Is my cycle stalled?

[Bambithegirl]

Hi All,

I almost got excited this morning when I saw my nitrites were zero for the first time ever but after 20 minutes waiting I saw my ammonia was 1ppm. THe ammonia levels have been consistently almost zero every morning with very high nitrite readings. But today the ammonia was 1ppm and nitrites zero.

Maybe it has to do with this: yesterday I did an 80% water change and also rinse some of my ceramics and filter wool in tank water as there was this fine dust in the tank that I think is coming from the ceramics. Could I have washed almost all of the bacteria away and stalled the cycle?

PS, I got my GH, PH tested at pet store yesterday and they are normal. My nitrates are high at around 50ppm.

Any advice would be appreciated,

And Merry Christmas

 

[BBradbury]

Cycling Tank

Hi All,

I almost got excited this morning when I saw my nitrites were zero for the first time ever but after 20 minutes waiting I saw my ammonia was 1ppm. THe ammonia levels have been consistently almost zero every morning with very high nitrite readings. But today the ammonia was 1ppm and nitrites zero.

Maybe it has to do with this: yesterday I did an 80% water change and also rinse some of my ceramics and filter wool in tank water as there was this fine dust in the tank that I think is coming from the ceramics. Could I have washed almost all of the bacteria away and stalled the cycle?

PS, I got my GH, PH tested at pet store yesterday and they are normal. My nitrates are high at around 50ppm.

Any advice would be appreciated,

And Merry Christmas

Hello Bambi...

Please bring me up to date. Are you cycling the tank with fish?

B

 

[Bambithegirl]

Hi B,

No fishless and I am on day 25 now. All seemed to go ok until now. I am adding anything between 0.6 and 1.2ml ammonia every day depending what the reading is.

I have one piece of driftwood and 2 plants that are looking slightly worse for wear. I have a corner filter, which came with the tank, will replace that at some point for an aquafilter. I have ceramics and filter wool as media.

 

[Bambithegirl]

Still a bit puzzled. But perhaps it has to do with me not waiting for 24 hours before testing and adding ammonia. I usually add in the morning and evening to keep it as close to 4ppm as possible but that means by the morning it wont be zero as I dosed it 12 hours before.

Since about day 10 of my cycle my ammonia readings have been zero or close to, so the recent changes have been a bit strange.

Today's reading
Ammonia 0.25 and Nitrites 0.3
I added ammonia back up to 4ppm and now I am going to wait until Tomorrow morning this time to test it to get a better idea.

Does that sound right?

 

[Mebbid]

Try not to obsess over keeping ammonia at 4ppm. You only need to dose once a day. Wait 24hrs after your last dose and see what happens

 

[Bambithegirl]

so I waited 24 hours and the ammonia is definitely zero but the nitrite readings are puzzling me.

Yesterday they were 0.1 and today its 0.2. Why is it going up?

So 4ppm of ammonia gets converted to zero in 24 hours but the nitrites are still not zero and fluctuating a bit.

Any advice?

 

[Mebbid]

Just keep going with your cycle. It'll sort itself out.