API Quick-Start Issue?

[RichInLesta]

I began cycling my first marine aquarium a little over a week ago. I'm starting out with FOWLR with an eye towards migrating to a Reef tank in a year or so, when everything settles and I have enough comfort and experience with the hobby. My setup is a 55 gallon Aqueon with a Marineland 400 HOB filter, and two Koralia Hydor circulation pumps (600 gph/850 gph) on a Hydor Smartwave controller. The tank is heated with a 300W heater. In the tank is 100 lbs of live gravel (Caribsea Hawaiian), and about 30 pounds of live rock (from ***** and a LFS) supplemented with dry rock (*****). I also have an Octo HOB Classic-1000 set up and ready to go when the time comes. I'm not using (nor do I plan to due to space limitations at this time) a sump. Although it's a 55 gallon tank, I could only add about 40 gallons of water. I know this because I mixed each gallon individually (Instant Ocean Reef Crystals) so that I could measure how much water I had for future calculations (additives, etc.). To me that sounds kind of low, but given the area that's consumed with the gravel and rock, I'll assume it's "normal" until/unless someone tells me otherwise. I think that's enough background to put my question into context.

I started cycling by adding straight ammonia to the tank, based on suggestions I've seen online. I used a rate of 1 drop per gallon (40 drops) per day for three consecutive days. I'm testing pH, Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates daily using an API Saltwater Master Test Kit.

After three days, I wasn't seeing any measurable change to the water chemistry. Each parameter DID rise after day one, but essentially stayed flat over the next few days. I know that this process takes time, but the fact that there was very little to no change had me wondering if I was doing something wrong. So I did more research and found an article touting the benefits of API Quick-Start. To my novice mind, the concept made sense (adding bacteria to kick-start the process) so I picked up a bottle and started using it 3 days ago.

According to the instructions, I was to add 10ml of Quick-Start for every 10 gallons (if a freshwater tank) or 20ml per 10 gallons (for a saltwater tank). So day 1 I added 40ml (based on my having measured 40 gallons of water in the tank). It also claims to be safe to add fish immediately (which I had/have no intentions of doing) and based on that I assumed that the water parameters would/should change overnight. Nada! Exact same results as I had the day before. So I added another 100ml (this time assuming 50 gallons in the tank) and tested again the next day. Nada again!! So I added another 40ml yesterday and this morning...you guessed it...absolutely no change whatsoever.

If I can figure out how to add it, I'll include my results with this post. What I'm looking for is if anyone has any experience using this product (or some other similar product) and if there's something of which I should be aware. I'm not as concerned with the absolute numbers I'm getting, but I am concerned that there has been no change whatsoever from one day to the next. I'm confident that I'm testing correctly, but even if I wasn't, I've been consistent so I would expect to see SOME change.

Thanks, in advance, for any insight or suggestions you may have.

 

[lmforbis]

Pretty typical. It usually takes 6 weeks or more to fully cycle a tank. Patience is important in salt water. I’d suggest you work on getting a quarantine tank set up while you wait. Every fish you add should needs to be quarantined at least 30 days to prevent bringing any diseases into your display. Diseases are running rampant through the suppliers systems and once in your tank the only way to get rid of them is th remove all the fish and let the tank sit empty for weeks. Better to prevent the problem.

 

[RichInLesta]

Thanks for the recommendation.

I happened across a thread in another forum and think I know the answer. I realize that it takes time, and I plan on taking as much time as necessary to get it right. The directions on the Quick-Start say nothing about HAVING to add fish; it just says you CAN. But in retrospect, I now realize that without fish the bacteria will starve unless they have another source of ammonia...that's the part of the instruction that would have been nice to include for those of us first-timers who don't quite yet know all we need to know about water chemistry. In retrospect it's obvious, but it wasn't when I first started using it.

Since I originally started with adding ammonia (and not fish) I've gone back to adding the straight ammonia until I begin to see change and take it from there.

Thanks again.

 

[lmforbis]

You can also ghost feed. This will keep the bacteria going. Never add fish until the tank is fully cycled then one at a time after appropriate quarantine.