Fishless Cycle with API Quickstart Resulting in High Nitrates in 5 days.

[Ambie]

Hey, I recently setup a 6 gallon nano tank for betta/cherry shrimps. I decided to give bottle bacteria a try and went with quickstart. I dosed about 3 ppm of dr.tim's ammonia, used a small amount of established media and pretty much dumped the entire 16 fl oz bottle of quickstart. (following the instructions of a guide on here about using bottle bacteria with ammonia)

I setup the tank on Feb 9th, On the 10th my reading were
Ph: 6.6 (Using Fluval Stratum) / Ammonia: 3 ppm / Nitrite: 0.25 ppm / Nitrate: 20 ppm

As of Feb 14th:
Ph: 6.8
Ammonia: 3 ppm (No Drop as of Yet)
Nitrite: 0.50-1.0 ppm
Nitrate: Over 80ppm (Darker than 80 but lighter than 160)

My fishless cycles have alway finished up pretty quickly (about 2 weeks) without any established media or bottle bacteria. I really just trying to figure out what going on.

So is this a result of the quickstart?
And do I need to have any concern or just allow the cycle to run its course?

 

[Inner10]

So you should have put in 6ml and instead you put in nearly 500ml...and youseeded the tank negating the need for quickstart. You can't accurately measure parameters with all that stuff in the tank. Do a 50 percent water change and re test.

 

[Ambie]

So you should have put in 6ml and instead you put in nearly 500ml...and youseeded the tank negating the need for quickstart. You can't accurately measure parameters with all that **** in the tank. Do a 50 percent water change and re test.

Was following the Guide by one of the mod on here.

 

[Inner10]

Was following the Guide by one of the mod on here.

His write up says dose 1ppm ammonia. I don't care for dosing ammonia because you have to measure accurately and most people dose too much.

Quickstart comes in bottles as small as 30ml, even that would be a huge overdose for your nano tank. It's not going to do any harm anything...but you did put in 80x the recommended amount.

Long story short your tank is probably cycling, but your test results are probably out of wack from all the stuff dumped in it. Do a partial water change and test again.

 

[Ambie]

His write up says dose 1ppm ammonia. I don't care for dosing ammonia because you have to measure accurately and most people dose too much.

Quickstart comes in bottles as small as 30ml, even that would be a huge overdose for your nano tank. It's not going to do any harm anything...but you did put in 80x the recommended amount.

Long story short your tank is probably cycling, but your test results are probably out of wack from all the stuff dumped in it. Do a partial water change and test again.

I did 50% on the 12th to lower ammonia. And I haven't add anything else since then.

 

[Momgoose56]

I did 50% on the 12th to lower ammonia. And I haven't add anything else since then.

I suggest, as others have, do another water change and retest. What test kit are you using?

 

[Ambie]

I suggest, as others have, do another water change and retest. What test kit are you using?

I did about a 75% water change.

ApI Master Kit

After Water Change
Ammonia 2 ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrate 40 ppm

 

[Momgoose56]

I did about a 75% water change.

ApI Master Kit

After Water Change
Ammonia 2 ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrate 40 ppm

Okay, those params look better. Now you'll want to watch nitrites (keep them at <5) and keep nitrates below 80 with water changes and redose ammonia to 2ppm when it gets between 0 and 1. I am surprised that you fully cycled a tank with no seeded media in 2 weeks with a pH of 6.6. It takes nitrifying bacteria an average of 20 hours to make one copy of themselves (they are among the slowest growing bacteria known). Other bacteria make millions to billions of copies of themselves in the same time it takes nitrifying bacteria to make a single copy.
Be sure you are following the API test kit instructions exactly for each test, especially the nitrate test. The procedure for doing that test is significantly different than the other tests in the kit and if not done correctly it will give you a false reading. Good luck!

 

[Ambie]

Okay, those params look better. Now you'll want to watch nitrites (keep them at <5) and keep nitrates below 80 with water changes and redose ammonia to 2ppm when it gets between 0 and 1. I am surprised that you fully cycled a tank with no seeded media in 2 weeks with a pH of 6.6. It takes nitrifying bacteria an average of 20 hours to make one copy of themselves (they are among the slowest growing bacteria known). Other bacteria make millions to billions of copies of themselves in the same time it takes nitrifying bacteria to make a single copy.
Be sure you are following the API test kit instructions exactly for each test, especially the nitrate test. The procedure for doing that test is significantly different than the other tests in the kit and if not done correctly it will give you a false reading. Good luck!

My Ph is really 7.6 but this time i'm using fluval stratum for Crystal shrimps. All 4 other tanks cycled in 2-3 weeks without seeded media but i'm expecting this one to last a lot longer because of the ph be so much lower.

And i'm always sure to shake the daylights out of the nitrate test.