Cycling

[Dutchtinyreef]

Hello Reefers out there! 

 

I want to know quickly if this is going well, I started with 4ppm ammonia, and added bacteria daily now it seems like the cycle is at a standstill because I still measure 2ppm ammonia now after 14day's of cycle. I have already increased the temperature slightly and just keep adding bacteria. I'm not in a hurry I understand it takes a long time but thought check here if this is going well so. the bin is started with macro rocks and sand and seachem matrix.

 

[mitten_reef]

you should be measuring all 3, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate to understand how your cycling process is going - as the nitrifying bacteria proliferate in phases (i believe even with bottled bac method).  from past discussions, ammonia test is also notoriously inaccurate with the coloration being hard to decipher, at least for API brand.

@banasophia is my go-to tag for bottle-bac cycling, she may want to know more about your methodology.  I think there should be a sticky on bottled-bac cycling in the beginner forum, so it can be easily linked to for lazy ppl like me.

[DevilDuck]

Good call on increasing the temp to 26-27C also make sure you have good surface water movement to aid in aeration. This will speed up the time it takes for the bacteria to grow.

If you want to save some time, I would only test for ammonia daily, nitrite and nitrate probably once a week. You will not see much change in nitrite and nitrate until the ammonia starts to decrease.

 

 

[banasophia]

Thanks for the tag, @mitten_reef.

 

**You DO want to keep measuring BOTH ammonia AND nitrite during the cycle.**

 

If either one goes over 5 ppm it can stall the cycle and if you kept adding ammonia daily that’s what can happen because the ammonia processing bacteria grow faster than the nitrite processing bacteria, so ammonia will start going down at first while nitrite builds up and the that built up nitrite will create a feedback loop that stops the ammonia processing bacteria too, stalling the cycle.

 

Please note, NITRITE LEVELS OVER 5 PPM can inhibit the bacteria that process ammonia to nitrite, so the nitrite level IS important when cycling a tank. Here’s an interesting MACNA talk by Dr Tim, please check out around 16:30 that talks about this.

 

 

[banasophia]

[banasophia]

Here are two really good references:

 

https://www.drtimsaquatics.com/resources/fishless-cycling/

 

https://www.drtimsaquatics.com/resources/library/quick-guide-to-fishless-cycling-with-one-and-only/

[Dutchtinyreef]

Thankyou for the information!

@banasophia i send you a messenge.

ty all! 🙂 

 

[banasophia]

I see you are adding bacteria daily (not ammonia, I misread that at first, sorry)… what bacteria are you using?