please tell me my cycle is almost done

[cogburn]

so ive been fishless cycling for a few weeks now... first added ammonia on feb 28th... im dosing 4ppm of ammonia which in 24 hours is now completely gone... my nitrItes are still wayyyyyy high and my nitrAte is starting to rise... please tell me im almost done... i cant take this waiting game AAAAHHHHHHH

 

[missileman]

If your nitrates are rising you are almost done BUT How high are your nitrites?
If they get too high you can stall your cycle, try to keep them below 8ppm or so even if you have to do a partial water change.
Same thing with nitrate, keep that under 80ppm
Note: these numbers are only for fishless cycling, any aquarium with fish must be kept at much lower numbers.

 

[cogburn]

hmmm... ill check again when i test tonight... my nitrite is just about unreadable on the api freshwater kit... i'd say its at the top of the readable range... my nitrAte is slowly rising... was nothing 2 days ago... 5ppm yest. 10ppm this morning

 

[asudavew]

I'm guessing you are just about done.
If your nitrites are unreadable. You're done. A day or 2 maybe?

Don't forget to keep feeding ammonia, until you put fish in.

 

[cogburn]

yeah ill keep feeding it... i assumed i wasnt done until i put 4ppm of ammonia and 24 hours later had nothing but nitrAte... am i right about that? so for instance... put 4ppm ammonia in... test in 24 hours... get 0 ammonia and 0 nitrIte but nitrAte showing up... im not to that point... im still getting so much nitrIte... i think ill do a pwc tonight to bring the nitrite down... heck i may even be DONE i just might have too much nitrite to tell... ive been dosing ammonia steadily everyday as soon as i see it get down to 1ppm or less i dose back up to 4ppm... been testing twice a day and squeezing the filter media from my established 29 gallon every other day ill hit up a pwc tonight and see what im finding

 

[cogburn]

asudavew yes my nitrItes are unreadable but on the bad end... theyre so HIGH theyre unreadable

 

[missileman]

yeah ill keep feeding it... i assumed i wasnt done until i put 4ppm of ammonia and 24 hours later had nothing but nitrAte... am i right about that? so for instance... put 4ppm ammonia in... test in 24 hours... get 0 ammonia and 0 nitrIte but nitrAte showing up... im not to that point... im still getting so much nitrIte... i think ill do a pwc tonight to bring the nitrite down... heck i may even be DONE i just might have too much nitrite to tell... ive been dosing ammonia steadily everyday as soon as i see it get down to 1ppm or less i dose back up to 4ppm... been testing twice a day and squeezing the filter media from my established 29 gallon every other day ill hit up a pwc tonight and see what im finding

You are overdosing amonia, Figure how much amonia you had to add when you started to get to whatever level you wanted. Never add more than that a day no matter what the readings.
ie... if it took 1 teaspoon to get 4ppm at the beginning ONLY add 1 teaspoon a day even if you only read 1ppm when you test it.
The simple fact is since you are adding amonia and later on it reads zero your cycle is working and your bacteria is alive, trying to get to a certain level is rediculous as the bacteria is consuming the amonia as you add it.
Keep in mind the amount of amonia we are using in a fishless cycle is much higher than a fully stocked tank of fish will produce.

 

[cogburn]

yes but... if i dose 4ppm in the morning... lets just say hypothetically all that gets digested by noon... and only half the bacteria eats ammonia... the other half could die off... from what ive read and understood... no matter WHEN your ammonia gets down to 1ppm or less you should dose back up to 3-5ppm... i choose to do 4... now it makes my life a TON easier... that by trial and error i realized that 1tsp or 5cc... is exactly 1ppm so it makes my life a helluvalot easier that its so simple

 

[missileman]

Not completely true.
The bacteria doesn't die instantly when there is no food, it takes several days in fact, and by that time you have already added more amonia.
At any rate, I explained what worked well for me.

 

[cogburn]

hmmm... good point... im really only adding once a day... its not like im doing it 2 or 3 times... ill make sure i do NOT go over one dosing a day tho

 

[cogburn]

so i think i posted too soon... last nights readings showed nitrite still way high... maybe 8ppm... this morning... ammonia was 0 (i dosed exactly 24 hours before i tested this morning) nitrite a manageable 2ppm... nitrate 5ppm... so my nitrIte is dropping... this is a good thing... i think im in the home stretch... dosing 4ppm is completely gone in 24 hours... thats good... nitrites dropping rapidly and nitrate rising steadily... hopefully ill have fish in there by the weekend just gotta get that nitrite to drop to 0... YAY!!!

just a word of advice to anyone who may be fishless cycling in the future... get yourself a notebook and record your readings, date, and time everytime you test... it will make your life a TON easier... i did not do this and am totally regretting it... it wouldve been so much easier instead of trying to remember what the readings were the last time i tested. food for future thought

 

[cogburn]

update: my ammonia is going from 4ppm to 0 in 24 hours... but my nitrIte is being stubborn... hovering around 2ppm for the last few days... nitrAtes arent really moving much either... am i doing something wrong?... i was hoping my nitrite would be falling and this thing would be over with but its just hovering there not moving... i put a very small amount of flake food in last night cuz i heard that can have the trace elements that would help... but its just hovering... any thoughts?

 

[cogburn]

still no real change... 4ppm of ammonia gone in 24 hours... nitrIte still hovering around 2ppm... nitrAtes around 10ppm... im starting to think my cycle is actually done but i cant tell cuz my nitrite is still showing up... im gonna do a big water change tonight and test again sat. and sun... if nothing shows up nitrite wise by sun. morning then im gonna start adding my fish... any thoughts please speak up

 

[missileman]

Keep an eye on it. Until the nitrite is gone you are still cycling.

 

[cogburn]

should i do a pwc or not?

 

[missileman]

I forgot (alot of different threads) is this a fishy cycle or fishless?
If it is with fish yes do a PWC to get the nitrite below 1ppm at the most.
If it is fishless a PWC is not needed with the numbers you have now and may in fact slow you down some.
With a fishless cycle I would do a PWC if the nitrite got above about 5 or 6ppm or nitrate above about 80ppm or so.

 

[cogburn]

its fishless... ill just hold off... i was kinda hoping i was done... but youre right... nitrAtes arent rising so im prolly not... another week of dosing, testing, and waiting i guess

 

[cogburn]

WOOOOHOOOOOOO!!!!!!... tested this morning... ammonia 0 ppm... nitrIte... 0 ppm... nitrAte... 10 ppm... this is the first time the nitrIte has gone to 0... i think my cycle might be done folks... its kind of a hellish week for me... lot of late nights... so im just gonna keep dosing ammonia every morning and testing... if all goes well and no nitrite shows up... ill do a pwc sat and start adding fish WOOOOOHOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

 

[missileman]

Congratulations

 

[cogburn]

im slightly troubled maybe you can ease my mind... my nitrAtes never really got high... my nitrItes were wayyyyyy high... but then the nitrite disappeared... ive tested for 2 days... ammonia and nitrite are being processed completely in 24 hours the nitrAte is right around 5-10ppm... never really got high... do you think i still need to do a large pwc?... im planning on adding fish this sat. i used 2 different api freshwater kits i have just to compare results and both kits are exactly the same... i just find it odd that my nitrates never really rose much...