No Nitrite

[SCFatz]

That will do it every time....the only question is why did you wait so long to transfer media from an established tank

The cycle will go better if you get that ammonia number down with a pwc....less to cenvert ..... I suspect you will be done with it all in about a week or perhaps a bit longer.

Keep us posted.

 

[Dominick]

whats the highest ammonia ppm before it will stall im doing a fishless cycle
im using stress zyme and some transferred gravel from and existing tank
my ammonia is about 3ppm
how long until i might be seeing nitrite going up?
im only on day 4 of the cycle tho

 

[7Enigma]

Duke I have read that very high ammonia levels (Which you had) will stall the conversion.

I'm not sure how ammolock impacts the conversion, but I would imagine it doesn't help....someone else may know for sure.

Either way you have rectified both of those situations so you will get there....but those may be the reasons you are a little farther behind then you should be right now imo.

Very high ammonia levels will indeed slow down/stall metabolism of both types of bacteria, but I would hesitate to say that he ever had high levels. Even 10ppm ammonia (unlikely you EVER had that in the tank since it would be difficult for the angels to survive) will not seriously slow down the cycle (I fishless cycled mine at ~5ppm ammonia with no problems).

The ammolock while possibly causing some die off when you first used it should not be a factor now. he has done at least 2 75% PWC's since the ammolock was used. That essentially got rid of almost all of the effects (reduction of 94%).

The problem I'm seeing here though is you are not seeing ANY nitrIte. These conversions are 1:1, that is for every ammonia molecule you will see a direct increase in nitrIte (and nitrAte later on). The fact that your not seeing any nitrIte has me concerned. Please make sure that your properly performing the tests, most importantly the nitrAte test. For the AP kit it is VITAL that you shake the second bottle for 30seconds before adding the drops, and then for 1 minute after adding the drops from the second bottle. There have been several reports on this forum where people thought they had no nitrAte only to find out they were close to 80ppm!!! The nitrIte test is almost impossible to mess up, but the nitrAte is very finicky.

Please retest and post back.

 

[dukedog]

UPDATE

I retested my water this morning.

Results:
Ammonia: 0 ppm (!)
NitrIte: 0 ppm
NitrAte: 5 ppm (!)

The tests are perfectly clear - ammo tube is bright yellow, nitrite tube is pure light blue, nitrate is light orange. It looks like I've cycled, right? But how did I never see any nitrite?

Anyway, I thank every one of you for the sage wisdom!

 

[7Enigma]

Well it indeed looks like you are cycled. Congrats. For the next couple of days I'd still test your levels to make sure it wasn't a fluke, but IMO you are done FOR THAT AMOUNT OF FISH!

It is not unheard of, but is unlikely, for there to be no nitrIte readings. Since you had the ammolock filter insert in there that can also mess with results causing you to have been cycled a couple of days ago but still seeing slight ammonia levels.

Either way, the end result is what matters, and you didn't appear to harm the fish to badly. I'd wait another couple of days before thinking about getting fish, but when you do, I'd cut feedings to 1/2, and watch the levels. If the ammonia or nitrIte show up continue with the 1/2 feedings and do PWC as needed. Otherwise, you can go back to normal feeding.

Congrats on a successful FISH cycle!

 

[SCFatz]

It looks like I've cycled, right?

Congrats!!