Cycling problem - help needed - microbacter7

[Darren94]

I am new to the salt water world but have been doing C02 injected planted freshwater tanks for the last few years with great results. After a bunch of research on nano setups, i picked up a 13.5 gal fluval nano reef setup with the intentions of having a nice simple reef tank with low maintenance corals, clean up crew and 1-2 fish. Its been 5 weeks since setup but it seems my cycle process is stalled or non existent. Since week 2, the tank has been at .5 PPM ammonia and nothing else has changed. I test every day with water top offs and nitrate/nitrate are constantly at zero. Each freshwater setup i have done was fully cycled in 3-4 weeks. 

 

My tank set up is as follows: 

-Fluval 13.5 evo, reef led light, intank media basket, filter floss, carbon bags and bio media

-15 lbs of dry rock

-15 lbs of live sand, 1.5-1.75 inch depth

-1.025 salinity

-RO/DI water used 

-78 degrees, light on for 3-4 hrs daily

-daily phantom feeding for ammonia production 

-daily .5 - 1 full cap dosing with mircobacter7 (light off for 12+ hours after dosing)

 

Here is my concern, i have been dosing the microbacter7 for 5 weeks. I recently realized that the instructions state to daily dose for the first 2 weeks then to back off to once cap per week. Could the overdosing of MB7 be causing the cycle process to stop? My understanding is that too much MB7 causes a lack of oxygen but, i cant seem to find any other side effects. Should i continue with the MB7?

 

Thanks,

Darren

 

[Newstead]

Darren, I wouldn't think so. I use MB7 as a weekly treatment in my Biocube and have used it daily when adding livestock.

You might try a small bottle of Biospira to jump start the cycle again and for different bacteria. I used Dr. Tim's Ammonium chloride and a bottle of Biospira to cycle my newest tank (dry rock, live reef flakes) and it was the quickest cycle I have had. Being able to add the ammonium to exactly 2 ppm several times to make sure it zeroed out in 24 hrs. was easy.

 

I don't run filter media other than floss while cycling. Perhaps try taking the carbon, etc. out?

 

Here are the products I used -

 

[seabass]

Welcome to Nano-Reef.com.

 

I'm not a fan of ghost feeding, as it adds a bunch of unnecessary dead organics and nutrients into the tank.  So when using dry rock, I prefer ammonium chloride like Newstead.  Just follow this guide:   http://www.drtimsaquatics.com/resources/fishless-cycling

 

Assuming that your bottle contained live bacteria (isn't expired, and wasn't exposed to too hot or too cold), you really should have enough bacteria in there to get things started.  I don't believe you have overdosed bacteria.  Again, like Newstead suggested, maybe try another bottle of bacteria just to be sure.

 

Good luck!

[Clown79]

The problem with feeding the tank to produce ammonia for a cycle is that it's not reliable.

 

You can't control the amount of ammonia produced. It also adds unwanted nutrients to the tank.

 

It's far cleaner and more accurate to dose bacteria and ammonia for dry rock cycling.

[Darren94]

Thank you for the help guys. I am going to order the bio-Spira and the ammonium chloride. I think I do a 50% water change too and see if I can kick start the cycle process.