Kessil

Almost undetectable nitrites during cycle using Dr. Tim's One and Only

kinetic

Supporting Member
I tried pre-cycling my live rock and marinepure plate 3 weeks ago using ammonium chloride and dr. tim's one and only. I finally got my tank and added all new water, but put in my already cycling live rock. I kind of screwed up the salinity, so maybe I killed the bacteria, though I'm not sure the bacteria cares about salinity.

I'm coming up on week 1 of using Dr. Tim's One and Only, and my ammonia levels are steady and not dropping at all (which I guess is fine this early on). So I was reading, by now I should see some levels of nitrite if the bacteria is working at all.

I took a nitrite test (Salifert) and it's basically undetectable. Too early to test for nitrite? I'm not expecting a miracle cycle, nor do I want to rush it. Just wondering if and when nitrites should be detectable, especially when doing a fishless cycle with Dr. Tim's.
 
It's all a guessing game. I've seen some people able to complete a full cycle in a week with dr Tim's and some took a month. If it takes a full month, you'll likely start seeing nitrite during the second week. But best advice I can give you is to be patient.

When your cycle is complete, 2ppm will take less than 24 hours to process to nitrate. So, if you're getting zero nitrite and zero ammonia and nitrates are rising when you are feeding or dosing ammonia, your cycle is done.
 
It's all a guessing game. I've seen some people able to complete a full cycle in a week with dr Tim's and some took a month. If it takes a full month, you'll likely start seeing nitrite during the second week. But best advice I can give you is to be patient.

When your cycle is complete, 2ppm will take less than 24 hours to process to nitrate. So, if you're getting zero nitrite and zero ammonia and nitrates are rising when you are feeding or dosing ammonia, your cycle is done.

Thanks Randy. This is the first time I've tried cycling with Dr. Tim's One and Only. In the past, all I did was dose Ammonium Chloride and hope that some bacteria from the world around would come and populate that little tank of water. I think that tank took 3 - 4 months to cycle, and I don't even think it cycled, I just got impatient and started throwing animals into it. Somehow they lived.

I'll keep testing daily!
 
Thanks Randy. This is the first time I've tried cycling with Dr. Tim's One and Only. In the past, all I did was dose Ammonium Chloride and hope that some bacteria from the world around would come and populate that little tank of water. I think that tank took 3 - 4 months to cycle, and I don't even think it cycled, I just got impatient and started throwing animals into it. Somehow they lived.

I'll keep testing daily!

You can definitely cycle without bacteria in a bottle. I cured and cycled 50lbs of dry pukani rock with only the dead animals that it came with in 31 days in a bin in the garage. Got a nice funky ocean smell in the garage the first week.
 
What size bottle of mr. Tims did you use?

If you use a large enough amount, you can see nitrites and nitrates within 24 hours.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
What size bottle of mr. Tims did you use?

If you use a large enough amount, you can see nitrites and nitrates within 24 hours.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I used the smaller 4 oz. size. I dumped the whole bottle in.

I have another 4 oz. coming. I'll test before and then test 24 hours after dumping it in.
 
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