neyes_ice Posted February 21, 2019 Share Posted February 21, 2019 hey guys, started cycling almost 2 months now. i used dr tims fishless method with dry rock and dry sand . i may have overdosed ammonia on the 1st time and dosed too soon for the 2nd, misread the instructions. (my bad) . (never got to measure my real water volume too) got a nitrite spike. did a water change once or twice. after a couple of weeks added some marine pure spheres and added one more bottle of dr tims. nitrites just kept sky high, even bought a second set of test kits just to be sure. (1st API then Salifert) then i read i could do a almost 100% water change and bacteria would still be there, which i did, and dosed a little bit less of the recommended ammonia dosage. now im sure there is bacteria present because tests detected presence of ammonia then none after a couple of days. but now my nitrites are skyhigh again. should i just leave it be or do daily small water changes? i'm also trying to break in my santa monica ats 22 hrs a day schedule.so far, a week or so later no algae growth. i also have my display lights on a schedule. no algae growth also. any thoughts? thanks Quote Link to comment
ReefGoat Posted February 21, 2019 Share Posted February 21, 2019 I think you're over thinking it. If your tank can zero out 2ppm of ammonia in 24hrs it is cycled. Once it can process 2ppm in 24 hours just do water changes to get your levels right and carry on reefing. I didn't even test for nitrite when I cycled to be honest. Just out of curiosity why are you wanting to bring an algae scrubber online so soon in such a new tank with no bioload? You aren't scared you're going to strip it of nutrients and cause problems? In my 45g I have to dose phosphate and nitrate just to keep it detectable. I only run my skimmer at night also. Plus had to cut down on water changes. I know eventually when my tank matures I'll need to run it 247 and prolly buy something like you've got. But I'm not anticipating that until I'm fully stocked. We shall see though. Good luck 1 Quote Link to comment
seabass Posted February 21, 2019 Share Posted February 21, 2019 When cycling with dry rock and adding ammonia, the process can stall if either ammonia OR nitrite reach 5 ppm. If EITHER ammonia or nitrite reach 5 ppm, you must do a large enough water change to bring them BOTH below 5 ppm (then wait until they BOTH read 0.25 ppm or less before dosing any more ammonia. It is important not to overdose ammonia (don't dose it any higher than 2 ppm or you may have problems). 1 Quote Link to comment
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