Why wont my tank cycle?

[Enkay]

Been a while since I set up my 240 gallon tank. Not so live rock but live sand. I added some live rock later on.

 

The ammonia just wont go down. Using the Microbacter that Steve from Quantum Reefs recommended since past two days. I was expecting that in 2 weeks plus, the ammonia should at least come down but it seems to be stuck on a light green color.

 

Any ideas, suggestions, advise?

 

Thanks!

[Tracy G]

How long in the cycle, what is Nitrite at? What equipment are you running?

[Enkay]

Been almost 3 weeks in now. Skimmer is not functioning yet. Sump and a refugium. LED lights. Thats about it.

 

I have a lot of brown algae and seen a couple aiptasia. No other sign of life as yet.

[sachabballi reef]

gonna want to kill that aptasia right away.....

[Tracy G]

I think it is just progressing. By live sand you mean bags of live sand or from active tank? If its bag love sand I would say it will take up to 5 weeks to cycle. Also where was not so live rock from? Maybe die off

[Coral Hind]

It can take time if things that were dead inside the rock are decaying. What temperature do you have the tank at? Raising the temp speeds up the process slightly. Keep using the MB7 as it takes it some time to build up a good population.

[Enkay]

The rock and sand was from the same tank when the previous owner had it. Unfortunately the rock was dry by the time I got it but the sand was wet and "live". I got more live rock and put it in there.

 

The temperature is at a steady 76. Should I increase it?

 

And the Nitrites are at 0. Havent bothered to test the Nitrates yet.

[Coral Hind]

If you added the extra rock after the cycle started that will prolong the cycle as it is adding more things that have died. When transporting rock or sand there is always some level of die off. Just because the sand was wet doesn't mean it was live. You are doing the right thing now by adding a good bacteria starter. Just stick with that and keep going. You should start to see something soon. Yes, raising the temp to 78 or 80 will help.

 

What level is the ammonia at? Have you added anything to feed the tank and create the ammonia?

[Enkay]

I added fish food to the tank to create the ammonia. The ammonia is at .25 light green color when I test. Its been that way for a while now. Should I add more fish food and get it to spike some?

 

I can increase the temperature to 80 but how much of a difference will it make? if not much then maybe I am just better off waiting it out.

 

Thanks!

[YHSublime]

Just be patient. I know it's tough. I waited a month and a half for my 14 gallon Biocube to cycle, and was still nervous about putting things in there, and I used live rock. Like Coral Hind said, you'll see something soon.

[Coral Hind]

I would add more food to get it to spike higher, a good bit higher. That will make sure the bacteria population explodes.

 

I don't know how much of a difference it would make going up four degrees. I just know from my experience with waste water plants is that the Nitrosomonas peak production at 95F. Of course that's a little high for our tanks. I just brought the temp issue up because some people don't heat the tank at all during cycle time and that can slow the process down greatly. At 65F the production is decresaed by 50%

 

What is your pH at? Optimum pH range of 7.9 - 8.1 for Nitrosomonas.

[Enkay]

Thank you Coral Hind. I did that today morning. Put in some more fish food. Will check the parameters in the evening when I get home from work and post them.

[jaddc]

Patience. It will happen.

[Tracy G]

Thank you Coral Hind. I did that today morning. Put in some more fish food. Will check the parameters in the evening when I get home from work and post them.

Keep feeding as if you had fish. I do that every time and works like a charm

[swimmatte]

I'm not sure what the wamas member consensus is on this method but I tied off a raw shrimp from the grocery store and let it float for a couple days which got my Ammonia up quick. My nitrites quickly kicked in after that, followed by my nitrates. My cycle completed in 2 weeks but then again, I had 60 lbs of cured live rock.

[Enkay]

Here is a stupid question. Should the color of NO AMMONIA be absolutely lemon yellow like you would see for fresh water?

 

Here are my readings today :

Ammonia : Greenish tending towards yellow (exactly what it has been for a while now)

Nitrites : 0

Nitrates : < 5

pH : 8.3 ish

 

Dont know what I am seeing no change. Something gotta change in here when I have been adding food.

[zygote2k]

Get a better test kit. Salifert.

Make sure the skimmer is working. We used to pour a beer in a tank to see if a skimmer was working back in the day.

It should be pulling all sorts of stuff out if you're seeing brown algae growing. If it's not, get a better skimmer.

[Enkay]

Skimmer is not functional yet. Need new O rings which are in the mail.

[YHSublime]

Here is a stupid question. Should the color of NO AMMONIA be absolutely lemon yellow like you would see for fresh water?

 

Here are my readings today :

Ammonia : Greenish tending towards yellow (exactly what it has been for a while now)

Nitrites : 0

Nitrates : < 5

pH : 8.3 ish

 

Dont know what I am seeing no change. Something gotta change in here when I have been adding food.

 

Ok, first, no question is stupid. That's a big tank you're cycling. I have only had experience with smaller tanks, so take my thoughts with a grain of salt. You're not sure if your sand was live, and you're not sure how much live rock you had in there, and you've been going for 4 weeks. To me, nothing here seems out of the ordinary. How much are you "feeding," and how often? It sounds like your tank has just about finished cycling.

 

Get a better test kit. Salifert.

Make sure the skimmer is working. We used to pour a beer in a tank to see if a skimmer was working back in the day.

It should be pulling all sorts of stuff out if you're seeing brown algae growing. If it's not, get a better skimmer.

This is true. I had a bad diatom bloom first week after I added corals + fish, skimmer really helped clear it up, along with flow. It was almost miraculous.

[Enkay]

Thinking of taking sample of tank water to an LFS to get a diff testing pov.

 

Anyone near me willing to help me out ?

[ArtFully Acrylic (Adam B)]

Thinking of taking sample of tank water to an LFS to get a diff testing pov.

 

Anyone near me willing to help me out ?

 

Enkay, you are more than welcome to bring a sample out to our store. We will test your water for you to see how you are coming along. We are open tonight and tomorrow night from 7p-10p and Sat/Sun from 12p-5p.

 

Let us know via PM if you will be coming so we can have the test kit ready for you =).

[Enkay]

Took a water sample to Petland.

 

Looks like I do have a tiny bit of ammonia and a tiny bit of nitrites as well. Good thing is I was reading it right. Bad thing is that I have a few more days to go.

[sachabballi reef]

how about an update....what's happening with your new tank?

[Enkay]

Hello Jenn,

 

Thanks for asking.

 

I had some issues with plumbing leaking etc so I sold the tank here ont he forum. I just couldnot handle the whole plumbing situation because of the way the bulkheads were located etc. It is not possible for me to twist and turn under the stand.

 

Sooooo ... I am looking for a new tank which has more "accessible" plumbing. There ws a tank posted on the forum which had an end to end overflow (built by NAGA) but I have not had a lot of luck communicating with the seller in the pats few days.

 

I am thinking of getting a custom acrylic made which I might be able to handle better and restart my project. The most important thing for me to think about is that I want to be able to manage the setup and maintenance without any help.

 

So, I will either update or start a new tank build thread once I find/buy/get built a tank of my liking. Also probably looking to downgrade a bit from the 200+ gallons beast to about 100 or 120 gallons.

 

Thanks!

[sachabballi reef]

awww thats too bad....get with Adam, he will build you an acrylic dream tank....and he can guide you to creating something master piece quality

 

I will be watching for the new thread!!! hurry and get it done and cycled before the next swap this summer!!!!