Nitrogen cycle question

Squawkbert said:
Don't worry about NO3 yet. Just keep adding ammonia (if it's as concentrated as you can typically get it, 1mL is equal to about 4PPM for 40 gallons of water - if memory serves). Maintain ~5PPM ammonia and monitor NO2 as well - every other day until you have a reading. Maintain the routine until NO2 disappears, then do a NO3 test. It should, by this time, be pretty much off the charts, so you'll probably want to do a big water change, and retest NH3 and NO2. Bring NH3 back up to 4-5PPM.

When you can add 4-5PPM NH3 and have it and NO2 at zero the next day, do another big water change (like 90%, repeat until NO3 result is <5PPM, add some Prime and go buy fish). This may take less than a week, it may take 6 weeks. It will take less time if you seed your tank and/or filter with some used gravel or filter media from an established tank.
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I really don't recommend doing it that way.

Nitrate is a WASTE product from one of your bacteria species. Allowing that level to get too high can inhibit it's growth and can stall or even stop your cycle. It's the same with nitrites, if they get to high they also can kill off the first bacteria.

Granted, you can allow these levels to go a lot higher with no fish in the tank, but the cycle will actually go faster and smoother if you keep both nitrites and nitrates at a reasonable level while cycling.
 
One more point - NO3 test is probably the most difficult one to get good results from, if you're using the ever popular API kit. You really do have to shake the heck out of the reagent bottles as directed...
 
Here is a different perspective.
If I read 0 nitrates in one of my tanks, I worry about the need to dose for nitrogen for my plants. I am never surprised that an established planted tank is running near zero in nitrates.
The snails can be a very heavy bioload, one mystery snail is considered a full load for 2 1/2 gallons, so the seeding may well have cycled the filter very quickly. The brackish will also contribute to the needed bacteria unless it is very salty. Slightly brackish will grow the same bacteria as a fresh water tank although a very salty brackish or a salt tank will grow different bacteria.
I recently cloned a filter to serve 2 new ones from a fresh water filter and saw a fully cycled filter in both new tanks the next day. I am still verifying, before adding any fish, but it sure looks good so far.
To sum up, I see nothing unusual in having a cloned filter display symptoms of a fully cycled filter. I would continue to monitor while feeding it ammonia to verify that you have been successful and to keep the filter going until you are ready to stock with fish.
 
Well after a few more days or regular treatment , the ammonia levels began to drop noticeably reaching near zero every morning, and the nitrite levels risen form zero and now are hovering between 0.3 and 0.1 .

Also the selinity in the brackish tank is very light on the salt , figure 8 puffer fishes don’t like water which is to salty form what i understand , so we have always kept that tank on the low end of brackish. I wish i knew that level but you see its my wife's tank and she takes care of that one.

Other then the unusually high levels in the back ends of the testing (No3) the cycling is acting like a relatively normal cycle .

Also all of my test kits were gotten fresh with this new tank other then the Ammonia one which i think is 4 months old.
 
jaylin said:
I really don't recommend doing it that way.

Nitrate is a WASTE product from one of your bacteria species. Allowing that level to get too high can inhibit it's growth and can stall or even stop your cycle. It's the same with nitrites, if they get to high they also can kill off the first bacteria...
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I've seen Ammonia (ironically) credited with inhibiting nitrobacter growth, but I've been unable to find anything about NO3 inhibiting nitrobacter or nitrosomonas. Do you have any references?
 
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