Cycling

[HappySkittles]

is it ok to cycle with tap and then use rodi for fill ups/water changes?

my ammonia has been 8 (as high as the chart will read) since the 20th
the whole tank has been cycling for one month
nitrates are 10
nitrites...i dunno...when i first add the solution ut reads .5
after a while it drops to .25

i dont know what to do
water changes? leave it? if i cant get this cycle right i cant imagine whats gonna happen when i add something :( this is eating my motivation because i dont know what to do

for some reason i just get the feeling im doing something wrong

[byrdman81]

You should never use tap water for anything in SW tanks. Contains too many harmful things in it. I'd buy ro/di water from lfs or buy a filter or worse case buy distilled water from LFS. You will run into problems down the road with tap water. I'd get some ro di water and do a large water change.

[singold]

+1 on significant water changes with RO/DI water.

[Mariner]

Looks like your cycle is stuck at the stage where it should begin processing ammonia into nitrites.
What are you using as biofilter medium (live rock? bio wheel or balls?). How did you kick off the cycle?
Mariner

[singold]

Or at minimum get distilled water from local grocery store which is 90% pure. RO/DI water is 99% pure. If have not added any livestock and have 3 gal. tank, might just want to start over with new pure water. I would also check to make sure a seahorse can sustain in such a small volume of water.

[HappySkittles]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13240494#post13240494 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Mariner
Looks like your cycle is stuck at the stage where it should begin processing ammonia into nitrites.
What are you using as biofilter medium (live rock? bio wheel or balls?). How did you kick off the cycle?
Mariner

first i used what was in the filter (a filter pad with carbon in it and the biological part)
then after a while (maybe a week) i took that pad out and put cheatomorph and a little plastic thing that holds carbon and left in the biological part of the filter (a white wall with points on it)
i added liverock

now at the point i hadnt added anything else besides sand i had went out and came back to alot of water missing
i added water back in and it cleared up...after this was when i did the cheato ect

i have a feeling it has to do with either that evaporating event OR after i added the cheato (i thought it would help the cycle...the amphipods and stuff in it died which i knew would spike ammonia but i thought hey...you want ammonia to spike so the other stuff can go up too) before any of that happened the water seemed to be doing its thing (SUPER slow) but would the evaporation screw it up? or would the dying stuff? shouldnt it have recovered

it just doesnt look like a correct cycle
like something got messed up somewhere


and dwarf seahorse can do that much water
http://www.syngnathid.org/articles/dwarfKeeping.html

[HappySkittles]

also
nitrogen cycle
is it extremely different going from fresh to salt?
or is the cycle the cycle? read about it in both kinds of books and nothing was ever different in the picture or description



PS
i have weird brown spots on my sand, rock, and filter
not like a film or layer but just spots

[Mariner]

IME, I think the cycle with saltwater is more pronounced.
The brown spots are probably diatoms, which is usually a sign that your cycle is turning the corner.
FWIW, I think you monkeyed around with things a little too much. Probably should have put the live rock in to begin with, not added chaeto until the cycle was mostly complete, and not replaced filter media after a week. Live and learn! ;)
Good luck.
Mariner

[HappySkittles]

thank you very much mariner

i guess maybe im trying too hard too fast
i want it to be perfect but only the ocean is perfect
and it took a LONG time for that happen

maybe right now my trying too hard isnt working
my trying hard will pay off though i guess when i add something living in there

so i should probably just leave it alone if there are diatoms? actually havent really seen any algea like stuf till now
should probably not play with anything...just add freshwater to top off

[byrdman81]

I think i still change water with ro or distilled once cycle is complete it will save you headaches in the long run

[HappySkittles]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13241066#post13241066 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by byrdman81
I think i still change water with ro or distilled once cycle is complete it will save you headaches in the long run

yes i know
we are getting an rodi unit this weekend most likely
my question had to do with my cycle being wonky...i guess i didnt really want a "how to fix it" as much as i wanted a "why is this happening" now that i think about it
and it doesnt seem like its my water really...as far as a screwy cycle...its screwed up because i was fiddling with it (which is probably why i kept feeling like it was something i did)
if i left it alone the cycle probably would have been fine >_<