General cycling questions from a beginner

[Apwhite]

Hi there. I’m a new aquarist who is cycling her first saltwater 10g nano tank. I originally cycled it throughout the month of January, and purchased a sweet baby clownfish mid-February which seemed fine until it died sometime overnight. I was very confused as to why this happened and received a lot of helpful suggestions from more advanced aquarists. I’m still not sure why my clown died (some said it could’ve been shock from a new tank, the babies are pretty fragile, etc.) but I’ve decided to move on and completely re-cycle my tank in preparation for getting a new fish. I started by adding 40 drops of dr Tim’s ammonia (raised ammonia in tank to 2ppm). Before adding, ammonia/nitrites were 0 and nitrates were 2ppm. Two days later, I tested again to find 1ppm ammonia, unknown (?) nitrite levels (didn’t seem to match chart, I’ve attached an image below), and 40ppm nitrate. This seems like a big step in the tanks cycle to occur in just two days. Is this normal? Do you think there’s bacteria left over from my previous cycle/the fish? Also, once my ammonia and nitrite read 0, how long should these numbers stay stable before I add another clown? Thanks in advance!

 

[NannaLou]

@Essjay is the chemistry and cycling expert on here, she’s UK based so probably won’t be online for a few hours yet. @PheonixKingZ (I think) has saltwater tanks and may also have advice

 

[Essjay]

I have moved this thread to the Saltwater section in case things are different in salt water tanks. The main Cycling forum is for freshwater cycling.

Cycling should be the same for fresh and salt water but I don't know whether it's safe to add fish as soon as the cycle has finished as with fresh water.
If salt water bacteria are like freshwater, they can survive for months if they are kept even just damp so there may well be some still alive.

 

[Colin_T]

Marine and brackish water tanks cycle in the same way as freshwater. They have different species of bacteria but the cycling process is exactly the same.

You can add marine fish to a tank once it has cycled, the same as freshwater tanks.

The beneficial filter bacteria can survive for a while in damp conditions.

 

[Jan Cavalieri]

Why not put it through another cycle or two. Add some ammonia and see what happens. My aquariums may cycle just fine but I always do it a second time for two reasons: 1. To make sure my first cycle wasn't a flop and 2. To build up additional levels of bacteria - it can't hurt and this time it should come out fully cycled. The other day I was so aqngry wne I looked at our city's water report and found that they consider 1 ppm Ammonia OK = and that is what our tap measured las year. I be;oeve high levels of ammonia are responsible for the death of a number of fish. I bought a 90 gallon tank to use for 3 Dojo - one is plder and about 15 inches long. The others I just got in 3 months ago. The first thin my big dojo did was chop off the top of her head - and he didn't eat anything. I'll never understand fish. I hand feed this guy all the time - I'm not doing that any more. The remaining Dojo are abou 6-8 inches long (they were about 4 inches when they arrived. I had to keep adding AmGuard every few days to keep the ammonia levels out of control. Next the Gourami in my 50 gallon tan started picking on my other gourami badly. So I moved the gentle Gourami to the 90 gallon tank - so the 50 gallon only held the agressive Gourami and 4 Plecos. My meter never went past "safe" on ammonia readings, while of couse the 90 gallon is ready to alarm.. I do small water changes every day and then add AmGuard and Tetra Safe Start = band finally today - after 3 weeks Imy Ammonia levels were normal. - but it's something I'm going to continue to fight unless I decide to open up another aquarioum I 've got in storage. I pay a guy to do wather changes and other assorted stuff each week and pay him well - I really don't waant to spend more money on maintenance of yet anothr tant. And tp have 4 dish in a 90 gallon tank iss just ridiculous but I have to go with what os happening in the tanks. I think I could manage to clean one 29 gallon tank once per week but I always overestimate my abilities (I'm on oxygen 24 hours a day and get out of breath quite easily.