Nitrites at 5.0 but ammonia not going down...Normal?

[Gunk]

I'm doing a fishless cycle. About a week ago i noticed nitrites for the first time. They were .25 with api test kit. Ammonia slowly started to go down from 3-4 and it got to about .5-1.0 so i added a little more to bring it up. Brought it back up to about 3-4. Now it's at 2.0. My nitrites are up to at least 5.0, if not more, though so I thought my ammonia should be getting eliminated in 24 hours by now. Is this normal? I thought once nitrites got that high ammonia is eliminated in a day.

 

[fort384]

Very high nitrite levels can stall your cycle. I would recommend doing a water change and getting them down to 2-4 ppm. This should help get things back on track.

 

[Gunk]

Very high nitrite levels can stall your cycle. I would recommend doing a water change and getting them down to 2-4 ppm. This should help get things back on track.

Ok I'll try it in a couple more days. Ammonia seems to be going down, its just going down very slowly. I thought it would be going down much quicker but it just got to 5.0 nitrites a couple days ago so i will see what happens.

 

[ejaramillo01]

When I cycled my 26G tank, something similar occurred, ammonia was going down slowly, but after 4 or 5 day, speed up and start to drop in 24 hours.

 

[Gunk]

When I cycled my 26G tank, something similar occurred, ammonia was going down slowly, but after 4 or 5 day, speed up and start to drop in 24 hours.

Thanks makes me feel better hearing that! I'll post results in a few more days.