Ammonia question - new tank cycle

[AMoonlitGoat]

I got this very high reading from api from the very beginning and assumed it was a bad test because I’ve had the api for a while and have had strange readings in the past. That’s when I decided to get the salifert and trusted the reading for that but now I’m starting to think the api was correct the whole time. 

[banasophia]

14 minutes ago, AMoonlitGoat said:

I got this very high reading from api from the very beginning and assumed it was a bad test because I’ve had the api for a while and have had strange readings in the past. That’s when I decided to get the salifert and trusted the reading for that but now I’m starting to think the api was correct the whole time. 

Do you have an LFS nearby that you can take a water sample to for verification? 

[AMoonlitGoat]

I do 😅 I've been trying to avoid it as much as I can. I guess that's the best way to know for sure though. 

[banasophia]

5 minutes ago, AMoonlitGoat said:

I do 😅 I've been trying to avoid it as much as I can. I guess that's the best way to know for sure though. 

I would… good to have a tiebreaker third test to know what you are really looking at since it’s a significantly different result 

[AMoonlitGoat]

Ok one trip later and the lfs confirmed ammonia >8 ppm. I picked up another bottle of Dr Tim's just in case but what do you guys think my next steps should be?

[banasophia]

18 minutes ago, AMoonlitGoat said:

Ok one trip later and the lfs confirmed ammonia >8 ppm. I picked up another bottle of Dr Tim's just in case but what do you guys think my next steps should be?

Okay, well at least now we know which one to go with. Next step is a 50% water change to get ammonia below 5.

[AMoonlitGoat]

3 minutes ago, banasophia said:

Okay, well at least now we know which one to go with. Next step is a 50% water change to get ammonia below 5.

Sounds good! Thank you so much for the guidance. This is my first time cycling dry rock so I really appreciate it. 

[banasophia]

15 minutes ago, AMoonlitGoat said:

Sounds good! Thank you so much for the guidance. This is my first time cycling dry rock so I really appreciate it. 

Happy to try to help. 🙂 When ammonia or nitrite are over 5 the cycle can stall out, so you just want to get it below 5 and then wait to see if it resumes cycling. You could potentially add more Dr Tim’s, but you may not need it… I would probably test ammonia and nitrite after the water change today and then just test again tomorrow and see what you get. 

[rough eye]

i would water change, test, wait a few days, test again and then decide what to do. i guess that means the salifert test is going in the garbage?

[stevie1493]

+1 to WC to reduce ammonia. Shouldn't need another bottle of Dr.Tims but it wouldn't hurt. I would personally buy a bottle of Microbacter7 and begin dosing that per instructions and just wait until the test kit I trusted told me the cycle was done.

[AMoonlitGoat]

17 minutes ago, rough eye said:

i would water change, test, wait a few days, test again and then decide what to do. i guess that means the salifert test is going in the garbage?

Sounds like a plan. Yeah I guess I just got a bad kit unfortunately but it's good to be back on track. 

[AMoonlitGoat]

1 minute ago, stevie1493 said:

+1 to WC to reduce ammonia. Shouldn't need another bottle of Dr.Tims but it wouldn't hurt. I would personally buy a bottle of Microbacter7 and begin dosing that per instructions and just wait until the test kit I trusted told me the cycle was done.

Yeah I figured if I didn't need the tims now I could dump some the day before I put a fish in to make sure there are no spikes. Probably not necessary but hey why not give it the best chance I can. I actually just finished dosing microbacter7 yesterday but I can continue if it would be beneficial. Thoughts?

[banasophia]

So… it’s not recommended (by Dr Tim) to dose something like Microbacter 7 in the beginning when you are cycling because it has some additional types of bacteria that you don’t need yet that multiply faster and outcompete the nitrifying bacteria that convert ammonia -> nitrite -> nitrate. I usually add Microbacter 7 a little later on. 

[AMoonlitGoat]

Alright so water change is done and I gave it a few to settle. Looks like it might be too high still?

[banasophia]

41 minutes ago, AMoonlitGoat said:

Alright so water change is done and I gave it a few to settle. Looks like it might be too high still?

Holy smokes that ammonia was high!!! 
 

Yeah unfortunately you probably need to do another one. What are you using for your saltwater? 

[rough eye]

at this point might be better to change as much of the water as possible. start from scratch - but not adding ammonia yet!

[AMoonlitGoat]

15 minutes ago, banasophia said:

Holy smokes that ammonia was high!!! 
 

Yeah unfortunately you probably need to do another one. What are you using for your saltwater? 

Weird. Alright will do. I mix my own ro/di with reef crystals.

[rough eye]

Just now, AMoonlitGoat said:

Weird. Alright will do. I mix my own ro/di with reef crystals.

test the freshly mixed water before putting it in the tank. 

[banasophia]

19 minutes ago, rough eye said:

test the freshly mixed water before putting it in the tank. 

 

22 minutes ago, rough eye said:

at this point might be better to change as much of the water as possible. start from scratch - but not adding ammonia yet!

 

22 minutes ago, AMoonlitGoat said:

Weird. Alright will do. I mix my own ro/di with reef crystals.

 

Agree, good plan. 

[AMoonlitGoat]

Ok final update hopefully. Another 5 gallon water change and it’s finally reading 1.5-2 ppm. Tested the ro/di and mixed water both read 0. Also confirmed the salifert test kit was bad by testing water again with it and now it’s reading 0 ppm. Thanks guys! 

[stevie1493]

17 minutes ago, AMoonlitGoat said:

Ok final update hopefully. Another 5 gallon water change and it’s finally reading 1.5-2 ppm. Tested the ro/di and mixed water both read 0. Also confirmed the salifert test kit was bad by testing water again with it and now it’s reading 0 ppm. Thanks guys! 

Sounds good. Keep up the testing and in about ten days or less you should be there. Maybe more if the cycle stalled a little bit. Dr.Tims really works that quick. I usually run my tank at about 80°F when cycling to speed it up a bit too. When I can dose up to about 2ppm ammo and both ammo and trite come down to zero in 24 hour it's done. You'll be there before you know it now.