Am I stalled? PWC needed?

[firteen888]

Hey all,

So I started my fishless cycle on April 22 and by may 2 (11 days) my ammonia had dropped down to 1ppm. I then dosed the tank back up to 4ppm on may 2 and as of this morning, the ammonia hasn't moved at all, it's still 4ppm. And nitrites are non existant. it only took about 4 days before seeing an ammonia drop the first week, by now I'd figure it would go even faster as time goes on. Am I stalled? Should I do a 50% water change?

Thanks,

 

[roydooms]

Hey all,

So I started my fishless cycle on April 22 and by may 2 (11 days) my ammonia had dropped down to 1ppm. I then dosed the tank back up to 4ppm on may 2 and as of this morning, the ammonia hasn't moved at all, it's still 4ppm. And nitrites are non existant. it only took about 4 days before seeing an ammonia drop the first week, by now I'd figure it would go even faster as time goes on. Am I stalled? Should I do a 50% water change?

Thanks,

What is you nitrate level? It won't hurt to do a PWC. Just don't clean the substrate until after you tank cycle.

 

[firteen888]

There are no nitrite or nitrate readings (I'm using the API liquid test kit) And my ammonia has been the same (4 or maybe even 5ppm) for a full week.

 

[roydooms]

Do you have plants?

 

[firteen888]

I do not have plants. I'll give a bit more info......

29 gallon tank
gravel, fake plants, a few decorations
30 gallon aquean filter
bubble wand

first week of cycle seemed to go as planned, now the second week is over and it hasn't progressed at all.

 

[roydooms]

May be the nitrites level are too low to detect. The only thing that I can think of stalling a cycling tank is high level of ammonia and nitrites but you don't have both. Give it a few more days. If the ammonia level doesn't go down, do a 50% PWC and add ammonia to 4ppm.

Edit: don't go over 4ppm. That might stall your cycle.

 

[firteen888]

OK cool, I'll give it to the end of the week, which will mark exactly 3 weeks since starting the cycle.

 

[roydooms]

Check out this link:

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f15/fishless-cycling-for-dummies-103339.html

It explains how the nitrogen cycle works. Disregard how much ammonia to add though and stick to how much you are adding to get to 4ppm. It says that you should start checking for nitrite on the end of first week but you should really see it on the 2nd...