Cycling Help?

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Deadna

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Aug 15, 2013
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I have a 55 gallon tank that has been up for about 3 weeks, and because of situations outside of my control, is stocked with 4 blue chromis, 2 clownfish, 3 hermit crabs, and 3 snails. Nothing is apparently sick or dying, but I'm having an issue with cycling. The ammonia shot up, then the nitrite shot up and ammonia lowered, but didn't disappear. Then nitrate just went up today, but the nitrite only slightly lowered. My question is: is the ammonia and nitrite not going down because of the livestock, or is there something wrong? It can't be because there isn't bacteria, because there is ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate at the same time. Any advice/experiences would be very helpful!
 
That is how a cycle is supposed to work. With that being said, ammonia and nitrite are toxic to your livestock. You need to do water changes to bring those levels down to 0 to keep them alive while you do a fish in cycle.


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