it says 04/25 so it should be good, I think it was just a major mistake on my part.Have you checked the expiration date on your test kit?
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it says 04/25 so it should be good, I think it was just a major mistake on my part.Have you checked the expiration date on your test kit?
With that much ammonia the cycle will stall anyways. If you are removing the damsel anyways then a 75% will do.Will a 100% water change restart my cycle?
It happens! Lots to learn and this will not be your last "oh crap I did xyx" moment.it says 04/25 so it should be good, I think it was just a major mistake on my part.
I think i’ll do a 75% change and see how it goes. if It doesn’t work out, will a 25% water change work or will I have to do another 100% wc? I already did a 50% wc and it did nothing, that was a few days ago..With that much ammonia the cycle will stall anyways. If you are removing the damsel anyways then a 75% will do.
Hopefully nothing this major again though!It happens! Lots to learn and this will not be your last "oh crap I did xyx" moment.
I think i’ll do a 75% change and see how it goes. if It doesn’t work out, will a 25% water change work or will I have to do another 100% wc? I already did a 50% wc and it did nothing, that was a few days ago..
It happens! Lots to learn and this will not be your last "oh crap I did xyx" moment.
good to know! thank you for your help & yeah i’m at that early learning stage so i’m trying not to make too many mistakes hahaIts a pretty unstudied topic but from what I understand once ammonia goes above 2 ppm it tends to stall bacterial populations. A 75%+ is advised as you won't bring the ammonia (and nitrate levels in the future) down to good levels with a 25% but you cant do anymore damage at this point. Just make sure the fish is saved.
Also, dumped in a cup of ph buffer in my tank last week so don't get your hopes up on not making mistakes! haha
Do you know if my beneficial bacteria will still be present in the tank after a 100% wc?I agree with those who've suggested a water change. I suggest a large WC (100% if possible).
I was doing a fishless cycle and recently added a damselfish
So I decided to do a fishless cycle using Dr. Tim’s nitrifying bacteria and ammonia. Unfortunately, like an idiot, I dosed 5x more ammonia than I should have. I’m using an API test kit and my ammonia readings have shown 8ppm (the max for the test kit) for days and I’m getting readings of 5ppm nitrites and 40 ppm nitrates. My ammonia has yet to go down even though my bacteria has broken down some ammonia and turned it into nitrites and nitrates. Could I have more than 8ppm ammonia? What should I do?
Huh... Well you have always given me good advice in the past so I guess I need to do more research on cycling. myself hahathis thread doesnt agree 8 ppm stalls
they directly tested at 8 ppm.
Bacteria in a bottle, Myth or Fact
Call me old school, back in the day we placed a deli shrimp in a tank to kick start the cycle. When tank reached 1.5-2 ppm ammonia we pulled it out and waited sometimes weeks to months for bacteria to colonize and drop ammonia and nitrites down to 0 to make tank safe for livestock. With recent...www.reef2reef.com
okay, thank you & I started my fishless cycle and it was reading 2ppm and then after a day 0 ppm so I dropped my damsel.The point of a fishless cycle is not to add fish. Also, bacteria will not die from a 100% water change. The bacteria live on surfaces, not in the water column. Just don't let the surfaces go dry for an extended period.
awesome, thank you so much for the advice. Definitely will have to do a 100% wc today!8 ppm ammonia is the ~ inhibition point for the first set of nitrifying bacteria. Your going to see nitrates and nitrites still appear cause theoretically 8 ppm ammonia isn't going to be even distributed throughout the entire system at all times. Some small pockets here and there will allow some break down of ammonia to nitrite to nitrate.
You also have an issue with too high nitrite. When nitrite goes above 5 ppm, you get the same issue where you get inhibition of the bacteria that consumes nitrite.
Too much initial ammonia is a big issue. I recommend most people to do less than 2 ppm ammonia on the first dosage to avoid issues. You can crank up the amount of ammonia later on after you get the first round of ammonia to zero out but you can't do a heavy round on the start.
If you can see 8 ppm ammonia on the API test kit, you probably have far more ammonia than you think. Generally, you aren't suppose to dose and test still you can see the ammonia on your test kits. Your suppose to use a known concentration, dose it, and observe for nitrite and nitrate appearance. You can calculate going backwards from the amount of nitrate presence to determine how much ammonia you possibly had at the start.
Like others are recommending, doing a water change to dilute the ammonia out will set you back in order.
For your question on if your bacteria will survive a 100% water change, it can if you have substrate and you don't let the substrate come to a complete dry. Just drain your system quickly and refill it back up.