Cycling...

[Lokkzer]

Set up a 5 gallon cycle on 4/28. On 5/5, trites start spiking. It is now turning 4-5 ppm of ammo into 0 in less than 24 hours. Has been for about 4 days. Ive done 80-90% pwc everyday and dosed ammo to 4-5 afterwards. And after the change trites are at .25 ppm. But in maybe 16-20 hours ammo is at 0 and trites are above the chart tests. Like neon lavender colored.

How long till trites are stable? Or at least not off the charts.

 

[jetajockey]

Why were you doing water changes? It can take a few weeks for the nitrite converting bacteria to establish. Did you use cycled media or anything else to supplement the cycling?

 

[Lokkzer]

I thought if the nitrites were high it could stall my cycle. I used a few decorations and dunked and smeared the filter from an established tank in it. I also added some of the bacteria-in-a-bottle stuff, even though I know it doesn't really help.

So should I not be doing pwcs and just keep adding ammo?

 

[j2112j]

It is frustrating when the trites are so high for so long (weeks), it feels like the cycle is stalled, but I think as long as your trates are rising, then your trites are being converted.

In my own first fishless cycle...
My trites had that neon glow colour for like 1 month, but a 75% water change seemed to have hurt my cycle, as ammo now takes 48 hours to convert 4-0 ppm. It used to take 24 hours, before the big water change.

Oh and trites are back to the neon off the chart colour.

 

[Lokkzer]

I haven't had that happen. Every time I do a pwc, even huge ones, my ammo at 4-5ppm is still gone in >24 hours. But after 24 hrs my trites are high again.

My trates have been about 40-80 ppm every time.

 

[jetajockey]

This is difficult for me to answer because I do fish-in cycling. Especially when transferring bacteria as you did, sounds like you sped things up quite a bit. When doing fish-in cycling, the ammonia level is obviously much lower, so in turn, the nitrite level stays much lower as well, so there's no 'off the chart' period. My only suggestion at this point is to keep doing the wc's till you get the nitrites down, then cut back on the amount of ammonia you are adding and see if it helps keep the nitrites down enough to be manageable.

 

[Lokkzer]

Ok. I will add less ammonia. I'll aim for 2 ppm this next pwc. And as a fish-in cyclist don't you have to go through times of daily pwc you just don't do major ones like I do?