I've been doing a fishless cycle on my marine tank, Didn't pay a lot of attention to it at the start because of work. But I mean it's a fishless cycle so I wasn't going out of my way to make sure everything was perfect, my fault really. Anyhow the first 3 weeks it did barely anything, from the starting parameters the ammonia didn't noticeably go down, nitrate and nitrite went up a tiny amount, I'll list below in more detail, I come to the conclusion that I had overdosed with the dechlorinator and it had been the cause of the stall in cycling, I introduced more bacteria on Day 21 but the results I don't think are what should be expected, the ammonia finally went down but the nitrates are the same and nitrites have actually went down. Sort of at a loss at what to do, with a fishless cycle should I not dechlorinate the water at all while it cycles? I did add too much at first as I failed to take into account the rocks and sand and dosed to the tank size.
Haven't done water changes just topped it up every 2 days due to evaporation, ends up being about 10% each week
Starting Conditions/Tap Water Parameters:
Temp 24C - 75F
Dry rock
Natural aragonite coral sand
Good water agitation
Filter sock removed
Light not in use
Protein Skimmer removed
PH: 8.2
Alkalinity: 9dKH
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nitrite: <1
Nitrate: 0
Ammonia: 0
Comment: Dosed 80 drops ammonia = Ammonia 2ppm
Day 21 (Added in more bacteria at this point):
Nitrite: 0.1
Nitrate: 2
Ammonia: 2
Day 28 (7 days after introduction of bacteria):
Nitrite: 0.05
Nitrate: 2
Ammonia: 0.8
Comments: Dosed ammonia to bring it back up to 2ppm, Increased water temp to 28C or 82F
Haven't done water changes just topped it up every 2 days due to evaporation, ends up being about 10% each week
Starting Conditions/Tap Water Parameters:
Temp 24C - 75F
Dry rock
Natural aragonite coral sand
Good water agitation
Filter sock removed
Light not in use
Protein Skimmer removed
PH: 8.2
Alkalinity: 9dKH
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nitrite: <1
Nitrate: 0
Ammonia: 0
Comment: Dosed 80 drops ammonia = Ammonia 2ppm
Day 21 (Added in more bacteria at this point):
Nitrite: 0.1
Nitrate: 2
Ammonia: 2
Day 28 (7 days after introduction of bacteria):
Nitrite: 0.05
Nitrate: 2
Ammonia: 0.8
Comments: Dosed ammonia to bring it back up to 2ppm, Increased water temp to 28C or 82F