Fishless cycle help please ....

[Juventus]

I have a 40 gallon and I have not done any water changes I have a lot of aeration in the tank so that's fine and I di weir 5 mins maybe more n shake the bottom and the test tube , the nitrite is slowly goin up but very slow and my ammonia is falling down to around 1 but I will boost it back to 4

 

[Wolfsblood]

So you don't have a Ph test kit I am assuming? I would guess that after a month of dosing ammonia you will probably need to do a partial water change to get some buffers back.

 

[Hbbambislayer]

+1on the water change the water in your tank for lack of better terms is stale. I would do at least 50% add your conditioner (prime or what ever your using) wait an hour test your water let us know what your readings are. We're asking about the pH because it's important. Tap water readings are important also because that's a base line to go by to see what the tank is and is not doing

 

[Juventus]

I have a ph of 7.5 or so

 

[Hbbambislayer]

Ok that sounds good. Still wanna do the water change wait an hour test your 3 levels let us know we will go from there. What do you use for water conditioner?

 

[Juventus]

Regular water conditioner from petco

 

[Hbbambislayer]

Ok if your doing the water change let me know your readings after an hour

 

[Juventus]

I checked my nitrite yesterday and it was goin up around 1 or maybe more but I just checked it now n it's at zero so I checked my ammonia and it was at 1 or maybe less so I added ammonia back to 4 ppm hoping the nitrite come back idk what goin on with my cycle is been a month already

 

[Coyne]

What are your nitrate readings? If your nitrites disappeared, then they were converted into nitrates.

 

[Pearly]

I haven't done fish less cycles but in one of my tanks I didn't see nitrites until week 6 & in one tank I saw them only one day. I know it doesn't help you but just wanted to point out cycling isn't written in stone & odd things can happen.

Same thing happened in 2 of my small betta tanks, only saw trace of nitrites one day, and never since. Then another tank keeps showing them for couple of weeks (having to change water like crazy person). I swear those tiny little ecosystems develop minds of their own! Good luck with your cycle

 

[Juventus]

What are your nitrate readings? If your nitrites disappeared, then they were converted into nitrates.

I don't think it converter because my nitrite wasn't high enough to be converted I read that ur nitrite need to be high really high in order to conver to nitrate

 

[Wolfsblood]

Do like a 40% water change, test a couple hours later and start dosing again. Should get you back on track.

 

[Coyne]

I checked my nitrite yesterday and it was goin up around 1 or maybe more but I just checked it now n it's at zero so I checked my ammonia and it was at 1 or maybe less so I added ammonia back to 4 ppm hoping the nitrite come back idk what goin on with my cycle is been a month already

So if I'm understanding this correctly, the nitrites went from 1ppm to 0ppm?

I don't want you to get upset with me again, but if this is indeed the case then they were converted into nitrate. They don't evaporate into the air or anything like that. The only other explanation is that the test is faulty or be performed incorrectly. Understanding what is happening when your tank is cycling is a big step towards a successful aquarium. I don't mean to sound mean when I say this. I only started doing this a few months ago and did not have a clue. Thanks to lots of helpful folks here and LOTS of research and reading.... I'm slightly less clueless, but I'm understanding more everyday.

 

[Juventus]

Yes u are correct it went from 1 to 0 so I checked my ammonia levels thinkin maybe my ammonia is down n it was wayyyyy down so I added ammonia back to 4 ppm

 

[Fresh2o]

Yes u are correct it went from 1 to 0 so I checked my ammonia levels thinkin maybe my ammonia is down n it was wayyyyy down so I added ammonia back to 4 ppm

I checked my notes and the nitrites in my fishless cycle last month never went over 1 ppm. It certainly may have gone higher but not at the time of testing. I tested once a day and the spike could have occurred well before I performed testing. Once I got to zero ammonia and nitrites 24-36 hours after dosing 4 ppm ammonia a couple of times, I felt it was ready for stocking. I currently have moss/plants and 4 red cherry shrimp in a 20g so they are probably not working the BB much at all.

 

[Juventus]

So what should I do ?

 

[Pearly]

Won't be much of a help to you, but my first fish less cycle didn't go we'll (same issues as yours butbI didn't do it right like you do). Ended up adding ghost shrimp, then a snail, and then things got moving for me. I really think that there are "as many rights"'as fish tank owners out there. What I've learned is as long as you diligently test and maintains good water quality you should be ok

 

[Wolfsblood]

So what should I do ?

A water change

 

[Juventus]

For anyone that's been following what happen was , last nite I boosted my ammonia to 4 ppm and within a day my ammonia went to zero and nitrite to 1 and also a 30 nitrite , so idk what that means I read that in order for this to have been completed my ammonia need to be gone and I need to have a high nitrite and nitrate and then do a water chance but they not really high

 

[Khuligirl93]

My ph is pretty stable and my test is fine I honestly don't shake the actual bottle I shake the hell out of the tube tho but other then that the drop hit the bottom n stay blue not purple but I am seeing a nitrite of .25 today but that's it

I think this is your problem. You need to vigorously shake the actual bottle before adding the drops to the test tube.