Quick fishless cycle question

[Scoobcake]

So Im doing a fishless cycle on my 10G using blue ribbon ammo. Ammo phase is going fine. been going 3 days now and ammo drops from 4ppm to 1ppm in 24 hrs. Ive been swishing the media from my 29G in it to help it along.

My nitrites are off the charts and my nitrates are at around 80ppm. Should I be doing water changes routinely keeping it as though there were fish in there? thanks

 

[Mumma.of.two]

I think if the nitrItes are off the chart you can do a PWC or two to bring them down to the readable level.

 

[Africancichlidsireland]

You can bring them down by doing around a 30% wc every other day. When I want a tank cycled in a day I use safestart you can put the fish in in around an hour ( that's african cichlids and tropicals don't know about other species) never had any probs with it

 

[librarygirl]

Hi, no you don't have to do water changes when levels are high; my nitrites were 5+ for almost three weeks and I think I did one or two water changes during that time. If however nitrites seem stuck on 5+ for a long time, or/and if ammonia stops dropping, or if your PH crashes, then yes you can do a larger water change. Water changes don't hurt anything during a fishless cycle so if you just want to do one that's fine, but they generally aren't needed.

 

[jlk]

Really high nitrites can slow or stall your cycle. Does your test tube turn purple on the bottom before you shake it? If it does, they are really high. Although it defeats the notion behind fishless cycling/no wcs, i would suggest doing a big wc (90-100%) to get your nitrites to a readable level (2ppm). Then only dose the amm to 2ppm for 2-3 days (then go back to 4ppm). Dont be surprised if your nitrites shoot back up again. I would consider doing more wcs if your nitrites get really again to get them back to a readable levels. I went through the same thing with crazy nitrites-once i got them readable, my tank was fully cycled in 9 days (with lots wcs in between) so you are almost there!