Thanks, Aiken. I have Dr. Tim’s Ammonia around & may test with that. No sacrificial fish here.
What if the ammonia level remains high? The fishless cycling drill? I did that once. Not fun. What about substituting known cycled media from the HOBs with some media in the canister?
In another group I belong to, there is a discussion going on regarding using the term " cycle" vs "established". Different people believe different things so let's start with understanding exactly what " Cycled" actually means. ( Please bear with me if you already know this.) Your tank goes through a process where nitrifying bacteria are establishing themselves creating a bacteria bed. There are 2 types of natural bacteria that are part of this process. One converts ammonia into nitrites and the other converts nitrites to nitrates. The process is known as " the cycle" because your ammonia and nitrite levels go from 0 to a higher number then back to 0. So they "cycle" back to 0. Once both these levels have returned to 0, the bacteria bed is " Established" and the tank is considered " Cycled". What that means is that there is enough nitrifying bacteria present to convert the level of ammonia present
at that time. So if we didn't use the Cycled or Established terms, it would be explained : when there is ammonia present for more than a few hours, it means there is not enough nitrifying bacteria present to convert it to nitrites. If there are nitrites in your system for more than a couple hours, it means there is not enough nitrifying bacteria present to convert it into nitrates. If both ammonia and nitrites are converted to 0 within a couple of hours, it means there are enough nitrifying bacteria present in the system and the tank is considered " established " or " cycled". It should also be noted that the bacteria bed is a living breathing organism so it grows and shrinks to the amount of food ( ammonia) that is present. The nitrification process is rather quick so it is possible in a system for the ammonia and nitrite levels to rise and fall without the aquarist ever noticing it. This usually happens when you feed the fish in your tank or add new fish. The nitrifying bacteria bed can double in size every 20-24 hours so using some filter material from an established system can be considered an inoculation where the bacteria will begin to reproduce within 20-24 hours. There is no such thing as a "cycled" filter or machine. In reality, there is only a cycled/ established SYSTEM or an uncycled / unestablished SYSTEM. If you are using a filter, it's a part of the system and not an entity unto itself. Nitrifying bacteria exist in higher oxygenated areas of the "system" so they are typically found in filters but are not limited to filters. ANYWHERE within the system where there is good oxygenation will hold nitrifying bacteria. This includes gravel, rocks, decorations in high flow areas, etc. ( This is the short explanation.
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So with that all said, to answer your question: "What if the ammonia level remains high? " It means that there are not enough nitrifying bacteria present within your system to reduce/ consume it so that means you need to either create some by 1) Adding filtering material from an established/cycled tank. 2) add one of the "starter" products like Dr Tims or fritzyme, etc. 3) let them form naturally by keeping an ammonia level present and testing your water until you see the level go down. Your other option is to consistently do water changes to keep the level to a near 0 level until the bacteria bed forms naturally. ( BTW, this last method takes what feels like forever to happen.
) So if you have a high ammonia level that does not go down rapidly, and you have some material from a running filter in another system, I'd add that and continue testing the ammonia and when it starts to reduce, start testing your nitrite level. Once you see the nitrite level go back down to 0, you can start adding fish/ life to the system but be mindful that adding too much at one time will result in an ammonia rise that out performs the bacteria bed so it puts your livestock in jeopardy.
Hope that over answers your question.