Commodore Greenhorn
Reefing newb
For years when I needed or wanted to cycle in a FW tank from scratch I used straight ammonia from a bottle. I liked that I could dial in smaller or larger bioloads and feed the bacteria continuously as they colonized the tank without having to let things rot in the water. When I started my first reef tank last weekend, I decided I'd try my trusty ammonia bottle. After all, I was only 'risking' $6 worth of live rock and a ball of macro..
So, I added ammonia to .25ppm, start slowly. When I tested 24 hours later, expecting the ammonia to be at the same level - nothing. There was perhaps the vaguest hint of green in the API tube, perhaps not. Certainly not the .25ppm I gave it the night before. Zero nitrites. :squint: I added ammonia to get back up to .25ppm.
Next day, same thing - zero ammonia, zero nitrites. This time I tested nitrate as well - it read zero, but I'm not sure that necessarily tells me anything as I've only been adding small amounts of ammonia. The only thing I can think of that could have produced such an instant cycle is the macro I bought - a dense, softball-sized lump grabbed from an LFS' refugium and plunked into my new system which has probably got all of 15 gallons of water in it. OR I've got nothing in my tank and something else has happened to the ammonia I've been adding..
Thoughts on this? Thanks.
Btw, hair algae is beginning to grow in the tank if that says anything..
So, I added ammonia to .25ppm, start slowly. When I tested 24 hours later, expecting the ammonia to be at the same level - nothing. There was perhaps the vaguest hint of green in the API tube, perhaps not. Certainly not the .25ppm I gave it the night before. Zero nitrites. :squint: I added ammonia to get back up to .25ppm.
Next day, same thing - zero ammonia, zero nitrites. This time I tested nitrate as well - it read zero, but I'm not sure that necessarily tells me anything as I've only been adding small amounts of ammonia. The only thing I can think of that could have produced such an instant cycle is the macro I bought - a dense, softball-sized lump grabbed from an LFS' refugium and plunked into my new system which has probably got all of 15 gallons of water in it. OR I've got nothing in my tank and something else has happened to the ammonia I've been adding..
Thoughts on this? Thanks.
Btw, hair algae is beginning to grow in the tank if that says anything..
