Fishless cycle

[rach]

Hey everyone! Need some guidance, I’m new to the hobby, when I started my fishless cycle I added dr Tim’s one and only and I added ammonia, I didn’t test the water until week 3 cause I thought I was meant to just wait weeks on end and be patience, and I didn’t get the memo that I was suppose to be dosing ammonia constantly ‍‍ I’m using the Red Sea testing kit for reference

Added Dr Tim’s & Ammonia 9th of June

June 29
Ammonia 0.8
Nitrite 1
Nitrate 5
pH 8

July 2
Ammonia 0.8
Nitrite 1
Nitrate 2


What should my next steps be, do I dose ammonia, if so how much? I haven’t seen it reach 0 but also I didn’t test until 3 weeks in not sure if that means anything

 

[Uncle99]

If you added rock,sand,saltwater,bacteria,heat and flow,your cycle was complete in a week.

You have nitrate so your good to go.

You can do a water change if ya want.

Ready a for a fish or two.

 

[GARRIGA]

Best source I've found and actually learned much although thought I knew it all already and first heard of fishless back in the 80s. No bottled bacteria then. Just ammonium chloride and frozen shrimp.

 

[Glenner’sreef]

Also, you can stop dosing ammonia.

 

[rach]

Also, you can stop dosing ammonia.

Only dosed ammonia at the beginning but I’ve seen so many posts of people dosing everyday so not sure if I was meant to do that

 

[rach]

If you added rock,sand,saltwater,bacteria,heat and flow,your cycle was complete in a week.

You have nitrate so your good to go.

You can do a water change if ya want.

Ready a for a fish or two.

Yeah I have all that rock, sand, salt water, flow etc should I wait to ammonia and nitrites are 0 and should I be concerned that my nitrate is declining?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hey everyone! Need some guidance, I’m new to the hobby, when I started my fishless cycle I added dr Tim’s one and only and I added ammonia, I didn’t test the water until week 3 cause I thought I was meant to just wait weeks on end and be patience, and I didn’t get the memo that I was suppose to be dosing ammonia constantly ‍‍ I’m using the Red Sea testing kit for reference

Added Dr Tim’s & Ammonia 9th of June

June 29
Ammonia 0.8
Nitrite 1
Nitrate 5
pH 8

July 2
Ammonia 0.8
Nitrite 1
Nitrate 2


What should my next steps be, do I dose ammonia, if so how much? I haven’t seen it reach 0 but also I didn’t test until 3 weeks in not sure if that means anything

After a day you want to test ammonia. When ammonia and nitrates and rises, then falls and ammonia is zero for at least 5 days and nitrates are 20 or below - you are cycled

 

[rach]

After a day you want to test ammonia. When ammonia and nitrates and rises, then falls and ammonia is zero for at least 5 days and nitrates are 20 or below - you are cycled

I didn’t test cause I didn’t know to so I’ve never seen ammonia go to 0, atm it’s 0.8 does ammonia climb again after reaching 0 or has my ammonia never hit 0 if I still have it in the tank

 

[mh0ward]

Do you know how much ammonia you've dosed? Usually you would use ammonium chloride at 4 drops per gallon to bring the ammonia up to 2ppm. Ammonia shouldn't climb after coming down to zero unless you've added more ammonia than your bacteria can process. If there was no change in ammonia level from June 29th to today, and you didn't add any, then I would guess that your tank has not cycled. That small amount of Nitrate you're seeing could just be from the water you put in it or maybe inaccurate reading... I would think your Nitrate would higher than that after cycling, unless you only put in 1-2ppm ammonia total.

 

[ScottJ]

Hey everyone! Need some guidance, I’m new to the hobby, when I started my fishless cycle I added dr Tim’s one and only and I added ammonia, I didn’t test the water until week 3 cause I thought I was meant to just wait weeks on end and be patience, and I didn’t get the memo that I was suppose to be dosing ammonia constantly ‍‍ I’m using the Red Sea testing kit for reference

Added Dr Tim’s & Ammonia 9th of June

June 29
Ammonia 0.8
Nitrite 1
Nitrate 5
pH 8

July 2
Ammonia 0.8
Nitrite 1
Nitrate 2


What should my next steps be, do I dose ammonia, if so how much? I haven’t seen it reach 0 but also I didn’t test until 3 weeks in not sure if that means anything

As you can see, there are lots of opinions!

I assume there no life in the tank, you haven't added any critters, correct? If that's true, and you started the tank with dry rock, what you can do is dose ammonia to 2ppm (check this with your test kit) and wait 24 hours and test ammonia again. You are looking for the ammonia to drop. When 2ppm of ammonia is processed to 0ppm in 24 hours, you are ready to add life, slowly.

Be careful testing and follow the instructions to the letter. I've never used Red Sea tests, so I have no advice on them.

 

[Uncle99]

Yeah I have all that rock, sand, salt water, flow etc should I wait to ammonia and nitrites are 0 and should I be concerned that my nitrate is declining?

I don’t wait beyond 5 days if I’ve used Dr.Tim’s.

Ammonia may never test zero.

Ammonia to nitrite to nitrate and you have nitrate.

It’s time for a fish or two

 

[rach]

Do you know how much ammonia you've dosed? Usually you would use ammonium chloride at 4 drops per gallon to bring the ammonia up to 2ppm. Ammonia shouldn't climb after coming down to zero unless you've added more ammonia than your bacteria can process. If there was no change in ammonia level from June 29th to today, and you didn't add any, then I would guess that your tank has not cycled. That small amount of Nitrate you're seeing could just be from the water you put in it or maybe inaccurate reading... I would think your Nitrate would higher than that after cycling, unless you only put in 1-2ppm ammonia total.

4ml / 80 drops at the beginning (20 gallon tank) but I didn’t test the water after so I’m not sure if that reached 2ppm, haven’t added ammonia since the first initial add in right at the start, what’s your suggestion do I just wait it out and see what happens, I’ll retest today to see what the levels are maybe I stuffed up the testing, I have an ato with Rodi water in it also, should I test the Rodi water?

 

[rach]

As you can see, there are lots of opinions!

I assume there no life in the tank, you haven't added any critters, correct? If that's true, and you started the tank with dry rock, what you can do is dose ammonia to 2ppm (check this with your test kit) and wait 24 hours and test ammonia again. You are looking for the ammonia to drop. When 2ppm of ammonia is processed to 0ppm in 24 hours, you are ready to add life, slowly.

Be careful testing and follow the instructions to the letter. I've never used Red Sea tests, so I have no advice on them.

No life in tank, if I dose ammonia I’m only dosing 1.2ppm to reach 2ppm correct? How do I measure correctly to only reach 2ppm, the bottle says 4 drops per gallon and I have a 20 gallon tank so when I first initially did it I dosed 4ml/80 drops and that’s the only ammonia I dosed / or should I wait for the 0.8 to reach 0 before dosing to see if it’s cycled, I’ve seen a post where someone said if I have nitrate it’s cycled but now I’m confused cause I thought I have to wait to 0 ammonia 0 nitrite and I have no issues with being patient either I’m happy to do the waiting game I just wanna make sure I’m doing the process correctly

 

[ScottJ]

No life in tank, if I dose ammonia I’m only dosing 1.2ppm to reach 2ppm correct? How do I measure correctly to only reach 2ppm, the bottle says 4 drops per gallon and I have a 20 gallon tank so when I first initially did it I dosed 4ml/80 drops and that’s the only ammonia I dosed / or should I wait for the 0.8 to reach 0 before dosing to see if it’s cycled, I’ve seen a post where someone said if I have nitrate it’s cycled but now I’m confused cause I thought I have to wait to 0 ammonia 0 nitrite and I have no issues with being patient either I’m happy to do the waiting game I just wanna make sure I’m doing the process correctly

Do you have a full tank picture?

If you want to be sure your tank is ready for life, you can dose the ammonia up to 2ppm. If I were you doing this, I would test ammonia right now, see what it's at, then add how much I thought it would take to get it almost up to 2ppm. Then test it again to see how close I was, add, test, till it was there. Then wait a day, test ammonia again to see what it is. Lower? Great! Is it zero? NO? wait till it is (or as close to zero your test kit shows)

When you hit zero ammonia, dose ammonia again to 2ppm (not above, confirm this with testing), wait a day, test, it should be zero (or as close as test kit shows) When this happens, you can test Nitrate, you should have some at that point (you already do) Don't bother testing Nitrite, it's not important right now.

Anyway, when the tank can process 2ppm ammonia in 24 hours, it is ready for life!

If this were ME, and I didn't have any way to seed the bacteria with wet rock, I would add ammonia and bottled start-up bacteria, wait about 15 days, and add life. But I'm not saying that's the best way, just what I would do.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I didn’t test cause I didn’t know to so I’ve never seen ammonia go to 0, atm it’s 0.8 does ammonia climb again after reaching 0 or has my ammonia never hit 0 if I still have it in the tank

Can be either. It should however if sufficient bacteria present be dropping. How are you testing for ammonia?