cycling advice please

[Kondoe]

hey guys i am roughly 2-3 weeks into cycling my tank, i am just not sure if what i am doing is going right or if i'm doing something wrong. Unfortunatly i have been attempting my cycle without an ammonia test, i only had a seachems ammonia alert disc. when i first added the disc to my tank i checked its level after 24hrs and it read about 0.03ppm. To add the ammonia at the start i used sera nitrivec which contains NH3 NH4 and NO2. I waited another day and the ammo alert showed very slight change so to about .05ppm. According to the packaging i can add fish after 24 hours. i didn't believe it could be true so ignored that but i checked for nitrite and had a reading of about 0.3ppm. i also had a reading for NO3 of about 25.

it has been 2 weeks since those tests. i have finally found an ammonia test and my readings today are:
NH3 NH4 (Ammonia)= 0
NO2 (Nitrite)= 0.6
NO3 (Nitrate)= 25

So my nitrite has risen in the past 2 weeks but the Nitrates have stayed the same. i havn't done any water changes, but the past week i have been adding some fish food flakes every 2-3 days. Only a small sprinkles of it. I have kept my tank temp at about 29 degrees.

So am i doing everything right so far? or have a made a big mistake somewhere? any advice would be great.

[eco23]

Originally Posted by Kondoe

hey guys i am roughly 2-3 weeks into cycling my tank, i am just not sure if what i am doing is going right or if i'm doing something wrong. Unfortunatly i have been attempting my cycle without an ammonia test, i only had a seachems ammonia alert disc. when i first added the disc to my tank i checked its level after 24hrs and it read about 0.03ppm. To add the ammonia at the start i used sera nitrivec which contains NH3 NH4 and NO2. I waited another day and the ammo alert showed very slight change so to about .05ppm. According to the packaging i can add fish after 24 hours. i didn't believe it could be true so ignored that but i checked for nitrite and had a reading of about 0.3ppm. i also had a reading for NO3 of about 25.

it has been 2 weeks since those tests. i have finally found an ammonia test and my readings today are:
NH3 NH4 (Ammonia)= 0
NO2 (Nitrite)= 0.6
NO3 (Nitrate)= 25

So my nitrite has risen in the past 2 weeks but the Nitrates have stayed the same. i havn't done any water changes, but the past week i have been adding some fish food flakes every 2-3 days. Only a small sprinkles of it. I have kept my tank temp at about 29 degrees.

So am i doing everything right so far? or have a made a big mistake somewhere? any advice would be great.

I've never heard or the product you used (I'm extremely leery of "instant cycling" products), and honestly I'm a little confused about the method you're using. Please check out the guide and FAQ in my signature and see if you can get a good idea of the process. Are you using the fish food as an ammonia source or pure ammo as well? Are you trying to constantly keep the ammo level up around 3-4ppm?

[rich311k]

Hard to say at 2-3 weeks in the ammonia portion could easily be done. I have no idea how much ammonia you are able to process though, since the nitrates have not moved I would think you are not processing that much. Can you get pure ammonia?

[eco23]

I also highly recommend trying to find an API Freshwater Master Test Kit. It's the most accurate you'll find, and is going to be vital during the cycle as well as once you have fish.

[Kondoe]

Originally Posted by rich311k

Hard to say at 2-3 weeks in the ammonia portion could easily be done. I have no idea how much ammonia you are able to process though, since the nitrates have not moved I would think you are not processing that much. Can you get pure ammonia?

I have looked everywhere for pure ammonia but have had no luck i am using fish food as a source of ammonia. but probably not putting in enough to maintain a higher ammonia level. after adding fish ffod how long does it usualy take for it to start rotting and give off ammonia?

[eco23]

Originally Posted by Kondoe

I have looked everywhere for pure ammonia but have had no luck i am using fish food as a source of ammonia. but probably not putting in enough to maintain a higher ammonia level. after adding fish ffod how long does it usualy take for it to start rotting and give off ammonia?

I've never used fish food so unfortunately I can't really give you an answer. I think you're going to have to experiment a bit and see how much it takes to get you up to around 4ppm. Some people also use 2-3 frozen shrimp to help cycle as well. I'd make sure you are using a mesh bag to put either of these items in because both fish food and shrimp can cause quite a messy tank and lead to some nasties being introduced into your tank.

In the mean time I'd keep up the search for pure ammo. If you're in the US, Ace Hardware is the place to find...I know in the UK there's a brand that I think is called Jay-cees (or something like that), which some fish stores actually sell.

[Kondoe]

i live in Turkey, so having trouble finding ammonia for some reason