10 Gallon Tank Cycle

[najemnikarmy]

**ADDED AMMONIA AND TSS PLUS**

Day 1 - Ammonia 0ppm : Nitrite 0ppm

Day 2 - Ammonia 3ppm : Nitrite 0ppm

Day 4 - Ammonia 2ppm : Nitrite 1ppm

Day 5 - Ammonia 2ppm : Nitrite 4ppm

Today - Ammonia .50ppm : Nitrite 4ppm : Nitrate 40ppm

I just did a 40% water change to control the Nitrite from rising. I also added a dose for 2ppm Ammonia.

Am I on the right path?

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

What is TSS?

Your nitrite has gone up real fast. Normally it takes a few weeks before a nitrite reading appears.

Don't bother testing for nitrates until the ammonia and nitrite have both gone up and them come back down to 0ppm. Nitrate test kits will read nitrite as nitrate and give you a false reading.

Keep ammonia and nitrite around 3ppm (under 5ppm) and let things cycle. Right now you seem to be on the right track, albeit a lot quicker than most filter cycles.

 

[najemnikarmy]

Hi Colin,

So, I was told NOT to add ammonia until Nitrite goes down to 0 add than re-dose with ammonia.

"Only re-dose ammonia when both ammonia and nitrite hit 0. DO NOT DOSE ammonia if your nitrite still read above 0. No, your nitrifiers will not die if you do not dose ammonia. That is a lie/misunderstanding. This is a common myth unfortunately perpetrated in the hobby. Nitrifiers, the ‘beneficial bacteria’ we want to grow, are very resilient and can easily survive ammonia starvation for weeks to months before even going dormant, let alone die off. So, there is no real danger of them dying immediately just because ammonia hits zero."

So, should I wait till my ammonia hits 0ppm and then wait for nitrite to hit 0ppm and add 2ppm of ammonia?

 

[Aiken Drum]

Redose ammonia back up to 2ppm whenever it drops to below 1ppm.

I agree that the microbes wont die off if you dont redose for a few days, maybe even weeks, but they also wont increase in number which is the goal of a fishless cycle. You need a steady supply of ammonia so the microbial colony keeps increasing in numbers throughout the cycling process.

 

[najemnikarmy]

Thank you Aiken and Colin, I will redose when ammonia gets below 1ppm.

Should I do a water change to lower the Nitrite? Every guide I read said not to let it go above 5ppm.

 

[Aiken Drum]

It doesnt matter if the nitrite gets high. You may want to do a water change so you keep the nitrite to a testable level rather than it going off the chart and you having no idea how much is in there. But its a personal choice.

 

[najemnikarmy]

Understood, this is why cycling is stressful. Everyone gives different answers lol.

I was told not to let nitrite get over 5ppm as it is toxic to the bacteria or can stall the cycle.

I was also told to only dose ammonia when nitrite reach 0ppm as the bacteria doesn't die.

 

[Aiken Drum]

Everyone will give different opinions. There isnt a single correct way of doing things and you must do it that way, although there are certainly wrong way to do things. All anyone can tell you is how they do it.

Your tank will cycle if dont redose ammonia until the nitrite is cycled out, but IMO it will take longer to get to a point of cycling out 2ppm in 24 hours compared to if you are redosing more regularly.

While some people will say high nitrite kills off bacteria, many people including myself have cycled tanks where nitrite has gone off the charts. So from personal experience it doesnt. I do think a water change can be beneficial to get things going again if things stall, replenishing carbonate hardness through a water change is never a bad idea when doing a fishless cycle. But you are 5 or 6 days into what could easily be a 6 or 8 week process, so give things time to progress before looking for problems.