Fishless cycle confusion

[wayne1]

Hey guys, I'm currently cycling my second tank. I've gone fishless this time. I was given bad advice by the guys at the pet store last time but have since joined this forum and now know better. The tank has been cycling for about 10 days and it's not converting major amounts of ammonia yet, probably about 1ppm a day. I've been topping up and keeping the ammonia level at 4ppm. What's confusing me is, my nitrites are completely off the chart and I don't know if I should be leaving it alone now or doing a water change. Will the high nitrites mess the cycle up. This has been so much quicker than the last time round and I'm hopeful the tank will cycle with no issues. Any help you guys can give me would be brill. Thanks

 

[Reedy]

Hey guys, I'm currently cycling my second tank. I've gone fishless this time. I was given bad advice by the guys at the pet store last time but have since joined this forum and now know better. The tank has been cycling for about 10 days and it's not converting major amounts of ammonia yet, probably about 1ppm a day. I've been topping up and keeping the ammonia level at 4ppm. What's confusing me is, my nitrites are completely off the chart and I don't know if I should be leaving it alone now or doing a water change. Will the high nitrites mess the cycle up. This has been so much quicker than the last time round and I'm hopeful the tank will cycle with no issues. Any help you guys can give me would be brill. Thanks

Hi Wayne
I've just finished my cycle but hope I can help with others (please 'chip in')
Have you been dosing to 4ppm ammonia every day for 10 days with only a 1ppm drop? If so, I'm assuming your tank is 'overwhelmed', personally, if this was me, I would do a few water changes (based on you adding ammonia for 10 days) You need to add ammonia only once and let it fall to around 1ppm - Your NitrItes will spike and may stay at high levels for a while. If they don't drop, you could try what I did and let the Ammonia fall to zero, then only dose half the amount...
Have you checked for NitrAtes?, your PH?
What test kit are you using?

 

[wayne1]

I'm using api master kit, I'm gonna test ph and nitrate and post results tomorrow. To answer your question I haven't dosed every day but every time ammonia has dropped at all I've added more. It's never dropped as low as 1ppm

 

[threnjen]

Hi Wayne,

Once you have nitrites, stop the crazy dosing and just dose 2ppm ammonia every 3-4 days.
I'd do a 50% water change first, then start this new dosing schedule.

 

[wayne1]

Hey guys, my ph is around 7.8 and my nitrates are off the chart. Source water has 20 ppm nitrate