and attributing it, incorrectly to ammonia.

What is costing you so much money?

 

[shajcan876]

I’ve lost a lot of corals an fish..whats the best test kit to use?

 

[Jekyl]

I’ve lost a lot of corals an fish..whats the best test kit to use?

Salifert, red sea or hanna are the most used. For basic coral you need nitrate, phosphate and alkalinity. Some more background in the time leading up to death may help identify the cause.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

I’ve lost a lot of corals an fish..whats the best test kit to use?

What test kits do you have? And can you run a fun panel and report back?

 

[brandon429]

Team


are we not all seeing universal markers growing on those rocks, that signify a 1000000% cycled tank, even if he posted zero details

such as

can you have algae covering 40% of rocks by anchor, and those surfaces not be 100000% cycled, someone has seen that instance before is that right>

=visual cue cycle end date science, benthic cuing


we don't need to ask him for input, if he gives wrong info, we'll agree with him the cycle is broken.


we must instruct him the cycle isn't broken, and coral loss + fish loss have other causatives here other than a non digital ammonia test kit from any brand




this is how false stuck cycle threads start, by supporting the hint that a tank this old and this much algae can't control ammonia

then those trained posters carry the fear out to a nine month old reef that also broke it's cycle, simply because their first inclination was entertained once.

be resolute in ammonia control threads bearing these markers, nobody on the planet has seen an instance where this tank wouldn't be cycled off the one pic alone. tell the op to search for loss causatives that we've seen before.

 

[brandon429]

please post a pic of this tank in white lights, clear and bright close up, no blues so we can focus more on the benthic cues for a closed cycle/full ammonia control

(we use pic details, not anything you relay from a test kit matters in your ammonia control assessment. people who use digital kits have already mapped out ammonia control in your exact same setup thousands of times, your tank follows the same suit you're just missing their test ability)

is it true that at the start of that tank, there was no coralline on the wall?

and now months later, there's 40 coralline dots apparent?

coralline takes longer than the # of days a cycling chart shows to make a cycle complete. ammonia is handled by day ten, coralline can't form in ten days, you're cycled because I'm seeing coralline and those rocks have been in there the whole time if you are reefing normally. coralline+algae+someone stating their tank is a year old+any cycling chart+ all seneye tests ever ran with calibrated machines=we instruct the poster on the nature of his cycle, we wouldn't inquire.

 

[melonheadorion]

i assume that when you say you have ammonia issues, and since youre using an API test kit, is that your reading is always .25? if it is, youre fine. downfall of the API test kit is that it almost always reads something.

 

[brandon429]

I guess technically we could inquire if he's been dosing disease meds meant for quarantine setups into his rock display, it happens. The reason I never ask in troubleshoots for that, or if someone dumped bleach in their tank without knowing, is because I'm assuming folks are reefing normally and if they aren't then they're not going to have that tank long for other reasons beyond my lack of probe


Where normal reefing goes, cycles are predictable as the sun using no tests and no demo tank in the history of reef tank conventions had to miss setting up shop for a failed, starved, or broken cycle


Only reef tank forums struggle with cycling. In the real world: nobody ever does, they don't even bother testing for cycles - ever.

There is no pet store owner in history who faltered this much on cycling, it's strictly for web forums, the broken cycle+ buy something in response, response.

 

[Bucs20fan]

If you are trying to fight any bacterial disease in this tank with antibiotic, up to and including chemi clean, these will have an effect on your bacterial load.

Out of curiousity, are you using tap water? If so are you using water conditioner to remove the chlorine? If your local water company uses chloramines this could be your issue, as the only purpose for chlorine and chloramines is to fight bacteria, which would easily explain this.

 

[brandon429]

Coralline won't grow in poison water

Test kit misreads may be possible, but dechlor water is fine and won't harm a cycle. Thousands of reef do it, look up tap water reefs.


The one thing that did not, has not, and will not occur in this thread is: the bacteria died

That doesn't occur in water systems at month 13 unless you nuke it, and no nuke signature is in these pics

 

[Bucs20fan]

Coralline algae absolutely will grow in unproperly treated tap water, ive done it myself. But the bacteria cannot survive this. Im not trying to argue @brandon429, as algae can tolerate chlorine as well. What cannot is bacteria, fish and coral.

 

[brandon429]

Snail on the wall: keeps a tank cycled during fallow, proves no poison water

 

[Tamberav]

What do you use for a source of water?

Either the test kit is wrong and there is some other reason you are losing corals and fish.

or perhaps the source water you are using has ammonia in it.

 

[brandon429]

There are no links, articles, prior readings or anything we can read to see claims above Bucsfan about where filter bacteria cannot live

- that's not to be mean, please post anything you've got as I collect articles for use in cycle studies

The reason it's important to make claims we can link/ verify is because we're using this very thread, to study another false cycling thread, and we don't want unfounded material here


unfounded=things that don't come from big work threads articles or studies we can read apart from this thread.

 

[Bucs20fan]

You have no links, articles, prior readings or anything we can read to see claims above about where filter bacteria cannot live

- that's not to be mean, please post anything you've got as I collect articles for use in cycle studies

The reason it's important to make claims we can link/ verify is because we're using this very thread, to study another false cycling thread, and we don't want unfounded material mudding up the view.

This tank is cycled because:

I dont need an article to tell you that coralline algae can in fact tolerate a certain amount of chlorine in water. Im not even sayin thats what his issue is, I told you that because you told me it cant happen, and it can because its in my fluval 13.5 right now thats topped of with untreated tap water. Im refuting you because coralline and green algae can tolerate chlorine. Im not saying thats the issue with this guy in particular.

 

[Garf]

There are no links, articles, prior readings or anything we can read to see claims above Bucsfan about where filter bacteria cannot live

- that's not to be mean, please post anything you've got as I collect articles for use in cycle studies

The reason it's important to make claims we can link/ verify is because we're using this very thread, to study another false cycling thread, and we don't want unfounded material here


unfounded=things that don't come from big work threads articles or studies we can read apart from this thread.

I think you should let the OP respond before jumping the gun but are you saying treating water with chlorine and chloramine doesn’t harm bacteria? and there’s no evidence that it does? Lol