Cycle Mystery

I filled up my fish only system on May 10th of this year.At that time I added Dr Tims bacteria. ( I did accidentally buy the freshwater version but Dr Tims support said that wouldn't matter).Also I added the ammonia they supply you if you want to do a fish-less cycle.After 2 weeks of no reduction in ammonia I added a bottle of Stability by Seachem.Its now been 27 days since I fired up the system.My test kits (and the LFS' kits) still say 0.25 ppm ammonia and 0 nitrite.
I have begun to see brown growth on the gravel bed.Ive been running a new Vertec IN-80 skimmer on the system and I built the sump with a refugium and I have cheato in there.
Anyway since its not my only tank ( I have my mixed reef) I haven't been too impatient about it but I am starting to wonder what the heck is going on.Maybe that ammonium chloride they gave me was super potent.I dosed the amount it said on the bottle.Maybe my pH wasnt right for the bacteria to grow...who knows.

My cycle on my mixed reef was only 20 days using no additives just a dead shrimp.I guess maybe 27 days isn't that long but I would like to think after investing money in those cycle boosters that they would have paid off to some extent.

If anyone has had a similar experience or can think of any possible answers Id love to hear it.

Thanks for reading!

 

is that why the monkey is scratching its head Vital Apperatuz?

Just out of interest have you verified your test kits by testing on your mature reef set up?

many a confusion has been solved and attributed to test kits that have become unstable

if the test kits are indeed accurate
then it may well be a simple case of elevated ammonia levels, with minimal developed bacteria culture at present, in which case it should not be to long now before the bacteria multiply in accordance with the ammonia available


think about it as
inviting 9 friends for dinner and ordering 10 pizzas
until all 9 friends are present and eating,you have a surplus of pizza

the only thing I can say with any definite confidence is

it will happen for you
it always does

Steve

 

Thanks Steve that was an excellent analogy
Yes I did test the other tank not only to be sure of the validity of the test kit but to give myself a color comparison because sometimes those color cards can be deceiving .
The monkey is always confused,I am the monkey