Question about end of tank cycle (I hope it’s the end!!!)

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

missmercury83

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
May 1, 2018
Messages
10
Hey everyone,

This is my second attempt at cycling my 4ft tank within 6 months. The first time everything was going well until I got a bit excited and ended up stalling and eventually ruining the tank cycle. Eventually, after 4 months we got back on track and here I am at 6 months and I *think* the tank has finally come to the end of cycle. Nitrites dropped to 0 this morning, nitrates are 160, however ammonia, is still sitting at 1.0 over 24 hours since I last dosed the tank to 2ppm. (For the last few weeks I’ve observed it go through 0 almost every 24hours from 2ppm)
Is this normal ? For some reason I was under the impression that when the nitrites went to 0 , the nitrates would continue to take care of the existing ammonia but I haven’t seen it drop to 0 in over 24 hours now. Shall I just wait ? It was 2ppm almost 24 hours ago and it’s only still at 1.0.

Any advice or reassurance appreciated! :)
 
Ok now it’s done something strange. I waited longer than 24 hours and it came down to 0 and ammonia 0 finally. I dosed ammonia to 2ppm to test to see if it would come down again in 24 hours and at 30 hours the ammonia is at 0.25 and the nitrites are back up to 1.0!!! Huh?? What have I done wrong , lol
 
Sounds like it's still mid cycle. Continue to dose ammonia. Keep it at 2 ppm. Let your nitrites creep up to 5 ppm before you do your next water change.....make it a big one. Then dose between 2-4ppm ammonia.
 
Ok. Arghhh this is so frustrating. Should I have been doing water changes this whole time ? It was 5ppm for a few weeks with no water changes before it dropped to 0 a couple days ago.
 
Generally, you want to keep your ammonia between 2-4ppm. You don't want your nitrites to get above 5 ppm. When nitrates get really high then do a couple of large water changes to bring it down then dose your ammonia back up to 2-4ppm. Then repeat as you go. Water changes don't affect a cycle IMO although some people say to leave it alone and let it do it's thing. I will add that I now add plants, airstones and raise the heat to 80 degrees when I cycle. I believe it helps.
 
Hello miss...

I have a quick question. What happened to cycling a tank with fish? You remember. It's the tried and true method that took only a month and you could enjoy the fish in the tank from the very beginning. And, what a huge variety to choose. There are Guppies, Platys, Sword tails, Rasboras, Rosy Red Minnows, White Clouds, most of the Barbs, and if you like Goldfish, there are Comets, and the standard species that would work great in such a large tank. Another question, please. Is it too late to start this means of cycling a tank? Or is the water chemistry too unstable at this point to support fish? If it's not, let me know and I may be able to offer some help.

B
 
Hello. I am cycling the tank for an axolotl and chose to do a fishless cycle so as to not put any stress on the animal.
Currently I believe my tank has cycled but is this normal: it went 0 ammonia 0 nitrites and 80 nitrates then I dosed to 2ppm to test processing time and nitrites went to 0.25 then within 24 hours went back to 0 and so on for the next 5 days it goes up and down as the ammonia processes/re-dosed . I was under the impression that once nitrites had gone to 0 I wouldn’t see them again , or am I wrong ? Do they always reappear with any ammonia present ?
 
Back
Top Bottom