Fishless Cycle Question

[Bubba30]

So I am two weeks into fishless cycle my dry rock tank. I seeded with Microbacter7 and dosed ammonia over 2ppm. Last three days ammonia dropped down to .2ppm. Nitrites were at zero today and Nitrates were 15-20.

 

Should I dose more ammonia at this point or should I do a big water change and call it cycled?

 

Thanks for any advice.

[Marc.The.Shark]

I would, till you get zero. You should be able to process 2ppm to 0 in 24 hrs. That .2 may be a false reading, but maybe not. Give it a couple more ammonia doses & then do you w/c & add a fish/cuc. I cycled mine the same way with Dr Tims & once ammonia was 0, dosed a couple more times, don't want to stress the fish. Maybe a clown or damsel would be ok @ .2ppm, but what's a couple more days at this point, you're so close

[Bubba30]

Great. I'll dose some more ammonia and wait it out. Hopefully another week it will be ready to go.

 

Should I plan on over feeding to keep the bacteria growing after I add a fish?

[Marc.The.Shark]

I didn't, tank will adjust to bioload, just add fish slow & let it catch up. Works good. I'm going to be starting another tank in a couple weeks & gonna try the BioSpira this time. Heard good things about it too.

[Bubba30]

I didn't, tank will adjust to bioload, just add fish slow & let it catch up. Works good. I'm going to be starting another tank in a couple weeks & gonna try the BioSpira this time. Heard good things about it too.

I don't have a control but I'm confident the Microbacter7 cut the cycle time down considerably. I started building this tank over 2 years ago and really can't wait to get some life into it. I think I'm more anxious than my 3 year old son. Good luck with your new build and thanks for the advice.

[IronChefItaly]

Do remember to take it slow. It can be tough and I don't follow my own advice on occasion but tank maturity is a very real thing.