Cycling New Tank

C

cmazz70

AC Members
Aug 15, 2008
27
0
1
Philadelphia
5 days ago, I set my tank up. After 2 days, I put some Dr. Tim's in and then some krill the following day. Today, I bought an API Master test kit and I tested the tank. The results:

PH 7.9
Ammonia .50ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 0ppm

I'm not sure were I am in the cycling because I didn't run the tests sooner. Before or after the Ammonia spike? When can I add plants?
 
Add plants at any time, the love the ammonia as a food source.

You are in step one of the cycle, ammonia spike. In a few days to a few weeks you will see nitrItes spike and ammonia go down. A few days to a few weeks after than the nitraAtes will start to build and the nitrItes will drop and you are cycled and can add livestock slowly without problems.
 
robbob2112 said:
Add plants at any time, the love the ammonia as a food source.

You are in step one of the cycle, ammonia spike. In a few days to a few weeks you will see nitrItes spike and ammonia go down. A few days to a few weeks after than the nitraAtes will start to build and the nitrItes will drop and you are cycled and can add livestock slowly without problems.
Click to expand...

That says it all right there.... as Rob mentioned, plant-up now.
 
i thought dr tims and fish were supposed to be added at the same time. did you follow the instructions?
 
Dr Tim's = bacteria in a bottle

Bacteria in a bottle typically doesn't work well if at all. Nitrifying bacteria is arobic meaning it needs oxygen, doesn't take long in the bottle for it to die. Doesn't take long in the heat on a loading dock for bacteria to die from heat. Lots of things can screw it up.

Your ammonia spike would seem to indicate that the Dr Tim's is dead. If it were not you would never have seen the spike.
 
The past 3 nights, I have been putting in drops of pure ammonia. The ammonia spiked the first night to about 5-6ppm. Last night it was around 2ppm. Still no sign of nitites or nitrates. How long does it usually take for nitrates to show?
 
The nitrites always take longer to show readings,and sometime after that the nitrates will show readings.All tanks cycle at different times so it is hard to say exactly when these will show readings,but it should be in the next few days.Be patient,using pure ammonia is the fastest way to cycle.As someone else mentioned bottle bacteria never works.I had some luck with Bio Spira,and I have heard that they now have a shelf stable version of it,but I am not sure the name of it,or if it works.
 
I have some plants in the tank. 1 Java Fern and some Java Moss. I think you're right about the bottle bacteria not working. I'll keep being patient with the ammonia.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom