QT Cycle wont finish

[krafty2010]

I have two QTs, a 5gal and a 10gal. Both were "starter kit" aquariums purchased from Petsmart for cheap. They are bare bottom and only have a heater and a HOB filter that have a floss pad in them, along with a few bioballs that I have thrown in for hopes of bacteria growing.
It had been 3 weeks without a cycle before I added ammonia.
I have brought the ammonia up to 2ppm several times, and each time it goes down over the next several days but cannot get the ammonia down in the 24 hour period that it should.

I am considering purchasing Dr Tim's nitrifying bacteria, but does it matter that the tanks have been set up for about 5 weeks now?

My DTs have cycled and already had a CUC for a week now and am really hoping that I can get some fish into the QTs soon.

[krafty2010]

I managed to leave out some important details. I do have one small piece of LR in each tank per LFS advice for kickstarting cycle.

Also, the 10gal has some signs of diatoms on one of the pieces of PVC in the tank.

And I do have pods on the glass of each tank. So I know something is happening in there.

[chueu]

Tanks are extremely small. How long does the ammonia take to get to 0

[krafty2010]

Planning on QTing corals in the 5gal. My DTs are only 14 and 29gal. So I will only have a small number of small fish in the QT (one at a time).

Im not really sure that the ammonia has dropped fully to 0ppm since I dosed it the first time.

This time:
I dosed the tanks to 2ppm ammonia on Friday
48 hours later the tanks are showing 1.2ppm

[thegrun]

How long does it take to drop to zero?

[thegrun]

I would quit dosing ammonia and just let it drop on its own time frame.

[krafty2010]

Okay, so I let it drop to zero on its own but then what?
Its not capable yet of turning just about any ammonia into nitrites.
Its been 5 weeks since I added the LR, and it experienced no cycle from that so thats why I started dosing. Im trying to be patient and do it the right way. :P

[krafty2010]

The reason why I continued adding ammonia was to feed the bacteria in hopes of it growing. Am I wrong in this theory?

[krafty2010]

My boyfriend actually just had what sounds to be a good idea.
My DTs are cycled and ready for fish.
Could I take water out of the DTs(as a water change) and add that to the QTs? Essentially seeding the tanks.

[stingeragent]

yes you could do that. Secondly (IMHO) (I may be wrong), I dont think most people cycle a QT tank. If you fill it with RODI water, it won't have ammonia or anything else in it. You just gotta do water changes.

[chueu]

Stop dosing the ammonia.. should likely be ready for fish.. and bravo on having a qt

[krafty2010]

I do use RO/DI but read in this thread that it should be cycled (I did not use a shrimp)

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2195588

I am trying to be patient, but 5 weeks without a fish to even look at is sad
And on top of that, I wont even have a fish in my DT for at least 8 more weeks (depending on how long I decide to QT)

[North Borders]

Did you dose ammonia off the bat? Use any booster like BioSpira?

[krafty2010]

I did not use any boosters.

I setup the tank with RODI mixed saltwater.
Added Live Rock a few days later.
3 weeks passed with no ammonia spike.
So I added ammonia to 2ppm to see if it could cycle it.
It has not been able to cycle it so Ive been keeping the ammonia up to hopefully feed the bacteria, but it has not progressed in 2 weeks.

I think my next steps are going to be adding water to the QTs from the DTs. While letting the ammonia drop. But I was under the impression that the QTs should also be able to cycle 2ppm ammonia within 24 hours.

[North Borders]

In freshwater tanks I've read the golden moment is when the tank will crush 4ppm of ammonia in 12 hrs along with zero nitrites. Not sure if that's also the case in salt?

I'm in the same boat as you. Waiting on my DT and QT time cycle so I can pick up a fish
Deciding on first one is so hard!! Green clown goby? Red head goby? Firefish? Ahhhh!

[Shznittle]

I'm in the middle of my cycle myself and I'm definitely not an expert at any of this yet, but reading your thread I think the issue at the beginning was that you waited 3 weeks for some sort of ammonia spike...but what was the ammonia source? You said you didn't use shrimp or dose ammonia, but just added LR. You have to have an ammonia source to see an ammonia spike, to my understanding.

[krafty2010]

My belief was that some die off of the LR would cause some sort of ammonia spike. In hindsight, I realize that with the small amount of LR I used would not cause a spike.

I have been following the rule of 2ppm by 24 hours. For my DTs they were capable of doing this so I added the CUC for bioload to keep the bacteria stable enough to add fish one by one. Which is also very exciting. I, too, am planning on having a fire fish and a yellow clown goby

[Shznittle]

Oh okay, yea what i've been told recently is that the bacteria can go awhile w/o dying off, plus the amount that dies off probably creates so little amount of ammonia that your test isn't really indicating it, therefore no ammonia spike.

Yea, my issue that i put myself in is that i've been dosing too often to maintain that 2ppm ammonia, but my bacteria is converting it to nitrites so fast that i have a high reading of nitrites (which is taking its time to convert to nitrates). I've stopped dosing and waiting for the nitrites to drop, then I'll do my PWC and introduce my first fish. Probably a pair of clowns. Cant wait! So much patience involved...

Carry on! Happy reefing!

[gone fishin]

Originally Posted by krafty2010

My boyfriend actually just had what sounds to be a good idea.
My DTs are cycled and ready for fish.
Could I take water out of the DTs(as a water change) and add that to the QTs? Essentially seeding the tanks.

Taking water from the DT will not seed anything. The vast majority of bacteria are on the surfaces of the tank. I would speculate with those size QT you will be doing frequent WC's anyway. Personally I do not cycle a QT. I rely on WC's and seachem prime if needed.

If I were in your position I would do a WC to clear out any ammonia, have plenty of water on hand for WC's as needed, some prime and at a minimum test kits. I also like to use the seachem ammonia alert badges during QT. If you do find yourself using prime to neautralize the ammonia Get the seachem ammonia test. Most other ammonia test will not read correctly once prime is in the water. Once I had that all taken care off I would get my fish in the QT.

Also, after your done with your QT do not put the live rock into your display tank. good luck just my 2 cents

[LuciDog]

Stop dosing.

Water from your DT will do nothing.

Some people cycle QT. some don't. I tried not, and had bad luck, so now I keep a 30 cycled, as a 2nd DT in a sense, and use that. I buy fish in batches (2-3), QT all at once, then that tank sits 3 months no fish. Big WC when fish come out, and right before new fish go in.

Now your QT... Leave it alone. Stop dosing. You do not need to feed bacteria until well after your cycle. Remember the basics. Ammonia up, then down. Nitrites up, then down. Nitrates up, then wc. Your holding it mid cycle by not allowing the ammonia to come down. Leave it, test your ammonia once a day. Once it hits zero, watch your trites. When they hit zero, WC and your done.

[krafty2010]

Okay, thanks everyone!! So much helpful information.

No more dosing ammonia. I'll let it drop completely. Watch the trites, then water change after I get to trates and consider it cycled. Then add some fish!

Thanks again.