Fishless Cycling Question

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Polarnick

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Aug 23, 2018
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I’ve been doing a fishless cycle and my nitrites have been off the charts for a couple days now. I was reading that having too high nitrites can stall the cycle so I did a 50% water change but it was still off the charts. Should I leave it or keep trying to get it lower? I do have nitrates as well.
 
I’ve been doing a fishless cycle and my nitrites have been off the charts for a couple days now. I was reading that having too high nitrites can stall the cycle so I did a 50% water change but it was still off the charts. Should I leave it or keep trying to get it lower? I do have nitrates as well.



i just finished a fishless cycle, and i did one water change and it didnt do much, the nitrites eventually lowered themselves after about 1-2 weeks
 
Ok thanks I guess I’ll keep waiting, was hoping to get fish this weekend but I’ll probably have to wait a little longer than that
 
Probably 3-4 days, I wasn’t sure how long this took but my ammonia went from 4ppm to 0ppm in 2 days when I first dosed it, so I thought that there may already be some bacteria there and my cycle would be quicker than most others. I used eco complete and that comes with some bacteria so I just assumed mine would be faster than most.
 
Probably 3-4 days, I wasn’t sure how long this took but my ammonia went from 4ppm to 0ppm in 2 days when I first dosed it, so I thought that there may already be some bacteria there and my cycle would be quicker than most others. I used eco complete and that comes with some bacteria so I just assumed mine would be faster than most.



i give it probably 1-2 weeks before completely cycled maybe quicker but i doubt longer. just make sure you keep dosing ammonia! and once the cycle is complete since your nitrates are also maxed out probably id recommend doing a 100% water change the day of or the day before you get fish.
 
Yes I plan on doing that huge water change the day before, just waiting on these nitrites to drop off, I was adding 4ppm ammonia but now I’m adding around 2ppm every day because I want the nitrites to go down. Nitrates aren’t quite off the charts but they are on the high end
 
Yes I plan on doing that huge water change the day before, just waiting on these nitrites to drop off, I was adding 4ppm ammonia but now I’m adding around 2ppm every day because I want the nitrites to go down. Nitrates aren’t quite off the charts but they are on the high end



i think its better to do an 100% water change anyways, cause in my 29gal i couldn’t get them to drop below 40ppm even with an 85% water change test (you put 15% of tank water in the API tube and 85% source water in the tube, thatll give you an idea of what the outcome will be)
 
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