Fishless Cycling Tank - Ammonia No Longer Being Processed

[kc27]

Garfunkel, the cycle hasn't completed - I'm still holding with ammonia being processed and nitrites remaining at high levels.

I add ammonia once each day to get the ammonia up to 2 ppm, and that is processed to zero within 12 hours. Nitrites are still "off the chart" according to the API test kit, the Nitrite test solution turns purple as soon as it hits the water. Nitrate is at 5 ppm.

The amount of fish food I had added was literally a pinch, a tiny amount that fit between two fingers. I just did it once. Maybe someone else who is more of an expert in fishless cycling can comment if it needs to be done more often, and if so, how much.

So I keep adding ammonia once a day, it gets processed, and I keep waiting for the nitrites to fall to zero.

 

[garfunkel]

That's the same thing I'm doing. My ammonia isn't getting processed quite as fast yet, but everything else sounds identical. Out of curiosity, do you have nitrates already present in your tap? I also noticed your nitrates have dropped from 20ppm, mine did that too. I'm wondering if the food flakes can alter the nitrate reading or something. Anyone have a thought on that?

 

[kc27]

I've checked my tapwater a couple of times, and each time the test showed zero nitrates.