is my cycle stuck

Corwyn

I am in Raynham
or am I just being impatient?

Set up tank 5 weeks ago, 30 long
40pounds of live sand
30 pounds or so of LIFE rock.

temp is 77 (was 81 to help bacteria growth>

Used shrimp but not adding anything right now.
salin 1.023 ph 8.1
Currently,
ammonia is zero and has been for a week
Phos is at zero and ahs been for a week
nitrite is about 2.o
nitrate about 40

not seem to be progressing
 
Seems to me like your cycle is done. If you have nitrates present and ammonia is at 0 you have a steady colony of bacteria.
 
He still has nitrites. At 2.
Bad test kit, or you are at the tail end of the cycle.
The ammonia peak is a longer wait to see it dissipate.
The nitrite peak is much shorter.
I bet you are within days, or less.
Don’t rush, livestock is expensive,
and alive, and will keep you fascinated for years if you are properly prepared.
 
Many nitrate test kits will cross react with nitrites (e.g. tropic marin). In fact, you can't even measure nitrates using the tropic marin kits at 2ppm nitrite-- because the cross reactivity gives a nitrate signal where there may not be one, and the confounding effect is too substantial to correct for.
 
Throwing out the idea of adding some bio spira or Dr. Tim's one and only. These are not the bottled bacteria of 20 years ago (snake oil)... they actually seem to work. Nitrifying bacteria come in two waves. You clearly have the group that converts NH3/4 to NO2 established. Now time for the NO2 to NO3. It's also with mentioning that for a fishless cycle you can accelerate the growth of bacteria by bumping the temp to 83 and dropping your salinity a bit. The second group of bacteria take like 40 hours to double, so keep that in mind. One final thought, 2ppm may be the limits of detection for NO2 depending on your kit. Your actual concentration could be higher. Believe it or not, too high NO2 can actually inhibit the cycle. I suggest diluting your sample 1:5 and 1:10 with RO DI water and checking nitrite again to nail down that number. Below 5ppm is ok, but if it's higher, do a partial WC.
 
thanks for the feedback. I did have the temp up above 80 but now turned it down to 78 as I was evaping a lot of water.
I have both a API and salifert test kit. Little more difficult to read the API color but the salifert is pretty clear. I was looking at the Dr Tims I'll give that a shot and be a bit more patient!!

So long-term plan for this 30 long is a pair of clowns with a bubble tip.
a jawfish, some small micro gobies. for fish

corals, maybe a clam, goniporas and other LPS.

Can I add the 2 clowns first or is that too much?
 
Two clowns to start is not crazy. Adding fish then your first corals helps. Any photosynthetic animals help process and use waste from the fish, and I recently did an experiment with corals transferred from a phosphate rich system with fish into a fishless system with new sand and old water to start. Over a period of three weeks the corals sucked all Phosphate from the water. Levels went from 0.65ppm to 1ppb on Hanna checkers!!! Corals then started to lose color and I instituted gradual water changes with dirty water from the old system to bring them back to health. The corals have now been reunited with the fish in the original system and look much happier. Lights and program did not change between tanks, just nutrients/presence of fish.
 
thanks for the feedback. I did have the temp up above 80 but now turned it down to 78 as I was evaping a lot of water.
I have both a API and salifert test kit. Little more difficult to read the API color but the salifert is pretty clear. I was looking at the Dr Tims I'll give that a shot and be a bit more patient!!

So long-term plan for this 30 long is a pair of clowns with a bubble tip.
a jawfish, some small micro gobies. for fish

corals, maybe a clam, goniporas and other LPS.

Can I add the 2 clowns first or is that too much?
Sounds like a nice list! I think I saw in your other thread that you're planning for a 30. I wanted to mention that I found it hard to keep my alkalinity up in a tank around that size when I was housing a clam...but it was a big clam. Just something to consider.

I am sure more people will chime in, but I think once you're detoxifying ammonia, the nitrite is no risk to marine fish. And nitrates are more going to be an algae issue than anything unless they are CRAZY high. The risk with going clowns first is that they can become be a bit dominant... but they are a hardy fish and chances are good that's long as you're detoxifying ammonia, they would survive the rest of the cycle just fine. I can empathize that it's no fun to have an empty tank for months.

If you do add fish, keep in mind that you don't need to blast them with your coral growing lights. They will be more than content in ambient room light, and that will help you keep from having a massive algae bloom. Also keep an eye on phosphates if you're not already...

Good luck!
 
Upcoming Events

April 21, 2024
Paul B
Club Meeting

Back
Top