Fishless Cycle; stuck on Nitrites

[IrishRich]

Hey all

I started my fishless cycle on 9/20, using the Ace hardwarde ammonia, 55g tank. I use seachem prime to de-chlorinate the water.

My ammonia started slowly going down and nitrites rising after the first couple of days, and by 10/1, I had 4ppm ammonia and 5ppm nitrite (using API liquid test kit).

About every 2 days or so, I was adding more ammonia to get to 4ppm and it was going down faster and faster to the point where it was gone in 24 hours, just about. The Nitrites were off the charts.

So, since 10/1 the Nitrites have been basically off the charts, and ammonia converted in 24 hours. Thats 20 days. I even did a 90% water change on 10/15, then again on 10/19 and 10/20. Nitrites are still reading off the charts this morning.

My question is; do I continue doing massive water changes? Keep feeding ammonia? I feel like it has stalled (since Nitrite has been off the charts for 20 straight days, regardless of water changes). The pH has been exactly the same every day. I normally test everything twice a day, as well.

Nitrates are very little. Prior to the first water change they were in the 40ppm range, now they are barely 5ppm.

 

[LyndaB]

I don't believe you should still be adding 4ppm ammonia, but can't say for sure. I never cycled that way.

The nitrite test bottle is the one that crystalizes. Bang it really hard against a countertop, shake the bejesus out of it and try testing it again.

 

[IrishRich]

I don't believe you should still be adding 4ppm ammonia, but can't say for sure. I never cycled that way.

The nitrite test bottle is the one that crystalizes. Bang it really hard against a countertop, shake the bejesus out of it and try testing it again.

Thanks for your reply

From my understanding, the Nitrate was the one that has to be shaken and has the powder in it, correct?

 

[swimwithme]

Both should be shaken very well to get accurate results.

 

[jlk]

I encountered the same issue with crazy high nitrites & nothing happening. What i had to do to get things moving forward again was to do large water changes to get the nitrite levels under control. It took draining my tank down to the gravel a couple of times to get the nitrite llevels readable (less than 2ppm). I know this defeats the purpose of fishless cycling & no water changes but it was the only thing that worked for me. The crazy high nitrite levels seem to inhibit the bacteria growth and stall things out. Once i started doing wcs, my tank was fully cycled in 9 days. Continue to does the amm-i would just dose it to 2ppm for 2-3days to give things a chance to catch up then up it back to 4ppm. If nitrite levels get crazy again, do more wcs to get them readable again. Your almost there!!!!!

 

[jlk]

Thanks for your reply

From my understanding, the Nitrate was the one that has to be shaken and has the powder in it, correct?

Your correct! Shake it to death!!!

 

[IrishRich]

I encountered the same issue with crazy high nitrites & nothing happening. What i had to do to get things moving forward again was to do large water changes to get the nitrite levels under control. It took draining my tank down to the gravel a couple of times to get the nitrite llevels readable (less than 2ppm). I know this defeats the purpose of fishless cycling & no water changes but it was the only thing that worked for me. The crazy high nitrite levels seem to inhibit the bacteria growth and stall things out. Once i started doing wcs, my tank was fully cycled in 9 days. Continue to does the amm-i would just dose it to 2ppm for 2-3days to give things a chance to catch up then up it back to 4ppm. If nitrite levels get crazy again, do more wcs to get them readable again. Your almost there!!!!!

Thanks for your reply

I shook the Nitrite bottle for 2 minutes straight and tested again, and it was worse, lol..darkest purple I have ever seen!

I will definately keep doing almost 100% PWCs every day, since it sounds like that worked for you. I have done 3 in the last week or so, but I will just keep doing them. And I will lower the dose on ammonia and try that as well.

thanks again

 

[LyndaB]

I don't believe you should still be adding 4ppm ammonia, but can't say for sure. I never cycled that way.

The nitrite test bottle is the one that crystalizes. Bang it really hard against a countertop, shake the bejesus out of it and try testing it again.

Sorry, typo..... it should have said nitrate.

Carry on.....

 

[jlk]

You dont need to go crazy with wcs! Just get your nitrites readable (@2ppm). After dosing with amm, they will spike back up again by the next day so dont be surprised. When you test for nitrites (after adding the blue drops), look at your test tube before shaking it. If it turns immediately purple on the bottom of the test tube before shaking, then your nitrites are crazy high. If it stays blue on the bottom & turns purple after shaking, they arent off the charts and a wc probably isnt necessary.

 

[IrishRich]

You dont need to go crazy with wcs! Just get your nitrites readable (@2ppm). After dosing with amm, they will spike back up again by the next day so dont be surprised. When you test for nitrites (after adding the blue drops), look at your test tube before shaking it. If it turns immediately purple on the bottom of the test tube before shaking, then your nitrites are crazy high. If it stays blue on the bottom & turns purple after shaking, they arent off the charts and a wc probably isnt necessary.

yeah, it is purple soon as I put the drops in. When I shake the tube, its dark purple immediately.

I guess I am just not understanding why/how it stays so purple even after 3 almost 100% wcs

 

[jlk]

Basically same thing happened to me- 3 wcs down to gravel & my nitrites were still crazy! How is this possible? It just means they are so insanely high that 95% wcs had little effect. The test only goes to 5ppm...if your levels are in the 25 to 100 ppm range (which we cant test to determine) just think about how much the water would have to be diluted to get a readable result....hope this makes some sense! Someone really should come up with a 'high range' nitrite test so we really know whats going on!

 

[librarygirl]

I'd keep doing water changes until you can get nitrites down to <2 on the API chart (the lower the better). They must be insanely high if three full water changes haven't brought them down, which could be why the cycle is stuck. Get them down to a readable level on the chart, then dose ammonia to 1 for a few days to let the bacteria catch up, then go back to 4. How is your PH, have you tested? PH crashes are common during cycling and can halt the cycle if they fall low enough (although even if they did fall the water changes should have fixed that issue, but it's good to keep an eye on them). You should be close to finishing.

 

[IrishRich]

I'd keep doing water changes until you can get nitrites down to <2 on the API chart (the lower the better). They must be insanely high if three full water changes haven't brought them down, which could be why the cycle is stuck. Get them down to a readable level on the chart, then dose ammonia to 1 for a few days to let the bacteria catch up, then go back to 4. How is your PH, have you tested? PH crashes are common during cycling and can halt the cycle if they fall low enough (although even if they did fall the water changes should have fixed that issue, but it's good to keep an eye on them). You should be close to finishing.

thanks, yeah, the pH has been exactly the same every time I tested it (7.8 or so -- same as my tap), and I test twice a day.

Going to do a few more water changes the next few days and see what happens.

Thank you all for the advice! My sanity was wearing thin, lol

 

[jlk]

You will be fine! The hardest thing here is having patience.....Keep up the good work!

 

[millerb7]

I'm on day 26 today... and I JUST now got movement with anything... it took buying an active sponge filter to get movement though.

My ammonia dropped to 1ppm from 4ppm and my nitrites almost went off the chart in 24 hours (about 4ppm)... my nitrates went up from 5ppm to 30ppm as well.

But like I said, it's been 26 days... my previous 25 days was basically 0 movement.... I feel your pain. Keep waiting.

 

[IrishRich]

Update with this...did more 90% wcs

So, I have done 6 now in the last week and still my nitrites are off the charts, and showing little to no Nitrates

10/15, 10/19, 10/20, 10/21, 10/23, 10/24

I do have ammonia in my tap water, around 1.0PPM. I use seachem prime after every wc. When I test the water after 5-6 hours, the ammonia is gone already. I even dosed it again last night around 10pm to 3ppm and at 10am this morning, the ammonia was gone.

So, looks like the Ammonia>Nitrite cycle is working great, but the Nitrite>Nitrate just aint happening (after 24 days), no matter what I do.

 

[librarygirl]

Just dose ammonia once in 24 hours even if ammonia is at 0 before then; you'll just be increasing nitrite/nitrate if you dose too frequently.

You should be seeing nitrite drop any day now. Mine were high for almost 3 weeks before they came down and that's about average. I'd keep dosing ammonia and checking. If by the weekend nitrites are still very high maybe you should send Eco23 a private message and see what he thinks. I don't see anything wrong yet; nitrites are being a bit stubborn and nitrates should be rising (do you have live plants in the tank?), but nitrites should drop fairly soon I would think.

 

[LyndaB]

A full cycle takes from 4-6 weeks usually so this isn't too off the mark. I applaud you for dedicating yourself to it as you are.

 

[millerb7]

I believe I am officially done (will know tonight when I check again) but it took me about 31-35 days for my cycle... the NO2 --> NO3 part takes the longest.

 

[IrishRich]

Thanks guys! Yes, I am finally starting to see some NO3 show up, although the NO2 is still incredibly high. I am now just putting 1/2 tsp ammonia in every 24 hours, no more water changes for a few days and see how that goes.