Need help remembering how a cycle works

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Andy

Active Member
Hello everyone. Been too long since I posted on here! Due to work commitments the hobby had to be put on the back burner for a wile but the rsm 250 is now back out of storage and is ready for round 2.
Im having some issues with the tank cycling as its been a wile since I started up a new tank I thought id pick your brains.
As im all to aware you guys love as much info as possible so ill tell you what ive done so far. The system has been up and running for 2 1/2 weeks now. It has real reef rock together with live sand. Temperature at 80f and salinity 1.025. Protein skimmer is bedding in nicely and as yet no chemical or mechanical filtration in terms of back compartments until after cycle (will only be using purigen/phosguard/chemi pure blue. I kick started the cycle with a cm cubed piece of sardine to get as much bacteria as poss going to minimise mini cycles later on down the line. 2 1/2 weeks in im getting some reading I don't understand. The api test kit I am using is rubbish for accurate figures but its clear that ammonia is fairly high, nitrites are very high and nitrates are vary high. I was under the impression that ammonia spikes than gradually declines as nitrite spikes which the gives way to nitrates. Any help or info would be appreciated. cheers
 
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DaveK

Well-Known Member
The ammonia and nitrite readings will first climb and then drop back down, with the nitrite reading following behind the ammonia reading.You can have non-zero readings of both at the same time.

So your tank is doing what it should and is right on schedule. Once the ammonia levels and nitrite levels drop to 0 your tank is cycled. At that point test your nitrate reading. If that is very high, you might want to use water changes to lower it.
 
jpsika08

jpsika08

Well-Known Member
This is a nice chart for your guidance:
n-cycle.gif

And for your API Test kits, the bad thing about these result sheets is that they only provide five colors to guess in the ppm levels, here is what I use as well which gives me more precise reading (Use them as reference only as monitor brightness plays a part here).

Ammonia:
ammonia.jpg


Nitrite:
nitrite_resized.jpg


Nitrate:
nitrate_resized.jpg


Just let the tank settle naturally, I would recommend waiting in between 35 - 45 days for the Bio Filter to establish.
 
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