Day 13 of cycling. Did water change

[Antec]

Was advised to do a 50% water change recently because my nitrates were high(100ppm) and may have been the cause of my stalled cycle. So I did it and my nitrites came down to .10-.20ppm an my nitrates came down to 50ppm. Now, were the decrease in nitrites due to the water change or has the cycle started again. I did the test about 5 hours after the water change.

 

[AquaRick]

Drop in nitrites were due to the water change. What is your ammonia source\readings?

 

[Antec]

No source, just took out what was left of the shrimp yesterday. It was pretty much just the shell. Ammonia-0ppm

Someone on here told me I didnt need a source after the ammonia was converted into nitrites. I guess I should put another one in?

 

[spoonman]

No source, just took out what was left of the shrimp yesterday. It was pretty much just the shell. Ammonia-0ppm

Someone on here told me I didnt need a source after the ammonia was converted into nitrites. I guess I should put another one in?

Not true. When the tank is up and running you will always have an ammonia source. Why would you do anything different when you are cycling? You are simulating fish in the tank without actually having fish in it. You need to keep dosing ammonia until your bb colonies can convert 4ppm ammonia to nitrAte in 24 hours. Then you should to a large water change to get the nitrAtes down. Then you add fish, which then becomes the ammonia source and keeps the bb colony growing.

I cycled my 29 gallon with silversides. You can check out that thread in my signature and see what I did.

 

[Schism]

Not true. When the tank is up and running you will always have an ammonia source. Why would you do anything different when you are cycling? You are simulating fish in the tank without actually having fish in it. You need to keep dosing ammonia until your bb colonies can convert 4ppm ammonia to nitrAte in 24 hours. Then you should to a large water change to get the nitrAtes down. Then you add fish, which then becomes the ammonia source and keeps the bb colony growing.

I cycled my 29 gallon with silversides. You can check out that thread in my signature and see what I did.

Spoon, i see what your saying here but your a bit off on the workings. Ammonia is a constant source in a salt tank there is always ammonia present in some small amount.

You are not simulating fish. You dont have to ever put any fish in a reef tank and it will still convert ammonia to nitrates. So you ask where this ammonia source comes from? Well it comes from the organic matter in the sand/ live rocks and from the beneficial bacteria colony itself.

Ammonia is food for these beneficial bacteria. By increasing the food you increase there reproduction. If the colony would ever run out of ammonia then there would be some die-off. This dieoff becomes the new ammonia source and the cycle continues.

Building up the BB colonies to large numbers is not beneficial. Once you stop that ammonia source or introduce an ammonia source that produces less, such as a fish, the the BB population will recede and partially die off . The BB colonies can only support there numbers based on the amount of food and time they are given.

I hope this explains my point. There is always an ammonia source in a reed tank. Live rock itself is a constant ammonia source. You can and many have cycle a tank with just live rock, no shrimp, no ammonia dosing.

The only reason you would ever need to cycle until you can dose 4ppm and it be gone in 24hrs is if you plan on introducing a huge bioload on day 1.

Dont forget each time you add a fish your BB colonies increase.

 

[Antec]

So should I add another shrimp?

 

[Schism]

So should I add another shrimp?

Nope no need, it will just prolong the cycle. All your waiting for now is nitrite to disappear and nitrates will climb higher.

 

[Antec]

Alright schism. I was just frustrated cuz my nitrites had been at about .50-1ppm for about 6 days withought change. Hopefully with less nitrates it speeds it up now

 

[Schism]

Alright schism. I was just frustrated cuz my nitrites had been at about .50-1ppm for about 6 days withought change. Hopefully with less nitrates it speeds it up now

Normal in my opinion. Your cycle is going pretty fast to be honest. Most tanks will take anywhere from 4-6 weeks.

Your BB population is just adapting. Ive never seen nitrates stall a cycle and i wanna say im pretty sure thats not possible.

You have ammonia that is still feeding that nitrite reading. The fact it comes back testing at 0ppm does not mean it really is zero. Testing can be deceiving sometimes. Never take a 0 reading at face value because nothing is zero, not even in the ocean.

 

[Antec]

Alright so I checked my parameters again today and here were my results:

Ph-8
Ammonia-0ppm
Nitrites-0ppm
Nitrates-25ppm( checked twice cuz I was surprised)

So 2 questions. Nitrites came down to 0ppm, could this STILL be the effect of the water change? Or is it the sign of the cycle being over?
Other question is why did my nitrates come down to 25ppm? Again, still being affected by the pwc?
Lmk.

 

[Schism]

Alright so I checked my parameters again today and here were my results:

Ph-8
Ammonia-0ppm
Nitrites-0ppm
Nitrates-25ppm( checked twice cuz I was surprised)

So 2 questions. Nitrites came down to 0ppm, could this STILL be the effect of the water change? Or is it the sign of the cycle being over?
Other question is why did my nitrates come down to 25ppm? Again, still being affected by the pwc?
Lmk.

You did another 50% WC?

I would not have done that at this point because now nitrite may be to low to be readable.

Yes the reduction in nitrites and nitrates are from the WC. Now at this point i would introduce an ammonia source to make sure the cycle is complete.

To do this dose just dose to 1ppm ammonia and if your tank is cycled, then it will convert to nitrates rather quickly. Im listing this method because it would be fastest ammonia source at this point. If you got time then using a dead shrimp will work too.

 

[Antec]

No, I only did that 1 50% that I did yesterday. And where can I buy pure ammonia?

 

[Schism]

No, I only did that 1 50% that I did yesterday. And where can I buy pure ammonia?

So they how did your nitrates go from 100 to 50 and then from 50 to 25? Your test kit may be giving false readings?

And you can buy pure ammonia at pretty much and super market with cleaning supplies.

 

[Antec]

That's what I said to myself lol. I tested it twice with my salifert kit.

Do you think that the water change from yesterday still affected the nitrite drop today though? Remember yesterday the nitrites had already dropped a bit. Today they were unreadable

 

[Schism]

That's what I said to myself lol. I tested it twice with my salifert kit.

Do you think that the water change from yesterday still affected the nitrite drop today though? Remember yesterday the nitrites had already dropped a bit. Today they were unreadable

Nitrite could have dropped from your cycle. NitrAte on the other hand can not drop from 50-25ppm magically by itself. It takes a water change to do that so im betting on an inaccurate test reading or im confused as everyone else right now.

I say get the ammonia, dose and see what the numbers say. Cuz right now they dont make sense.

 

[Antec]

Ok, so how many drops to get to 1ppm? And how long should I wait to test again to see if the ammonia has converted