Started my tank cycle 5 days ago

[Jorge091293]

nitrate 20ppm

nitrite 3.0 ppm

 

total alkaline 300ppm

 

ph saltwater 8.2

on the ammonia it just says stressed on the test tube gives me no numbers

but definitely when up from ideal too stressed That's the readings in my tank now what should I look out and how should I know it will be cycled been doing a lot of research but I like people who had experience one it thanks led me know ur honest awnser a and ur knoledge ??

[VW_TDI_02]

Just keep adding an ammonia source daily (food or actual pure ammonia). Your tank will be fully "cycled" when you have zero ammonia and zero nitrite. Make sure that you're adding the same amount of food/ammonia each day. Eventually the bacteria in your tank will be able to immediately convert the ammonia to nitrite and then the nitrite to nitrate. When that happens you should not be able to get a reading for ammonia or nitrite. Nitrates won't get converted into anything so you'll always get nitrates unless you have some chemical media to remove it.

[Clown79]

Once ammonia and nitrite are at 0 and stay at 0 your cycle is complete.

 

Nitrates don't convert, its the last process of the nitrogen cycle.

 

After the cycle is complete you do a water change to reduce nitrates. Once nitrate levels are in a safe zone (20 and under) you can add livestock but slowly.

 

To maintain low nitrates(under 10, best is 2-5) weekly waterchanges with vacuum sanding, regular floss changing- basically good husbandry.

 

Normally most will only resort to nitrate reducing products when they are very high.

[Jorge091293]

thanks for the info I'll be checking daily for the tests thanks guys

[do not smoke the reef(er)]

Just keep being patient and everything will work it self out

[Jorge091293]

Yes thanks do not smoke I will be patient Thanks to the live rock I added in there everything spiked is been 5 siince it was put in there to be exact I tooked it out of an establish aquarium ?

[do not smoke the reef(er)]

Any updates? hows the cylce coming along?

[Canadianeh]

nitrate 20ppm

nitrite 3.0 ppm

 

total alkaline 300ppm

 

ph saltwater 8.2

on the ammonia it just says stressed on the test tube gives me no numbers

but definitely when up from ideal too stressed That's the readings in my tank now what should I look out and how should I know it will be cycled been doing a lot of research but I like people who had experience one it thanks led me know ur honest awnser a and ur knoledge

 

At some point try to add 2-4 ppm of ammonia in bottle, and test to see if your tank can consume them within 24 hours. The bacteria who eats Nitrites (Nitrobacter) takes longer to multiply so you will see your Nitrites amount slower to disappear than your ammonia.

Here is a thread about the bacteria who deals with Ammonia and Nitrites. It helped me to understand how these guys work.

 

Here is my tank build and is 30 days in now. I have not put any fish in yet as my fish and coral are still sitting in my quarantine tank. I am recording the progress on the thread

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/377484-newbies-new-fusion-40-build/

[Jorge091293]

Update

nitrate 40

nitrite 1.5

 

total alkaline 300ppm

 

ph 7.8

for amonia it just says safe it's on green but there's no other chart

Lol like the recommended one

Besides that what do I think ?

And I'm not thinking of adding the first fish till Christmas

That's is rigth now

nitrate 20ppm

nitrite 3.0 ppm

 

total alkaline 300ppm

 

ph saltwater 8.2

on the ammonia it just says stressed on the test tube gives me no numbers

but definitely when up from ideal too stressed This was one week ago I saw an amonia spike

nitrate 20ppm

nitrite 3.0 ppm

 

total alkaline 300ppm

 

ph saltwater 8.2

on the ammonia it just says stressed on the test tube gives me no numbers

but definitely when up from ideal too stressed This was one week ago I saw an amonia spike

As I can see on the first one witch is rigth now idk why it whent first the amonia whent down and nitrite also

[Clown79]

What test kit are you using?

 

There should be numbers.

Your nitrite is very high. And if i'm understanding correctly, your test is now stating ammonia level is in a stressed level.

 

How are you cycling the tank?

 

Dry rock with ammonia dosing or liverock?

 

Did you add any liverock after you set up and started cycling?

[Jorge091293]

Hi I put it wrong by accident the thing whent wrong led me corecly week one with live rock added into

The tank

Week 1

nitrate 20ppm

nitrite 3.0 ppm

 

total alkaline 300ppm

 

ph saltwater 8.2

on the ammonia it just says stressed on the test tube gives me no numbers but definitely went up a lot !!! I spike on it

 

 

Week 2

nitrate 40

nitrite 1.5

 

total alkaline 300ppm

 

ph 7.8

for amonia it just says safe it's on green in other words according to the chart it is now at 0

And I am using the API salt water master kit

[Clown79]

The api kits have numbers on their chart next to the colour block.

[Jorge091293]

I have a 4 feather duster worms growing in my tank hitch hikers??and I believe more are front in the dark caves of my rocks hard to tell there just white things look like sticks but not sure .. but the feather dusters I can kinda tell they are them

[do not smoke the reef(er)]

I have a 4 feather duster worms growing in my tank hitch hikers??and I believe more are front in the dark caves of my rocks hard to tell there just white things look like sticks but not sure .. but the feather dusters I can kinda tell they are them

 

 

Feather dusters are a good sign! How are the nitrates looking now? Guessing they have gone down some?

[Jorge091293]

The nitrate 20

Nitrite 0

Amonia 0

Without water change for 3 three weeks

[Clown79]

You can do a waterchange now to lower nitrates and then continue weekly

[Jorge091293]

Hey clown I did my last water perimeters check and

Nitrate 40

Nitrite 0

Amonia 2.0

Ph 7.8

Alkinity 180

Amonia spiked again

[Clown79]

Did you add anything to the tank to cause the spike? How many days since starting the cycle?

[Jorge091293]

Going to fourth week and noo did not add anything weird maybe the frags that are growing and also the feather worms that started growing might it couse it

[Clown79]

No. Those wouldn't likely cause an ammonia spike. Most liverock has feather dusters on them and some even has coral.

[Jorge091293]

I should wait then a bit longer till it settles ?

[Clown79]

If there is ammonia present, don't add any livestock. I'm not sure why it spiked again.

[Jorge091293]

okays I'll do a water change on Monday or should a wait till it goes down i been trying to figure out why but I have no idea there a first time for anything lol thanks god im patient lol

[Clown79]

Lets start over again.

 

How much rock did you start with and is it liverock or dry rock?

 

What sand did you use

 

How did you start the cycle? Did you dose ammonia or no?

 

What test kits are you using?

 

Test ammonia tomorrow. If its dropped then no, i wouldn't do a waterchange. If its going up, you may need to do one.

[Jorge091293]

I added 3 pounds of live rock and 9 pounds of dry rock

I did not dose any amonia and I am using Carib sea live sand for rigth now tetra test strips