Cycle question re: Unbalanced nitrifying bacteria colonies

[Ponch]

Hi - I'm on my 6th day of a fishless cycle to establish BB in my new 26 gallon tank. Note i started the cycle with an AngelsPlus BB seeded filter. Within 48 hrs of putting in the seeded media i saw ammonia to nitrite conversion. Slow at first and then more quickly. Nitrates started showing up around the same time but the rate of conversion is much slower.

Right now I am seeing 3-4ppm of ammonia fall to 0ppm within 24 hours. Have done this twice in last two days. But the nitrites, which have been hovering around 5ppm, are converting much more slowly to nitrates. Right now I show nitrites maxed out at 5ppm and nitrates only at 40ppm... After having gone for
3-4ppm to 0ppm of ammo twice in 2 days.

I understand that the BB need time to colonize but my question is this: do I continue to dose ammo to 3-4ppm even though there is still a bunch of unprocessed nitrite? Or should I wait for those nitrite>nitrate BB to sufficiently grow and process the existing nitrite before adding new ammo?

Obviously the colonies of nitrifying bacteria are not equally balanced yet. And while i want to complete this cycle quickly so j can stock the new tank I don't want to push too hard and cause it to stall out. Any advice on how to approach this would be really appreciated! Thanks.

[BHead707]

i dont know what super high levels of nitrite will do to a cycle, but if it didnt affect it then you wouldn't need to worry about it, but you wouldn't want to stop dosing ammonia imo

[RedFlame]

Keep dosing ammo up to 4ppms, the actual conversion from trites to trates is a slow process, keep dosing until you see a large conversion of trites to trates, once the trites are down to 0 you will see a high amount of trates. Then do your 50-90% water change and you should be good to go.

I have no experience with the Angelsplus I just do the standard fishless cycle. The general process is the same though just keep stoking the fire and eventually it will take off on it's own, the hardest part of the cycle process is patience.

Good luck and keep us posted on your progress.

[MrPillow]

If you stop dosing ammonia, the bacteria which produce nitrite will starve to death and thus, the bacteria which convert nitrite to nitrate will starve as well. It's a chain, you have to keep dosing the initial input for the process to work at all!

Keep it up, you're almost there

[Danny-O]

A nitrite spike for a bit is a natural part of the process. As long as the ammonia is being processed, and nitrate is appearing, it will all work out. The nitraters will catch up with time.

[Ponch]

Thanks all - good points made all around. Just re-dosed the tank up to 4ppm ammo. Will send a progress report in next day or two

[Ponch]

UPDATE

Have been dosing ammo to 3-4ppm daily, woke up this morning and finally saw a drop in nitrites! From 4ppm last night to .25 ppm this morning. So, I've redosed to 4ppm a few hours ago. If ammo and nitrite can all zero out by tomorrow morning I think I'm within a day or two of rehoming my current fish to their new bigger pad. Woo hoo!

[Danny-O]

Gratz! Seeing an aquarium cycle before your eyes is a very satisfying event!

[Ponch]

Originally Posted by Danny-O

Gratz! Seeing an aquarium cycle before your eyes is a very satisfying event!

Yeah The whole ecosystem in a tank thing is just awesome - whoever thought growing and maintaining bacteria would qualify as fun! .

[jlk]

Originally Posted by Ponch

UPDATE

Have been dosing ammo to 3-4ppm daily, woke up this morning and finally saw a drop in nitrites! From 4ppm last night to .25 ppm this morning. So, I've redosed to 4ppm a few hours ago. If ammo and nitrite can all zero out by tomorrow morning I think I'm within a day or two of rehoming my current fish to their new bigger pad. Woo hoo!

Yay!!!! Congrats on cycling quick & easy & painlessly!!!! Bit easier the 2nd time around, huh?!?!

[Ponch]

Originally Posted by jlk

Yay!!!! Congrats on cycling quick & easy & painlessly!!!! Bit easier the 2nd time around, huh?!?!

Absolutely know all the shortcuts now! I'll take 1.5-2 weeks for cycling a new tank anytime.