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- Thread starter nverlast1
- Start date
are you sure your not geting the nitrites and nitrates confused? Unless you are doign soemthing to kill the beneficial bacteria you should have ammonia and nitrites with a few nitrates if your tank is cycling, you could also have 0 nitrates if the bacteria that consumes the nitrites is not in place yet. Can you give us any more details on what you are doign with your tank, are you dchloriinating your water. Sounds to me like you have either a really slow cycle, or the ammonia you are using for the fishless cycle is not pure ammonia.
Cycling with SW can usually takes much longer than with FW, a month isn't very long. You should start seeing your ammonia drop and nitrites pop up soon however. Then the longest part starts.
The nitrites have to show up before the ammonia goes away... then come the nitrates and the nitrites go away. I have read here that it can take up to 8 weeks. Took my little 3 gallon nano forever, it seemed...buit of course, that was freshwater... not sure if saltwater is comparable.
AFAIK, a pH that low indicates that there's probably low O2 in the tank - often it's lower during a cycle (because the bacteria are consuming so much oxygen), but 7.7 is REALLY low for SW. Adding surface agitation and/or more circulation should help. The more oxygen in the water, the more easily these aerobic bacteria can complete their job. Might help speed things up.
