Dosing with ammonia - fishless cycle - advise please

[etvil]

currently in the process of fishless cycling with ammonia, no seeded material, dry sand and dry rock.
65 Gallon (Red sea max 250)
day 21 today - my first day with ammonia dropping to 0 within 24 hours, nitrates still >5 and nitrates at 10, checked the dKH and seemsto be lowering now to 6 - used to be stable at 7.5, PH has been constant at 8.1.
Should i be nervous and expect a ph drop, is a pwc necessary to replenish the buffer and what should i dose the ammo back up to daily at this stage, any advise would be awesome!

 

[carey]

I'd just wait for the cycle to finish. Just waiting on the nitrites now.

When you do the large water change after the cycle all your parameters will go up to where they need to be.

 

[etvil]

im just trying to prevent a ph crash that could bring the cycle to a halt, was wondering if the decrease in the alkalinity is a concern?

 

[builtf0rdtough]

Ive never really paid attention to the PH in my tank, not to say that Ive been correct in my dealings with parameters. it took forever for me to cycle my tank, I did it fish in, and did too many water changes and it kept resetting my cycle. Finally got it cycled a month ago...so much better now! what kind of fish are you going to get?

 

[carey]

I have never even tested my ph while cycling. When you put that new salt water after the cycle it will raise the ph back up.

 

[AquaRick]

I have never even tested my ph while cycling. When you put that new salt water after the cycle it will raise the ph back up.

+1. No point in messing with buffers either. Let the cycle finish and check your parameters after you last large water change to get your trates down. Odds are parameters will be where they need to be at that point.

 

[scottayy]

From what I understand, a pH crash will stall your cycle. To avoid it, do a PWC to replenish the buffers in your water.

AFAIK, don't worry about dKH.

Keep adding ammonia to keep the bacteria fed well.

 

[Hondatek]

Imo You do need to check ph while cycling. If it drops it will stall it. I had to do a few Pwc when I cycled my tank for this reason .

 

[etvil]

i will check my ph tonight and see what the level is, having a hard time with API ph testing, have a strange color that does not exactly fit the chart, - my best guess its 8.1 (somewhere in between) hope it's not off the chart low! ammo still drops to zero every day so i think the cycle is still active, considering a ph probe? thoughts?

 

[carey]

I've cycled and setup over 12 tanks and not once did my ph "crash". Not sure what you have to do to get a crash.... Also doing pwc's during the cycle can just slow it down so I always leave mine alone til it's done doing it's thing.

 

[Hondatek]

I agree that you can cycle without it happening. But that doesn't mean it can't happen and you shouldn't check it ya know.

 

[builtf0rdtough]

I agree buddy, I cant seem to read the ph levels with my api either...its not on either the high range or low range...so idk whats up with that. So I just dont bother with ph

 

[carey]

I aim for the purple color as being ok. lol The chart can be a bit hard to match.

 

[builtf0rdtough]

sweet deal, ok, so then I rekon Im ok then.

 

[etvil]

so went and got a digital ph probe today - (digital aquatics) did the calibration and ph tested at 7.8 ( so i was pretty close with the 8.1 from the API.
I haven't done any water changes so far, reading today - ammo dropped back to 0, nitrite >5 and nitrates 20, so everything looking good, i guess the possible ph crash was a false alarm and everything continues to run smoothly, it is much easier for me now to keep an eye on the ph!
Thanks for the advise

 

[Saltnoob]

day7 fowlr how do i know when the cycle is finished.i do have fish in lfs said to put them in their.i tested my water the 17. Specific grav 1.023,ammonia 1.0,nitrait 40 phosphate 0.5 kh 143.2 ppm.when should i test again? Advice please and thank you

 

[builtf0rdtough]

ammonia needs to be 0, nitrates 0, nitrites below 40ppm is ok..once you get that you can just do weekly 15% changes