cycling tank can't read tritation tests for anything help please

[TwistedMind]

Day 23 of my cycle amonnia is rising and falling, nitrite seems to be rising and falling, nitrate isn't really doing anything.

I'm using fishless cycle, keeping the aquarium between 4 and 5 ppm ammonia with daily dosing.

Was hoping to see nitrates by now. Check out these pictures and tell me what you think my readings are. Api tests. I have salifert tests I can use also but they are to small of a gradients for such high levels.

[TwistedMind]

Fixed it, sorry for the extra post. Working from phone isn't ideal.

[bertoni]

Especially if you had some live rock in the mix, the tank might never register nitrite or nitrate. I'd stop the ammonia, and see what happens. That ammonia level might be high enough to inhibit nitrification, for that matter. That's far higher than I would target for ammonia.

PhotoBucket is having some problems, at least on my network, so I can't see all the pictures.

[TwistedMind]

According to my eyes ammonia is currently between 1 and 2 ppm, nitrite is between .5 and 1 ppm, and nitrate is at 5 ppm.

From everything I have read nitrate should spike to around 80 ppm before doing a 75 percent water Change.

[bertoni]

What's in the tank? I'm not sure how anyone created that 80 ppm number.

[TwistedMind]

Nothing is in the tank except 80 pounds of dry rock and 2 pounds of live rock.

[bertoni]

Well, I'd stop dosing the ammonia, and I wouldn't necessarily expect any nitrate to show up.

[TwistedMind]

[TwistedMind]

Can you move this to the new to the hobby forum so it can get some more traffic?

While I appreciate your opinion and input I would like a couple other people to chime in.

[bertoni]

Done.

[acabgd]

I wouldn't dose any more ammonia.

[Fallling]

I'd stop dosing ammonia and let things ride out for another week. Test again after that. Most importantly, you want the ammonia and nitrite to be 0. The amount of nitrate at end of the cycle is going to vary for every tank.

[Fishinwall]

I'm following because I'm doing the same thing, but without dosing ammonia. I have 50ld dry rock and 2 lbs of live in a 65 gal. I only added a piece of dead fish to start cycle. Perhaps I should do more. Where did you get the ammonia and how much do you dose?

[Dan_P]

Nitrite: 0.5
Ammonia: 2.0
Nitrate: 5.0

Twenty three days does not seem excessively long. Ammonia is pretty high.

[TwistedMind]

I have a total volume of 130 gallons with a 75 gallon display. My initial dose of ammonia was 100 ml, once I got it to the recommended 4 ppm for a fishless cycle, it's only taken 5 to 10 ml every other day to maintain the 4ppm of ammonia.

I'm using the doctors foster and smith guide , but not their products. Just used regular old pure ammonia. Cost 3 dollars for a gallon. Just make sure it doesn't have any die, or surfactant in it. I had to return a gallon because it had surfactant and goto tractor supply to find pure ammonia.

[Big_Boss_77]

Originally Posted by twistedmind

i'm using the doctors foster and smith guide , but not their products. Just used regular old pure ammonia. Cost 3 dollars for a gallon. Just make sure it doesn't have any die, or surfactant in it. I had to return a gallon because it had surfactant and goto tractor supply to find pure ammonia.

+1

[mng777777]

You won't get nitrate while you still have ammonia present. Nitrate is the last part of the nitrogen cycle. Once you start registering nitrites it's time to stop and just let the cycle run it's course.

[Justin_S]

I agree with mng777777. Stop what your doing and wait. Doing less is more beneficial to you right now.

[4Hummer]

I kept dosing ammonia durning my cycle following the fishless cycle program your using. Was just as worried as you are. But BAM one day overnight nitrites went to zero and nitrates went off the chart, with only 2lbs live rock it is going to take awhile. Keep doing what your doing (bringing ammonia to 4ppm ). This process works just takes time

[4Hummer]

Here's my thread on the fish less cycle on my local forum

http://www.kwas.ca/forum/showthread....cling-the-Tank

[TwistedMind]

Yea I wish I had more live rock to start with but 2 pounds live and 100 pounds Marco rock should get the job done.

On the other hand I wish the tests were easier to read, even the salifert tests are hard to differentiate for me

Maybe I'll try red sea pro everyone says they are easier to read

[mng777777]

I wouldn't worry too much about the tests at this point. The nitrogen cycle is fairly straight forward. Ammonia is consumed and processed into nitrites. Nitrites are then processed into nitrates. You simply need to allow the bacteria to establish in your tank. You know it's there now because you added ammonia and found nitrites thereafter. With the small level of bacteria you have, relative to your water volume, you may never read any nitrates and that's fine. It doesn't mean there's a problem, it just means that the concentration is very weak. Time is what you need now and in your case probably a little longer than most. I'd stop dosing ammonia, wait until you cannot read any nitrites, then allow 4 to 6 weeks during which you continue to test for nitrates. As long as they continue to be unreadable, then you're good. Start adding fish slowly. One every 4 weeks. Test your water along the way. Now would be a great time to setup your quarantine and purchase your first fish. It'll be ready for its new home about the same time your cycle is done