Tank Cycling With High NH3 Contents

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piranhaman00

piranhaman00

Redtail Catfish
MFK Member
Sep 15, 2009
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Wisconsin
Hello,

I have a question that I cannot find a good answer for. I am cycling a 65 gallon saltwater aquarium. I wanted to try a new method (to me) to cycle this tank by using ammonium chloride dosing and "bacteria in a bottle". Long story short, I dosed the tank much too high with NH3, we are talking north of 8.0ppm. I dumped in double to dose of bacteria. Is it possible for the ammonia oxidizers to tackle this heavy load? I was planning on letting it go for a while and then doing a 90-100% water change, once the bacteria get settled in.

I do know the cycle has started, I have off the charts NO2 and NO3 which I expect with the high NH3 concentration. I am mostly wondering if its possible to convert all of this NH3 or if the water change should happen soon. I want to think that eventually all the NH3 and NO2 will be oxidized and I will be left with a very large amount of NO3 which I can then water change out.

To help the bacteria I upped the temperature to 85-90F and added a lot of O2. These should both speed up the process. There are of course no fish in the aquarium.

Any thoughts?
 
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Hello; I will flag duanes duanes as he is knowledgeable. My uneducated guess is at high does levels the ammonia is too toxic fo r even the bacteria we try to cultivate.
My guess is a water change to reduce the concentration should help.

I will also add a link to articles about cycling.


Aquarium cycling links





http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/nitrogen_cycle.html





 
skjl47 said:
Hello; I will flag duanes duanes as he is knowledgeable. My uneducated guess is at high does levels the ammonia is too toxic fo r even the bacteria we try to cultivate.
My guess is a water change to reduce the concentration should help.

I will also add a link to articles about cycling.


Aquarium cycling links


http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/nitrogen_cycle.html


Click to expand...

This was my initial fear. However, the bacteria we want for saltwater, in the genus Nitrosomonas , Nitrococcus, Nitrospira and Nitrosospira, are found in wastewater treatment plants where NH3 normally exceeds 20ppm. I also am seeing the cycle progress in my tank so I do not think it is high enough to be toxic.

The water is probably what I will end up doing.

Thanks for links, I have been doing plenty of research on the topic. I am well aware how the cycling works, just looking for evidence of a high NH3 concentration to start. I will continue to update this. Hopefully someone has some experience!
 
Personally I would wait it out, and see what happens. It sounds like the cycle process has began. Which bacteria in a bottle are you using?
 
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Rocksor said:
What are you using to test NH3?
Click to expand...

Unfortunately just the API test which is why I said north of 8ppm, probably higher.

I bought the tank used and cleaned it out the best I could, ran water through it a few times before final fill up. I then added sand and dry live rock that had previously been in a tank. I made the mistake of assuming the NH3 was 0ppm in the tank. Something was still in there, be it the rocks, sand, leftever water in sump ect that contained NH3. I tested the water before adding the ammonium chloride but didnt wait for the results, I dosed the tank to about 3-4ppm. Before dosing the tank had 3ppm. I do believe it is fair to say it is around 8-10ppm total.


RD. said:
Personally I would wait it out, and see what happens. It sounds like the cycle process has began. Which bacteria in a bottle are you using?
Click to expand...

This is my current plan of action. The cycle has undoubtedly started, just hoping it can take on the high concentrations. I found another paper on Nitrosomonas in wastewater converting about 20ppm NH3 in a few weeks so I have some hope here.

I used the 8oz bottle of Instant Ocean's Bio-Spira (rated 75gallons) and 4oz bottle of Dr. Tim's One and Only (rated 60 gallons).
 
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If it's started to cycle then I'd just leave it, even if the bacteria aren't happy with the concentration and it's slowing their reproduction it clearly hasn't killed them. They'll get it down eventually. If you're really impatient, you could always do a water change.
 
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TwoHedWlf said:
If it's started to cycle then I'd just leave it, even if the bacteria aren't happy with the concentration and it's slowing their reproduction it clearly hasn't killed them. They'll get it down eventually. If you're really impatient, you could always do a water change.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the input, I actually am being quite patient with the process :)

Plan is to let it run it’s course.
 
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