cycle taking longer than i thought?

weasertt

Member
after 4 weeks my tests resulats are
ph 8.0
ammonia .50
nitrites .50
nitrates 10
shouldnt they be coming down by now, the damsels seem happy actually there eating alot and swimming about. could i be doing something wrong?
 

mikeyjer

Active Member
Originally Posted by weasertt
after 4 weeks my tests resulats are
ph 8.0
ammonia .50
nitrites .50
nitrates 10
shouldnt they be coming down by now, the damsels seem happy actually there eating alot and swimming about. could i be doing something wrong?
Your gonna get flammed at for using Damsels to cycle your tank. Sometimes it takes a bit longer to cycle a tank, just be patient. :happyfish
 

newfishguy

Member
Ammonia should be 0 by now. What kind of test kit are you using?
Originally Posted by weasertt
after 4 weeks my tests resulats are
ph 8.0
ammonia .50
nitrites .50
nitrates 10
shouldnt they be coming down by now, the damsels seem happy actually there eating alot and swimming about. could i be doing something wrong?
 

rpick

Member
mine took 8 weeks to cycle without the damsels or the shrimp. i missed the amonia spike but the nitrites and nitrates settled down then.
 

jokerj

Member
sometimes it takes a bit longer to cycle a tank but it would help if you could post all info about tank. Live rock? sand or crush coral? ect. Also how much are you feeding. I made the same mistake and on my first tank started with Damsels. I also found I was feeding way too much and could not get my levels down because of that. You may even want to get the LFS to check levels to make sure you do not have a bad test kit or something. Hope this will help.
 

weasertt

Member
i have LS but no LR yet. ive been feeding them some pellets every day. I guess its possible im feeding too much. Any other ideas
 

adamc1303

Active Member
Try adding some cycle speeders or starters. I used Fritz 900 it is hard to find since it is frozen and has a shelf life, but it is not a chemical it is live bacteria so it is more natural. With that load of livestock add it turn off your skimmer for the first 6 to 8 weeks of cycle any way, and u.v. sterilizer for a week after you add that product and you should be ok. This is all assuming you have a good system wet/dry or canister without a good
sytem it will always be hard to get it rite.
 

adamc1303

Active Member
My LFS also gave me a piece of a pad from one of there established filters to use when I cycled I think it helped speed things up as well. See if you can get one from your LFS.
 

airforceb2

Active Member
I wouldn't add anything to the tank yet. Red Sea test kits aren't the best out there. It is very possible you don't have any ammonia in there at all and you are getting faulty readings. Can you take a sample of water to a fish store and see if they can test it for you? If there really is ammonia in the tank, you don't need to add anything like Fritz 900 because it will just make your ammonia higher and you don't need that.
 

adamc1303

Active Member
Fritz did not do that to my system. I was told that it is the only product that wont and that overdosing can't really hurt.
 

weasertt

Member
im gonna hve toi bring some in to the LFS to have it tested. my ammonia had been reading .25 for the last two weeks. and all of a sudden now its .50. I dont get it. ANd my trites and trates are higher now than ever.
 

adamc1303

Active Member
Truth is before doing anything get it tested using a different test, and if indeed the test is at fault then purchse a new test kit. Without a refractometer and a good test kit you are lost.
 
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