75 gal newly setup aquarium

[saulog]

ok so i am doing fishless cycling and been doing it for almost a week..friday night i added some ammonia and i added a little too much and my ammonia is like 7-8 ppm...can high ammonia stall cycle? should i do a pwc or wait till it goes down?

 

[kdogg85]

It can and will. Change out 50% of the water and test after a couple hours to let everything mix together good. I have the intakes on my filters about 4 inches from the bottom, I think it helps turn the tank over better. If you have sand instead if gravel, cover the bottom of the intake tube and leave only the sides open, sand will kill an impeller in a hurry.

One other thing, when the cycle finishes, add only a couple fish every two or so weeks and test every day the first week. As for the goldfish, add only 1 every couple weeks, or until your tests read zero on ammonia, and nitrite.

 

[Deep Seven]

+1 for 50% PWC

 

[saulog]

ok so ive been doing fishless cycling for about two weeks...and i add about 2 ppm every night and it goes down to 0 in 24 hrs but for abt 5 days the nitrite has been sky high and no signs of going down..is that normal? can the cycle stall for high nitrite??

 

[BigJim]

There's been some speculation here recently that high nitrites can stall the cycle just like high ammonia levels can. Try a 50% PWC to get your cycle going again.

 

[taylorodw]

The nitrites off the chart are a good sign. Doing a water change so that the levels are readable (not off the chart) is good because then you can check up on how quickly they are rising.

 

[saulog]

i thought they were supposed to be going down..not rising but i did a 25% pwc last night but it didnt go down much..is like the highest lv possible on the test kit...when are they supposed to come down? the ammonia is been fine...it goes to 0 in a day but nitrites never do..i guess i ll change more water and see how it goes

 

[Deep Seven]

In my opinion, you need to know how much nitrites you have at the very least. It doesn't hurt to do a large water change as long as it's treated properly. If you're handy with math, take a cup of tank water, and dilute it until you get a good reading, then you know what size water change to get your nitrites down to a reasonable level.

Then dose your ammonia and continue monitoring the cycle. Once you know what your nitrites are at you should see them drop or rise. If nitrites are dropping after 24hrs, keep adding ammonia, your cycle is almost done. If nitrites are still going up, I'd do another 25-50% PWC and then continue daily testing and ammonia dosing. If nitrites climb too high to measure, do more water changes to get it back down, but I really think by this point you will have solved the problem.

Good luck.

 

[fearlessfisch]

You can speed up your cycle by moving some used filter media (dirty filter floss or sponge) from your established tank's filter to the filter in the new tank. Be careful not to remove too much, though, or you will create a mini-cycle in the old tank.

 

[saulog]

well i think my tank is cycled...my readings are ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates 5 ppm. i usually put two caps of the janitor strength ammonia bottle every night and in 24 hrs ammonia and nitrites 0 and nitrates 5-10 ppm...its been like this for the past two days..if i check it like 10 hrs after putting the ammonia my nitrites are usually high..is this normal? should they always be 0? is my tank cycled?