Fishless Cycling How long before ammonia starts going down?

[Gunk]

Hi everyone, so I started my fishless cylcle 6 days ago. Got ammonia up to 4. Been at a steady 4 all week (API Master Test Kit). I'm not running out of patience but just wondering when I should be expecting a decrease in ammonia. Thanks for any info

 

[Engel]

From what I understand it should be sometime in the second week. That's the majority opinion, but I've read so many articles, and time frames are all over the place. I guess it depends on many factors like tank size, your water parameters, whether you seeded, and on and on and on... lol.

 

[Gunk]

ok thanks for the info. I have a 29g, not seeded with anything

 

[ejaramillo01]

IMO will take 3 weeks before you see the drop in the ammonia, mainly because the lack of seed material

 

[Mark Hewitt]

It can be anything from a week to six weeks! Have patience...

 

[WayBel2004]

It took 5 weeks for my 20 gallon to cycle fully. A lot of patience is needed for this hobby but so worth it in the end.

 

[Gunk]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I'm not getting impatient at all. I was just curious so I could get an idea of when to expect some change. Thanks again!

 

[BigJim]

It usually takes several weeks to see any nitrites. Typically, nitrates come after nitrites much faster than nitrites follow ammonia though.