Cycling questions/troubles.

Jason4390

just did that today, very little salt thought. there's an albino frog in there i need to get rid of first...

BarbH

Was reading through the thread and was wondering how your cycle was going on your tank? While reading through the posts a thought came to mind regarding seeing nitrates early in your cycle. Are you using tap water or ro/di water? If you are using tap water have you tested the parameters of your tap water? It is possible to have a nitrate reading on your tap water. As others have said patience is the main key in this hobby, as I have heard from others nothing good in this hobby ever happens fast.

Jason4390

Starting to see small traces of nitrites. Haven't tested in a few days though. Gonna test tomorrow. It was tap water and no, I didn't test before I added it to my tank. Sounds like a possibility of nitrates already present. check my log for updates on my parameters :)

Jason4390

Ok, so my ammonia is very low at 0.25 ppm. I'm guessing the nitrite at 5 ppm is the spike I'm looking for and my nitrate is going sky high at 60 ppm. I've added another "healthy" dose of pure ammonia. Any estimates on how long before it's fully cycled? Also, how much ammonia and how quickly will it dissipate when the cycle is complete? Maybe the amount of fish will be a variable? I will only be adding the dragon goby at first and probably no additional fish for at least a week or two.

Tazman

The dose of ammonia should be half of what you initially dosed to..now that you have the nitrite spike.

Do not worry about the nitrates for now, this will be taken care of with a big water change ONCE cycling is complete.

There is no way to tell how long you have left before the cycle is complete. If you have been consistent in adding the same dose of ammonia from the start up to now... then once you see ZERO ammonia, your initial dose should be gone within 24 hours.

Wait for ammonia and nitrite to drop to zero (they will if you have not disturbed the cycle at all), once you see both at zero, wait 24 hours, dose your initial amount again and wait another 24 hours. If after that time you still get zero readings but high nitrates, cycle complete.

Once the cycle is complete, you need to do a large 70-80% water change to reduce the nitrates...you should see a 50% reduction in nitrates after the water changes, your aim is for 20ppm or less. Wait 24 hours before testing for nitrates and if they are still above 40ppm then perform a smaller 50% water change.

You are nearly there, so hang in and do NOT start rushing things now.

Jason4390

I haven't been very consistent in the ammonia dosing. just adding some whenever necessary to keep ppm above 2. Initial dose was very large to achieve 5 ppm. How much pure ammonia daily for the 75g tank? Also, what's the best method as far as keeping the salinity stable in a water change? I was thinking treated water left to dissolve over night in 5 gallon buckets, but I only have 4. How much does the salinity and temp have to change to hurt the beneficial bacteria? When my canister filter comes in can I just hook it up seed it with the filter pads or bio-wheel from my HOB filter? Will this cause another cycle or any spikes in any toxins?

Jason4390

no help

Reefing Madness

I got help for ya, but your dosing. My advise is to stop dosing, you can just mess up the tank. Just be patient, that won't hurt anyone or anything.
When you get you rHOB go ahead and throw it in, that won't hurt either. But my suggestion about a HOB Filter is, don't use it, that'll just mess up yor tank also, so thats not what you were getting after, thats why i haven't posted.

Jason4390

If I stop dosing completely won't that eliminate the food source for the ammonia eating bacteria, and in turn eliminate the food source for the nitrite eating bacteria (after it comes down from the sky high levels)? As for the filtration, a HOB rated for 70 gallons is the current, and only filter I've been running. My canister filter came in, all I'm waiting on is the bio-glass type ceramic media to put in it. I want to eventually get rid of the HOB all together, how when I know when to take it off after the canister is hooked up and running?

Reefing Madness

Its all your choice, I just out lined what to do, its all up to you. I run a 240g tank, NO FILTER, NO HOB. You have dosed enough to get your system what it need to go through a cycle. If you wanted it to cycle right now, you could have used Fully Cured Live Rock. Next, when you add fishy slowly over weeks, after your Trates have come down under 40, those fish will keep the life long cycle going, and keep the bio logical load where it needs to be.
Live Rock organisms filter your water when you have enough of it, thats why its recommended to get 1.5lbs per gallon of water. HOB filters are not counted as flow in a tank, they just return water, and its usually just across the surface of the tank. The media which you plan on using is going to cause you a headache inthe Nitrate department, as it will trap and collect debre in it. they need cleaned out, which everyone knows, but what you don' tknow is you usually have to clean out the media of its collected debre, and by doing that, most kill the bacteria growing in it.