Cycling Problems

shrimpinator123 · 09/02/2017, 09:42 PM

As the title says, I have been having cycling problems on 10 gal nano. I have been doing freshwater for about 6 years, but just took the plunge into saltwater. After adding dry rock, I added ammonia and nitrifying bacteria to my tank about 4 weeks ago. I got the ammonia to spike, and thought I had started the cycle. After this, I had something come up and did not check parameters for a couple of days. During these days I continued to add ammonia. I tested it and amonia was still high, and no nitrite spike. This has been the same for the past three weeks. I have been doing an enormous amount of research and found that Api kits (the kit I am using) reads ammonium. Could it be that the tank cycled and I did not see it and that the test kit is reading ammonium? Or am I just not being patient enough? I know this takes time but this seems ridiculous for this small of a tank. Either way it is frustrating.

zheka757 · 09/02/2017, 10:06 PM

the smaller the tank the harder it will be to cycle. and to much ammonia will stop the cycle process. i would do a 5 gallon water change and as some live bacteria instead. i just finished cycling my tank with sachem stability.

shrimpinator123 · 09/02/2017, 10:08 PM

Ok, that is what i was using as well. Could the population have died off because of the amonia?

Jon0807 · 09/02/2017, 10:09 PM

What is your ammonia testing at? I believe the ideal amount is 2ppm. Your test kit may also be faulty. But more likely that either you overdosed ammonia or it's just taking a while.

zheka757 · 09/02/2017, 10:28 PM

in you case you cave to use seachem prime to lower ammonia, and then use seachem stability, it says right on the bottle.

shrimpinator123 · 09/02/2017, 10:48 PM

My ammonia has been testing at 2ppm. Should I just wait it out?

Jon0807 · 09/02/2017, 11:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shrimpinator123

My ammonia has been testing at 2ppm. Should I just wait it out?

I would wait it out. Patience is a must in the saltwater world.

Jon0807 · 09/02/2017, 11:10 PM

Also I've noticed that if you use dry rock like the reef saver stuff from BRS, it takes longer to cycle than if you used live rock or dry rock that used to be live.

shrimpinator123 · 09/03/2017, 01:18 AM

I am using dry rock (pieces of coral found at the beach). Not sure if this would impact it?

mcgyvr · 09/03/2017, 07:05 AM

Please provide actual readings..
As stated above you should dose ammonia up to 2ppm only..
And only do it once..
Then when ammonia and nitrites are zero again you can dose to 2ppm one more time and provided ammonia and nitrite go to zero in 24 hours the tank is cycled..

So you basically didn't cycle right..
Try again following what I said above..
For some reason people think they need to keep adding ammonia and that messes it all up..

calculator for the amount of ammonia to add is here.
https://www.hamzasreef.com/Contents/...niaCycling.php

mikem101 · 09/03/2017, 07:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shrimpinator123

As the title says, I have been having cycling problems on 10 gal nano. I have been doing freshwater for about 6 years, but just took the plunge into saltwater. After adding dry rock, I added ammonia and nitrifying bacteria to my tank about 4 weeks ago. I got the ammonia to spike, and thought I had started the cycle. After this, I had something come up and did not check parameters for a couple of days. During these days I continued to add ammonia. I tested it and amonia was still high, and no nitrite spike. This has been the same for the past three weeks. I have been doing an enormous amount of research and found that Api kits (the kit I am using) reads ammonium. Could it be that the tank cycled and I did not see it and that the test kit is reading ammonium? Or am I just not being patient enough? I know this takes time but this seems ridiculous for this small of a tank. Either way it is frustrating.

Soooo maybe I'm just OLD lol but, I've never dosed anything during my cycle in ANY of my tanks. I don't understand to this day why people add anything to their tanks at all while its cycling? all ive ever done is get the tank set up either use all live rock, or a couple pieces to seed the tank. "Live" sand and water. Let the tank run for 4-6 weeks (8 if you use all base rock) and test it after the 4-6 week time. Your tank would have cycled in this amount of time and you can go from there. So my advice for anyone starting out is to be PATIENT and everything will work out!

shrimpinator123 · 09/03/2017, 08:03 AM

I did provide my readings earlier, they were 2ppm.

mikem101 · 09/03/2017, 08:04 AM

let us know what you decide to do and how it goes will be interesting!

mcgyvr · 09/03/2017, 08:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shrimpinator123

I did provide my readings earlier, they were 2ppm.

ok.. stop adding ammonia and just wait..

shrimpinator123 · 09/03/2017, 09:35 AM

That is what I was going to do. Thanks for the help! Hopefully it works out.

shrimpinator123 · 09/03/2017, 01:05 PM

Just wondering, should I be able to add livestock in a few weeks? Been doing a lot of research and thinking about doing one of the smaller jawfish.

Sk8r · 09/03/2017, 01:11 PM

abused live rock takes about 4 weeks cycle; dry rock about 8 to 12, with addition of culture (we used to use fish store coral tank water.)

shrimpinator123 · 09/03/2017, 02:27 PM

Just wondering, would one of the smaller three inch jawfish and a goby/pistol pair work for a ten gallon?

shrimpinator123 · 09/08/2017, 07:21 PM

Update: Just tested my water and my nitrites finally spiked to 2ppm, but my ammonia is still at 2ppm. This will come down in a few days, right? I was doing some research and have been seeing a lot of people saying that as soon as nitrates spike that you should do a water change to help level out the tank. Is this true? Also, could I stock the tank that day, or would I have to wait?

mcgyvr · 09/09/2017, 08:21 AM

Once ammonia and nitrites are zero then you do water changes to bring nitrates down,etc... then the tank is basically cycled and can be slowly stocked.

It seems you really went overkill on the ammonia and could have just been killing any bacteria that was trying to grow.. You were far over 2ppm..

Just wait... I'd test again in another week.. Just top off evaporation with freshwater (not saltwater) and that all you should be doing now..

shrimpinator123 · 09/09/2017, 03:30 PM

Ok, thanks.

tjm9331 · 09/12/2017, 09:57 AM

I made a similar mistake when I was cycling my tank. I had used Dr. Tims bacteria and added ammonia to get the level up to 2ppm. I then followed the instructions on the Dr. Tims bottle which said to add ammonia everyday to keep the level at 2ppm. Well this ended up making the cycle longer.

What I should have done, which mcgyvr mentioned is get it to 2ppm once and then let it sit. I would have been cycled a lot sooner had I done that. So yeah as everyone has said, patience is key in this hobby. Wait it out, test every other day and you should eventually see ammonia start to drop.

shrimpinator123 · 09/12/2017, 06:13 PM

Ok, thanks! I just tested and my nitrates have spiked! They spiked to 80 or 160ppm (Using API, hard to tell the difference). My nitrite is a 1ppm, and my ammonia is at .25ppm. From what I gathered here, I wait till the ammonia and nitrites drop to zero on their own, then d a 50% water change to get rid of nitrates, and then I am ready for a clean up crew. I am doing a goby tank and was told that I have to add all of them at once, and adding the clean up crew would help the bio filter adjust, so that I would not kill it after adding fish. Is this correct? Thanks for your guys' help. You definetly made this smoother.

tjm9331 · 09/14/2017, 08:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shrimpinator123

Ok, thanks! I just tested and my nitrates have spiked! They spiked to 80 or 160ppm (Using API, hard to tell the difference). My nitrite is a 1ppm, and my ammonia is at .25ppm. From what I gathered here, I wait till the ammonia and nitrites drop to zero on their own, then d a 50% water change to get rid of nitrates, and then I am ready for a clean up crew. I am doing a goby tank and was told that I have to add all of them at once, and adding the clean up crew would help the bio filter adjust, so that I would not kill it after adding fish. Is this correct? Thanks for your guys' help. You definetly made this smoother.

sounds like a good plan

shrimpinator123 · 09/15/2017, 11:11 AM

Thanks, going to test the water tonight. Might be time to order my clean up crew!

09/02/2017, 09:42 PM	#1
shrimpinator123 Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2017 Location: Chapel Hill, North Carolina Posts: 189	Cycling Problems As the title says, I have been having cycling problems on 10 gal nano. I have been doing freshwater for about 6 years, but just took the plunge into saltwater. After adding dry rock, I added ammonia and nitrifying bacteria to my tank about 4 weeks ago. I got the ammonia to spike, and thought I had started the cycle. After this, I had something come up and did not check parameters for a couple of days. During these days I continued to add ammonia. I tested it and amonia was still high, and no nitrite spike. This has been the same for the past three weeks. I have been doing an enormous amount of research and found that Api kits (the kit I am using) reads ammonium. Could it be that the tank cycled and I did not see it and that the test kit is reading ammonium? Or am I just not being patient enough? I know this takes time but this seems ridiculous for this small of a tank. Either way it is frustrating.

09/02/2017, 10:09 PM	#4
Jon0807 Registered Member Join Date: May 2016 Location: SF Bay Area Posts: 293	What is your ammonia testing at? I believe the ideal amount is 2ppm. Your test kit may also be faulty. But more likely that either you overdosed ammonia or it's just taking a while. __________________ 40g breeder DT, 40g breeder sump

09/02/2017, 11:10 PM	#8
Jon0807 Registered Member Join Date: May 2016 Location: SF Bay Area Posts: 293	Also I've noticed that if you use dry rock like the reef saver stuff from BRS, it takes longer to cycle than if you used live rock or dry rock that used to be live. __________________ 40g breeder DT, 40g breeder sump

09/03/2017, 07:05 AM	#10
mcgyvr Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: North Carolina Posts: 20,050	Please provide actual readings.. As stated above you should dose ammonia up to 2ppm only.. And only do it once.. Then when ammonia and nitrites are zero again you can dose to 2ppm one more time and provided ammonia and nitrite go to zero in 24 hours the tank is cycled.. So you basically didn't cycle right.. Try again following what I said above.. For some reason people think they need to keep adding ammonia and that messes it all up.. calculator for the amount of ammonia to add is here. https://www.hamzasreef.com/Contents/...niaCycling.php __________________ Who me?

09/03/2017, 01:11 PM	#17
Sk8r RC Mod Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Spokane WA Posts: 34,628 Blog Entries: 55	abused live rock takes about 4 weeks cycle; dry rock about 8 to 12, with addition of culture (we used to use fish store coral tank water.) __________________ Sk8r Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low. Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%.

09/02/2017, 10:06 PM	#2
zheka757 Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2017 Location: North Port Florida Posts: 283	the smaller the tank the harder it will be to cycle. and to much ammonia will stop the cycle process. i would do a 5 gallon water change and as some live bacteria instead. i just finished cycling my tank with sachem stability.

09/02/2017, 10:08 PM	#3
shrimpinator123 Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2017 Location: Chapel Hill, North Carolina Posts: 189	Ok, that is what i was using as well. Could the population have died off because of the amonia?

09/02/2017, 10:28 PM	#5
zheka757 Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2017 Location: North Port Florida Posts: 283	in you case you cave to use seachem prime to lower ammonia, and then use seachem stability, it says right on the bottle.

09/02/2017, 10:48 PM	#6
shrimpinator123 Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2017 Location: Chapel Hill, North Carolina Posts: 189	My ammonia has been testing at 2ppm. Should I just wait it out?

09/03/2017, 01:18 AM	#9
shrimpinator123 Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2017 Location: Chapel Hill, North Carolina Posts: 189	I am using dry rock (pieces of coral found at the beach). Not sure if this would impact it?

09/03/2017, 08:03 AM	#12
shrimpinator123 Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2017 Location: Chapel Hill, North Carolina Posts: 189	I did provide my readings earlier, they were 2ppm.

09/03/2017, 08:04 AM	#13
mikem101 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: Albuquerque, NM Posts: 819	let us know what you decide to do and how it goes will be interesting!

09/03/2017, 09:35 AM	#15
shrimpinator123 Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2017 Location: Chapel Hill, North Carolina Posts: 189	That is what I was going to do. Thanks for the help! Hopefully it works out.

09/03/2017, 01:05 PM	#16
shrimpinator123 Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2017 Location: Chapel Hill, North Carolina Posts: 189	Just wondering, should I be able to add livestock in a few weeks? Been doing a lot of research and thinking about doing one of the smaller jawfish.

09/03/2017, 02:27 PM	#18
shrimpinator123 Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2017 Location: Chapel Hill, North Carolina Posts: 189	Just wondering, would one of the smaller three inch jawfish and a goby/pistol pair work for a ten gallon?

09/08/2017, 07:21 PM	#19
shrimpinator123 Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2017 Location: Chapel Hill, North Carolina Posts: 189	Update: Just tested my water and my nitrites finally spiked to 2ppm, but my ammonia is still at 2ppm. This will come down in a few days, right? I was doing some research and have been seeing a lot of people saying that as soon as nitrates spike that you should do a water change to help level out the tank. Is this true? Also, could I stock the tank that day, or would I have to wait?

09/09/2017, 08:21 AM	#20
mcgyvr Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: North Carolina Posts: 20,050	Once ammonia and nitrites are zero then you do water changes to bring nitrates down,etc... then the tank is basically cycled and can be slowly stocked. It seems you really went overkill on the ammonia and could have just been killing any bacteria that was trying to grow.. You were far over 2ppm.. Just wait... I'd test again in another week.. Just top off evaporation with freshwater (not saltwater) and that all you should be doing now.. __________________ Who me?

09/09/2017, 03:30 PM	#21
shrimpinator123 Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2017 Location: Chapel Hill, North Carolina Posts: 189	Ok, thanks.

09/12/2017, 09:57 AM	#22
tjm9331 Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2016 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 340	I made a similar mistake when I was cycling my tank. I had used Dr. Tims bacteria and added ammonia to get the level up to 2ppm. I then followed the instructions on the Dr. Tims bottle which said to add ammonia everyday to keep the level at 2ppm. Well this ended up making the cycle longer. What I should have done, which mcgyvr mentioned is get it to 2ppm once and then let it sit. I would have been cycled a lot sooner had I done that. So yeah as everyone has said, patience is key in this hobby. Wait it out, test every other day and you should eventually see ammonia start to drop.

09/12/2017, 06:13 PM	#23
shrimpinator123 Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2017 Location: Chapel Hill, North Carolina Posts: 189	Ok, thanks! I just tested and my nitrates have spiked! They spiked to 80 or 160ppm (Using API, hard to tell the difference). My nitrite is a 1ppm, and my ammonia is at .25ppm. From what I gathered here, I wait till the ammonia and nitrites drop to zero on their own, then d a 50% water change to get rid of nitrates, and then I am ready for a clean up crew. I am doing a goby tank and was told that I have to add all of them at once, and adding the clean up crew would help the bio filter adjust, so that I would not kill it after adding fish. Is this correct? Thanks for your guys' help. You definetly made this smoother.

09/15/2017, 11:11 AM	#25
shrimpinator123 Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2017 Location: Chapel Hill, North Carolina Posts: 189	Thanks, going to test the water tonight. Might be time to order my clean up crew!