Do you need to add ammonia when cycling a new tank using AquaForest BioS?

Hello,

I'm a confused newbie, so please forgive me if I'm asking something stupid. I'm setting up a 60-gallon saltwater tank for the first time. I'm currently in the 4th week of its fishless cycling. I seeded the tank with 3 drops of BioS every day for 2 weeks as directed on the product. I also used AquaForest's "live sand" when setting up the tank, which came with two bottles: 1 ammonia supplement, 1 bacteria bottle. You need to keep the 7.5 kgs of sand in 3 liters of RODI saltwater seeded with the two bottles that came with it for 24 hours, then you can add the sand to your tank.

I'm confused as nowhere in any of these products it is mentioned that I need to be adding a source of ammonia for the bottled bacteria from BioS? It just says that you should add 1 drop of BioS per 27 gallons of water for the first 2 weeks. I did that and took the readings every other day. Ammonia has stayed from 0 to 0.25 ppm from the start, nitrite has stayed flat 0 from the start, nitrate has ranged from 5 to 10 ppm in these three weeks, and pH ranging from 8 to 8.2.

I haven't seen an ammonia spike except for once when I had to stop the filtration as my sump had to be replaced. But now it's back to 0-0.25. I have never seen nitrite go above 0. Am I doing something wrong? Are the beneficial bacteria dead or dying since I'm not adding any ammonia source into the tank? Should I be adding a source of ammonia to the tank? I haven't used any fish food or fish chunks in the tank up to this point. I'm worried because I'm going to get the first batch of fish in a day or two.

Sorry about the very long post.

 

Hi Valhallan,

Yes, you need to introduce ammonia somehow. Whether via ammonium chloride dosing (my preferred method), fish food, seafood chunks, or fish-in (which you are not doing anyways, but figured I'd mention).

So yes, even though the bottle of BioS does not say, you should nonetheless dose the ammonia.

 

Hi Valhallan,

Yes, you need to introduce ammonia somehow. Whether via ammonium chloride dosing (my preferred method), fish food, seafood chunks, or fish-in (which you are not doing anyways, but figured I'd mention).

So yes, even though the bottle of BioS does not say, you should nonetheless dose the ammonia.

Thanks for the reply.

I just did a water test and found the ammonia level a bit high: 0.25 to 0.50. This might be due to the fact that I have stopped adding the daily 3 drops of BioS?

Should I start adding NH4Cl now that I'm about a day or two from introducing the first batch of fish? Or I should just go ahead with the fish as the source of ammonia and add a couple ml of BioS along with the fish to avoid having a very high ammonia spike?

 

Thanks for the reply.

I just did a water test and found the ammonia level a bit high: 0.25 to 0.50. This might be due to the fact that I have stopped adding the daily 3 drops of BioS?

Should I start adding NH4Cl now that I'm about a day or two from introducing the first batch of fish? Or I should just go ahead with the fish as the source of ammonia and add a couple ml of BioS along with the fish to avoid having a very high ammonia spike?

My preference is for fishless cycling, as if anything goes wrong when you add the fish, it's a lot more difficult to handle the situation... especially with saltwater tanks. You probably don't want to use up huge amounts of salts for constant water changes.

When you say you are a day or two from introducing the first batch of fish, is this something that gotta be done regardless? Or can it be delayed?

 

My preference is for fishless cycling, as if anything goes wrong when you add the fish, it's a lot more difficult to handle the situation... especially with saltwater tanks. You probably don't want to use up huge amounts of salts for constant water changes.

When you say you are a day or two from introducing the first batch of fish, is this something that gotta be done regardless? Or can it be delayed?

I may try asking the shipper to delay the shipment, but I'm not 100% sure that they would oblige. I did try to do a fishless cycle, with the ammonia source probably being those two small ammonia bottles that come with the AquaForest sand. Other than that, I stupidly didn't realize that the bacteria would need something to survive as well. -_-

 

My preference is for fishless cycling, as if anything goes wrong when you add the fish, it's a lot more difficult to handle the situation... especially with saltwater tanks. You probably don't want to use up huge amounts of salts for constant water changes.

When you say you are a day or two from introducing the first batch of fish, is this something that gotta be done regardless? Or can it be delayed?

Okay, I tried to get some NH4Cl but it's not available where I live. They only have it in powder form which I don't know what to do with. Now the only option I have is to add fish food or a fish into the tank for a proper cycle. I'm thinking of converting some freshwater mollies to saltwater and have them as the source of ammonia? Would that work?

 

Okay, I tried to get some NH4Cl but it's not available where I live. They only have it in powder form which I don't know what to do with. Now the only option I have is to add fish food or a fish into the tank for a proper cycle. I'm thinking of converting some freshwater mollies to saltwater and have them as the source of ammonia? Would that work?

If you are dead set on doing fish in the mollies would be the most cost effective method, although it's definitely not healthy for the fish. Incidentally what are you using for your biofilter in that tank (ie Live Rock, Dry Rock)?

 

If you are dead set on doing fish in the mollies would be the most cost effective method, although it's definitely not healthy for the fish. Incidentally what are you using for your biofilter in that tank (ie Live Rock, Dry Rock)?

I'm using dry rock, "live sand" from AquaForest, ceramic rings, bio balls, sponges.

Basically nothing from an established tank. The AF live sand comes with a bottle of bacteria that you pour in a couple of liters of RODI water along with a bottle of the supplement (likely ammonia). You let that sit with the sand (which comes dry btw) for 24 hours and then add to the tank.

I also used BioS from AF for two weeks to seed nitrifying bacteria. Hadn't used any fish food, shrimps, fish chunks, live fish up until now.

Today I added about 7 mollies to my tank after acclimating them for 7 hours to saltwater. Did a water test after about 12 hours of adding the fish. There was no ammonia spike, no nitrite, same nitrate as was before adding the fish. Does that mean my tank is established?

 

I would get a different test kit and test. API is notorious for false positive readings for Ammonia and the Nitrate test can be a pain based on the color chart. Look at Red Sea or Salifert. It could just be a faulty test kit. Do you have a store in your area where they use different test kits?

 

I would get a different test kit and test. API is notorious for false positive readings for Ammonia and the Nitrate test can be a pain based on the color chart. Look at Red Sea or Salifert. It could just be a faulty test kit. Do you have a store in your area where they use different test kits?

I'm not sure. I'll have to order one from Amazon or someplace. Btw how did you know I was using the API kit? I didn't mention it anywhere

I would get a different test kit and test. API is notorious for false positive readings for Ammonia and the Nitrate test can be a pain based on the color chart. Look at Red Sea or Salifert. It could just be a faulty test kit. Do you have a store in your area where they use different test kits?

So I did an ammonia test with my API kit using the water from a bucket holding 12 molly fry and their poop. I got a very strong green color showing 0.50 to 1.0 ppm ammonia, which I have not had with my main tank's water.

Being curious, I also tested my main tank's water for ammonia after doing the above test. The result, as always, came a yellow color showing 0 ppm of ammonia. It might be leaning towards 0.25, but I can't be sure as the colors are very hard to distinguish sometimes. I've attached the photo of both of the results. Would that mean my API kit is working as it should or I should still buy another brand?

Edit: I went ahead and tested the water for ammonia again after 12 hours, but this time I also tested the water directly from my RO unit along with my tank's water and the water from the bucket with molly frys. As you can see in the photo I took of the results, the bucket water showed around 0.50 to 1.0 ppm, tank water 0 to 0.25 ppm, and fresh RO water showed 0 with a clean golden yellow color.

Also tested tank's water and bucket water for nitrite. Tank's water showed 0 nitrite, as it has always done. Bucket water showed 2-5 ppm nitrite. I think it's safe to assume that my API kit is working as it should? It should also refute what many people claim that the API kit never gives a pure yellow result color for ammonia.