Cycle Times

[mdwaller]

My name is Matthew. I'm 13 so using my dads account. I started my cycle about 2 weeks ago. I have been using this lighting schedule with my AI Prime HD  for about a week and getting a major diatom breakout. I think that's what it is.  Not sure if so much is a good thing or not. I'm using the Red Sea Pro cycle program. According to the instructions, I should have added cleanup crew last week, but nitrites are still off the color chart high, so my dad won't let me add anything. He said I should have cured my pukani rock for a month before I put it in my tank but I didn't listen. 

Has anyone else used the Red Sea Pro cycle system? It really doesn't say what to do if things are not checking out to their program. 

 

Thanks

[CronicReefer]

Nitrite is not toxic in the marine environment so nothing to worry about with that. What you want to see is ammonia be converted from 1-2ppm to 0 in under 24 hours. If your tank is able to do this then you can do a large water change to remove all the nitrates being created and you are good to go with some clean up crew. Most cycles will take at least 2 weeks but usually longer.

[mdwaller]

2 minutes ago, CronicReefer said:

Nitrite is not toxic in the marine environment so nothing to worry about with that. What you want to see is ammonia be converted from 1-2ppm to 0 in under 24 hours. If your tank is able to do this then you can do a large water change to remove all the nitrates being created and you are good to go with some clean up crew. Most cycles will take at least 2 weeks but usually longer.

My ammonia has been 0.2 for a couple of days. It was at 0 before

[CronicReefer]

24 minutes ago, mdwaller said:

My ammonia has been 0.2 for a couple of days. It was at 0 before

It is most likely die off from your rock (I'm assuming you didn't start with clean white rocks). Also there is no need for using your light until you start adding fish/corals as it will cause is algae problems at this time because of the organics in the water. But the way I find to be the easiest for cycling is to just bump the ammonia to 1-2ppm, dose Microbacter7, wait 24 hours, if not at 0 repeat until no ammonia is present. Nitrites will take longer to be converted at above 5ppm (the bacteria just tend to slow down), but again,  not toxic in the marine environment.

 

[Clown79]

Did you use dry rock or liverock?

 

If liverock, dosing ammonia can kill the beneficial bacteria in the rock. 

 

Cycles can take anywhere from a week to over a mnth to process. Once ammonia is at 0 and stays at 0 then you can do a large water change to reduce the nitrates.

 

Keep the lights off during the cycle, its only aiding the algae.