Cycling Question

[IcedAngelKiss]

I have been cycling my tank for some time now (lost track of the weeks) but it s somewhere around 8 weeks, I have ammonia and Nitrites at their max and now the Nitrates are at 20 ppm...
Do I do my large water change now? or wait til the ammonia and Nitrites are at 0?
I am using the API Master Test Kit to test my water, I have a 26 Gallon High Tank.

 

[jlk]

What are your levels of amm & nitrites right now? Have you done any pwcs yet? If not, its time for a big one to re-establish your buffers. Your amm levels should not be greater than 4ppm-higher can stall your cycle. I also found that crazy high nitrite levels can slow/stall a cycle as well. If they have been really high for wks now, you really should consider doing a 100% wc (possibily more than one) to get your nitrite levels readable (@2ppm) before dosing your amm back up to 4ppm. Have you watching your ph as well? What is it reading?

 

[miles]

The only reason to do a water change right now would be if your nitrites are so high that they're off the scale and unreadable because if they're extremely high it might stall or slow the cycle. The reason for the large water change at the end is to get rid of the massive amount of nitrate that's going to accumulate. Water changes won't hurt anything though, so if you want to keep up with it instead of letting nitrate skyrocket, that's fine.

 

[librarygirl]

Was ammonia dropping and then stopped? Usually once you have high nitrites ammonia should be going to zero 24 hours after you redose ammonia. Things may have stalled. I'd do a very large water change (100% if you can do it) and then redose ammonia and see how things go.

 

[IcedAngelKiss]

Ammonia was lowering every day, now they are at 4-8 ppm and Nitrites are at the max, and Nitrates are at 20 ppm The Nitrates just showed up today, and there was just little Nitrites yesterday.

 

[librarygirl]

Ammonia was lowering every day, now they are at 4-8 ppm and Nitrites are at the max, and Nitrates are at 20 ppm The Nitrates just showed up today, and there was just little Nitrites yesterday.

Have you checked your PH? PH crashes are very common in cycling and can stall things. At any rate I'd do a 100% water change, wait 30 minutes, then check your levels. If ammonia is over 4 and/or nitrite are still unreadable do another large water change. Redose ammonia if needed (if it's at 3-4 after your water changes then leave it) and let's see what happens. Also test your PH daily as well; as I said crashes are common during this time and can stall things if they fall too low.

 

[jlk]

I would really do 100% wc if you can. Your amm really shouldnt be higher than 4ppm. Does your nitrite test purple in the bottom before you shake it? If it does, then your levels are really high. The wc should help to jumpstart things!

 

[IcedAngelKiss]

I did a 60%water change, levels are now ammonia 4.0 nitrites 1.0 nitrates 20 ppm pH is still 7.5

 

[jlk]

Thats better! Have you considered using some established media/live filter to get things moving along or is there no rush?

 

[IcedAngelKiss]

I don't have access to anything like that, I forgot to add my old filter quick working and I had to get a new one, nothing was spiking Til I started this new filter...could that have caused a stall or a boost?

 

[IcedAngelKiss]

Quit not quick lol I was using an aquan and now a marine

 

[jlk]

Ask Librarygirl-shes got the link for live filter media from Angelsplus. Quite a few people on here have had great success using them! And, yes, switching to a new filter sounds like it had an effect on your cycle. Good luck & keep us posted!

 

[librarygirl]

Ask Librarygirl-shes got the link for live filter media from Angelsplus. Quite a few people on here have had great success using them! And, yes, switching to a new filter sounds like it had an effect on your cycle. Good luck & keep us posted!

You make it sound like I'm the keeper of the links. lol It's on the Internet! lolol Thanks for making me laugh. Here's the link: Sponge Filters for aquariums Make sure the one you buy says "active" next to it otherwise you're just buying a plain unseeded filter.

Not sure how/if the new filter effected your cycle. Did you move all of the media over from the old filter to the new one? If so then perhaps the old filter was faulty somehow and the new filter is helping. If everything is new I wouldn't have expected spikes so soon (if anything I thought it would have set you backward to the beginning) but we'll see what happens.