Another cycle thread, help!

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Sac39051

Candiru
MFK Member
Nov 19, 2012
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Sacramento, Ca
Not sure what’s happening with my fishless cycle. I started about three weeks ago. Used non ammonia binding dechlorinator and dosed ammonia up to 2-3 ppm. I began using seachem stability after the first day, dosing every day per instructions for about 10 days (until I ran out).

During the first 7 days it appeared that ammonia was being consumed as I would have to dose about 1 ppm a few times to keep the level up.

Now for the past 2 weeks there has been zero ammonia consumption. I have never had detectable nitrites or nitrates.

Yesterday I did a 50% water change thinking the API test was possibly reading low and I was at toxic levels of ammonia and killed any bb. And immediately read about 1ppm. I even put an ammonia alert badge in the tank and that only reads .05 ppm.

I have had a terrible bacteria bloom since i started but I expected it because this was a reef system and there were a lot of vermatid snail tubes in the overflow and plumbing.

I am not running and mechanical filtration to let bb grow on my media (k1 micro). I have also been running a 15lpm air pump with 2, 8”x2” rubber pond diffusers. Figured there’d be plenty of oxygen in the water. Temp has been 85 degrees. About 200 gallons total system.

Lots of heterotrophic bacteria all over but no nitrogen cycle. Please help!
 
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Sac39051 said:
have had a terrible bacteria bloom since i started but I expected it because this was a reef system and there were a lot of vermatid snail tubes in the overflow and plumbing.
Click to expand...
Hello; This reads sort of like you are starting up a used tank which has sat idle for a while but has not been cleaned of the organics that remained from a previous use. Am I reading this right?
 
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Yes, it was my reef set up. Therefore some organica would be breaking down now. Not a significant amount, but I considered that as a source of ammonia and possibly why my ammonia levels remained steady. But the point remains, why no nitrite being produced yet, especially after dosing 1500 ml of stability thus far
 
So I’m about 5 weeks in to my cycle. Ammonia has been slowly getting consumed, I think it took about 3-4 days to consume 1ppm per my reading last night.

But ZERO nitrite readings. I’m not a chemistry buff, but this does not seem to make any sense. I have re-dosed ammonia multiple times to keep the levels between 2-3 ppm, not letting it drop below 1ppm.

How is this possible?!

A week ago I got some seeded media from a friend to get additional bacteria going. I also bought another 2 liters of stability so I will start to dose that again when it arrives.

I’m a bit flabbergasted as to what is going on.

Additional factors:
-Temp has been constant at 85
-Airation via 2 large diffusers and a 15lpm air pump
-water has been clear for the last couple weeks (bacterial bloom was significant at first)
-media is fluidized k1 micro
-significant fuzzy bacterial growth on everything (assuming heterotrophic?)

Anyone have any ideas?
 
Well it turns out I lied, nitrite test was bad.

Today’s numbers:
Ammonia .5-1
Nitrite 2-5 ish? I can’t tell
Nitrates 50 ppm

I think I will do a 50% water change and dose ammonia back up a bit. Water change so that nitrites don’t inhibit bacterial growth. I will test nitrites after the water change and see where it’s at.

I’m hoping cycle is almost done with nitrates so high
 
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You just gotta be patient with cycling. Sometimes you'll get the short end of the bacterial stick.
 
Yeah sounds ilke you are getting there. I've found all of API's liquid saltwater kits (not sure if you're using these) to be a bit hit or miss. Will always show presence of a chemical, but ppm will change a bit if I test 3 times in a row.
Are you using live rock at all?
 
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Gourami Swami said:
Yeah sounds ilke you are getting there. I've found all of API's liquid saltwater kits (not sure if you're using these) to be a bit hit or miss. Will always show presence of a chemical, but ppm will change a bit if I test 3 times in a row.
Are you using live rock at all?
Click to expand...
This is a freshwater tank now, freshwater api tests
 
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