Normal cycling? - Up and down...

R

RickHarris

[over the past few days our ammonia has climbed to 1 -we were at 0/0/0/ now 1/0/0

we've quit feeding the tank flakes and plan on doing a water change tomorrow... any other ideas or other plans? is it normal to go up and down during the cycling process?

what percentage water change to you recommend?

thanks
Nancy

ps. thanks for the sand Marc]
 
[Hi Nancy,

it kind of depends on whether or not you're cycling with live critters or live rock. If you have neither, then I would recommend you do NOT do water changes. Water changes could prolong the cycle or weaken your initial bacterial colony. I would also continue feeding the flakes, as you need a constant input of nutrients to keep the cycle going.

If you have live rock or fish, then I would recommend a 10% water change every day the ammonia or nitrite are above 1.0. This will allow you to complete the cycle while hopefully preserving some of your life. This is how I did it and I was extremely happy with the results.

The normal cycling process is a series of ups and downs, first ammonia goes up, then ammonia down while nitrite up, then nitrite down while nitrAte up. This is assuming a constant supply of nutrients and many other factors... anomalies are fairly common. All you really need to know is that when ammonia and nitrIte are both zero, you can do a 20% water change and then begin stocking...v-e-r-y slowly at first.

Enjoy the stocking process slowly, in my opinion it's more fun than the "finished" product.

Travis]
 
[It is strange that you are experiencing a second cycle. Your first cycle took about a month, right?

I wouldn't do anything yet, give it a few more days and test it again, being careful that you are doing the test correctly. Could it possibly be a false reading? ???

If you were to do a water change, it would only dilute the ammonia and prolong the cycle.

Please post what's in the tank again, because I've forgotten. Feeding a pinch of flake food every two days won't add to the ammonia issue, imo.]
 
[Marc,

We bought a second test kit today and retested using both kits this evening. We're back down. Almost 0, but not quite yet. I can't explain yesterday. I compound meds all day, I'd like to think I crushed the tab correctly yesterday. But... ya never know :D

We're just gonna wait this out. We're in no hurry to kill anything by rushing to put it in.

4/6
0/0/0 ph 8.2

4/7
added 10 snails and two cleaner shrimp

4/9
.5/0/0 ph 8.2

4/10
1/0/0 ph 8.0

4/11
.25/.5/2 ph 8.2

we have 4" dsb(aragonite-oolite) and 105lbs live rock and 40lbs base rock(most of which is burried in the sand under our live rock, as suggested)

we bought astrea snails, they're going a great job on the rock. we can see coraline spreading, it's kinda cool.

thanks again for the help
nancy]
 
[Yep, that is definitely a mini cycle. Maybe your base rock had some life and died off buried in the sand ??? You guys are doing really good being patient.

Marc]
 
[the base rock was a box of caribsea reef bones- cool looking but completely dry and dead.

we really thought it was the over feeding of the tank, guess we'll never really know...

if the tank had live stock and got up to ammonia-1 would that be enough to kill a fish? I'm a little afraid of putting anything else in there for a while.

nancy]
 
[It would be enough to stress a fish, that's for sure. If it didn't kill the fish, you could very well end up with an ich outbreak or similar disease taking advantage of a stressed fish.

Best to wait until zero, you certainly don't want to start the vicious cycle of fish disease.

Great job being patient, wait a little while longer and it'll all pay off!!

Travis]
 
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