16 Full Days Cycling - No NO2, is that normal?

[CoolHand]

I started my fishless 30 Gallon cycle on August 22 (night) without seeding material and I still have yet to see Nitrites. I have noticed my Ammonia has dropped to 3.0 (roughly) from 4.0 over the past 4 days. Does this seem typical?

The temperature in the tank has been about 82F avg.

Thanks

CH...

 

[jsoong]

It can take that long .... once the ammonia starts dropping the nitrites will come up, so a bit more patience! <BTW - you should start dosing the ammonia to keep it a 4 when it drops ... that would speed things up a bit.>

 

[Nubster]

Yeah...my tank took 5-6 weeks to cycle completely. Great thing though about cycling with ammonia and at a high level like 4ppm...once it is cycled you will have such a large bacteria colony you can get a lot more fish all at once. That's great if you choose fish that do better in schools. But I agree...patience...I can take a while for your tank to cycle.

 

[Vol4Ever]

Mines been going since Aug 10, and I'm still not there. . Good news is that there is lots of chemical activity and it appears to ne getting close now. Hopefully can add fish next week

 

[Nubster]

That's good. Seems that once ammonia starts changing over to nitrites it slows down more...but once those nitrates start showing it's off to the races and it really takes off.

 

[CoolHand]

Awesome! I'll keep the Ammonia. I have lots of patience I was just concerned a bit as my 5 gallon (much less water) progressed much faster with Nitrites showing up after 7 days.

Thanks everyone!

Cheers,

CH...