Fishless cycling question

[Jenn2464]

So this is my first time doing a fishless cycle, so I'm not really sure what to expect. I've gotten to the point that my nitrites are really high, and there are some nitrates (5-10ppm), but the nitrates haven't grown for over 10 days. At the end of 24 hours my ammonia is around 0.25ppm, so I have been dosing it back up to 4ppm every day and getting the same results. My cycle seems to be stuck. Advice? Thanks.

 

[librarygirl]

Have you tested PH? If it's below 7 is can stall things. So can prolonged high nitrite. I'd do a full water change (don't forget dechlorinator), wait an hour or so and then test nitrite again. If they are still high, do another full water change. Repeat until nitrites are readable on the chart (<2), then redose ammonia and see what happens.

 

[Jenn2464]

My pH was at 7.6 until yesterday. Yesterday it tested at around 6.8. I'll try the water change since the nitrites have been off the chart for quite a long time.

 

[Jenn2464]

Update:

I did the water change, waited a little over an hour, and then tested again. My ammonia is at 1ppm, nitrites are still off the chart, but seem lighter, nitrates went up and now are at around 40ppm, and my pH went back up to its normal of 7.6. So I'm guessing it worked?

 

[librarygirl]

You got PH back up which is good. If nitrites are still off-chart I'd try another full water change to get them to a readable level. They'll probably spike again so don't worry about that too much but since they've been high for a while now and they are still high after a large change I'd do another to bring them down more.