Fishless Cycle, Ammonia and Nitrates, no Nitrite??

[jenelle]

Hoping someone might have some insight: I'm doing a fishless cycle in a Fluval Edge 5 gallon using pure ammonia (planted). I'm on day 10. 3 days ago, I added some media from trusted LFS.

From day 1 I've kept the ammonia hovering around 4ppm. Both before and after I added the media from the LFS I was showing trace amounts of nitrite and nitrate. I'm checking parameters pretty religiously because I have a gorgeous new betta waiting to put into the tank! (He's in a filterless fish bowl at the moment).

This morning I checked parameters and my ammonia is still 4ppm, but my nitrites are gone. My nitrates are still showing at 5 ppm after a 25% water change.

Have I somehow killed the cycle by keeping the ammonia too high? Am I starting all over again?

 

[Fresh2o]

Additional ammonia won't disrupt the cycle. However, it may extend the time it takes process that amount of ammonia. At this point the amount of bacteria present can process only so much ammonia.
Is it a problem if you dose to 2 ppm ammonia? I don't think so. We are talking about a single betta.
I would wait until the ammonia drops to under 1 ppm before re-dosing.
As for the nitrites disappearing, this may be due to the bacteria from the seeded media. Last fishless cycle I did, I have trouble detecting the nitrite because the spike would only last a few hours at best.

 

[jenelle]

Okay, I think your advice is good news for my first fishless cycle. It sounds like not all is lost. I think I'll check that I brought down the ammonia via the water change and wait until it's almost 0 before I add more.

I'm so excited to get this tank up & running -- I sold my 46 g a couple years ago and missed it a lot - thought maybe a 5 g would be manageable this time around. Already daydreaming about a 2nd nano tank.

 

[jenelle]

Boo! I think perhaps I've lost all progress. I did a 2nd water change yesterday to bring the ammonia to 1.0. 24 hours later the ammonia has risen again to 2.0, still 0 for nitrites and just a trace of nitrates now - between 0 and 5. The tank is really clearing up, all the cloudiness is gone, so I was hopeful, but the numbers are not looking very positive. Poor little Hades the Betta is going to have a long wait. :-(

 

[dalto]

I did a 2nd water change yesterday to bring the ammonia to 1.0. 24 hours later the ammonia has risen again to 2.0, still 0 for nitrites and just a trace of nitrates now - between 0 and 5.

Why are the ammonia levels rising? In a fishless cycle the ammonia levels don't typically go up on their own. That would be concerning to me.

 

[Fresh2o]

Ditto. I would retest the ammonia. Is it possible that the 1.0 ppm was inaccurate?

 

[jenelle]

That's a very good question! I have no idea! I haven't added anything - only did 2 25% water changes yesterday. There are several plants. So why the ammonia is going up instead of down is very confusing.

 

[jenelle]

Ditto. I would retest the ammonia. Is it possible that the 1.0 ppm was inaccurate?

I'm going to give it an hour and retest the ammonia. I was pretty careful though.

 

[jenelle]

This morning's reading:
Ammonia 20.0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5 -- up a bit, this is the only change

So several days of nitrite at 0. If that ammonia would start moving down, I'd rejoice!!

 

[dalto]

This morning's reading:
Ammonia 20.0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5 -- up a bit, this is the only change

So several days of nitrite at 0. If that ammonia would start moving down, I'd rejoice!!

Hopefully you meant 2.0, not 20.0. Otherwise, you should probably be panicking.

 

[jenelle]

Oops. Yes, ammonia was 2.0. My bad!

 

[jenelle]

24 hours later, no change. Ammonia is steady at 2.0, no nitrites, nitrates 5.0. Maybe I should do another water change? On a positive note, my plants are growing gangbusters. Hades, the betta, is patiently waiting in his bowl, but I feel bad for him.

 

[dalto]

Ammonia is steady at 2.0, no nitrites, nitrates 5.0. Maybe I should do another water change?

I would leave it alone. Only disrupt things if you have to. Waiting for your tank to cycle is a often frustrating exercise in patience.

 

[jenelle]

I figured had sped things up by adding media from established tank. I guess I'm in for the long haul. The waiting game sucks. Day 15.

 

[Fresh2o]

Hmmm...I'm wondering how established the media was that you got from the LFS. Really no way to tell (unless it jump starts your cycle!). No telling how long the media was in place or what the bioload was in the tank or how many other filters were running in that tank before you obtained it.
If possible, you can try to obtain more media.
I used seeded media from an existing tank (one of my other tanks) with good results. For 9 days I ran the new filter (AC50) with a mixture of old and new media along with the existing filter in the established tank. Then I moved the new filter to the new tank. By day 6 it was processing 4.0 ppm ammonia within 24 hours (0 ammonia/nitrite, 20-40 ppm nitrate).