Cycling question

[hertz4319]

<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Hi All,</span></span>
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"> </span></span>
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">My DT is 215g. To start the cycle we put in 10 tbls of ammonia. It took 6 days to get to 0 on the tests. We then put in three tbls of ammonia and it took 3 days to go to zero. We kept the ammonia at three and eventually it was all gone in 24 hours. The last test we did we put in 9 tbls of ammonia and it was gone in 24 hrs. </span></span>
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"> </span></span>
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">During the time of the ammonia testing we did nitrite testing and when the ammonia was showing up so were the nitrites. With the last test the ammonia was never present but the nitrite was off the scale for 48 hours and then was 20. I think today will be 0. When the nitrite is 0 nitrate is between 10 and 20. </span></span>
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"> </span></span>
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">My question is how do I get the nitrite to go to 0 in 24 hours. More ammonia? Ghost feeding? Or?</span></span>
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"> </span></span>
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">As always thank you for all your help. Stewart </span></span>

 

[rdnelson]

Lots of ways to do it such as adding ammonia, ghost feeding or a decaying shrimp. No matter which you choose the goal is to establish the bacteria required. It appears you have one type in sufficient quantity which consumes ammonia and creates nitrite. Continuing as you have been will create the nitrite needed to feed the other bacteria.

One word of caution, when you start adding livestock do it slowly. Don't get in a hurry.

 

[hertz4319]

Thanks. I already have a QT setup and deciding on my first fish. Thanks for your help. Stewart

 

[camellia]

^^^^ +1 no need to say more, Rich knows and said it all.

 

[oceandeep85]

Hey- Hope I'm not hijacking the thread, but I'm having a horrible time trying to get the ammonia to come down in my 10 gallon standard.

I'm currently dosing Seachem Prime and Seachem Stability. I've even totally nuked my live rock by boiling it (yes, I'm fully aware of the dangers of doing that now- rookie mistake), bleaching it and drying it. I've done consistent water changes and I only have two damsels in there. Any tips or tricks on how to kickstart my cycle?

I HAD established a cycle before but it crashed hard when I added several pounds of live rock.

I'm really frustrated. Help!!

 

[rdnelson]

OceanDeep85;969694 wrote: Hey- Hope I'm not hijacking the thread, but I'm having a horrible time trying to get the ammonia to come down in my 10 gallon standard.

I'm currently dosing Seachem Prime and Seachem Stability. I've even totally nuked my live rock by boiling it (yes, I'm fully aware of the dangers of doing that now- rookie mistake), bleaching it and drying it. I've done consistent water changes and I only have two damsels in there. Any tips or tricks on how to kickstart my cycle?

I HAD established a cycle before but it crashed hard when I added several pounds of live rock.

I'm really frustrated. Help!!

I have never cycled a tank with live critters in it so I am no expert. But it seems to me you a have the. Challenge of allowing enough ammonia to build up to encourage the bacteria to grow while keeping it low enough to prevent the fish from suffering. If it were me, I would get a smaller tank running with some matrix in it and move the fish. You would have to do lots of water changes to keep the ammonia in that tank at 0. Meanwhile, I would let the tank with the rock in cycle normally.

Do you have a QT tank?

 

[jennm]

Are you cycling with live rock? Cured or uncured?

In my experience, if using live rock of any kind, adding ammonia isn't necessary and draws things out longer than they need to be. Uncured rock will create enough ammonia during the die-off and curing process.

Cured rock should be able to support livestock right away - go slowly. After all, it's cured rock that supports livestock in a mature system.

If you're starting with sterile everything, then yes, something needs to start the cycle, but repeated fouling of the water over and over seems counter-intuitive to me.

There's no quick fix. Go slowly.

Prime just binds ammonia and nitrite and nitrate - it doesn't make it go away, it just renders it less toxic.

Stability helps establish the populations of beneficial bacteria and does help speed things up. While I'm not a fan of shortcuts, I am a fan of Stability because it does help stabilize things more quickly than Mother Nature does without any help.

Jenn