Fishless cycle question!

[Scoobcake]

Been working on a fishless cycle for my 10G and I think it's going pretty well. Only been a few days and I've helped it along but swishing some of my other media around in there a bit. I did a 95% water change and after dosing ammo to 4ppm and 24hrs time these are my water parameters:

Ammo= 0ppm
Nitrite= about 5ppm
Nitrate= 40-80ppm (to my 40 and 80 on the API chart look identical hard to tell)

I've been doing about a 95% water change every day and dosing ammo back to 4ppm right after. Been trying to keep nitrite and nitrate readable. Do I even need to bother with those water change or just dose ammo to 4ppm when I see it's at 0? Also I will be adding my live plants soon. will the high nitrites and/or nitrates adversely affect them. I think plants like nitrates wasnt sure about nitrites. Thanks a bunch!

 

[Race2d]

IMO the water changes are a waste of time if anything might be hurting the cycle just keep dosing it back up to 4ppm no water change

 

[jlk]

Your not hurting anything with the water changes! Your ammonia is dropping to zero in 24hrs, correct? If so, then things are moving along nicely!! Just make sure you dose the amm back daily when it drops to keep your bacteria fed. What you will have to watch are your ph & your nitrate levels closely. If your ph jumps or drops, then its time for a big wc. If your nitrate levels stop rising & your nitrites persist being sky high, then a wc is in order as well. Until either of these happen, it probably isnt necessary to do wcs every day-its just extra work for you. But feel free do to them if you want! Plants are fine while you are cycling & may even help things along, so plant to your hearts content!

 

[librarygirl]

Looks good! I agree daily water changes aren't needed. They probably won't hurt anything but they create a lot of unnecessary work. If PH drops significantly then it's pwc time, or if nitrites are 5+ for at least a week and/or ammonia stops dropping to 0 then a pwc can kick-start the cycle again but for now I'd just keep dosing every 24 hours and see what happens. It's normal for nitrites to rise; they'll fall to 0 on their own and then the tank will be cycled. You can add live plants whenever you want, they'll be fine. Keep posting here if you have questions along the way.

 

[RedFlame]

Agree no need for water changes during the cycle until you get spikes. Wait for the trites to fall off and for there to be a trate spike then its water change time. Good luck.

 

[gallowchris]

If your still having issue, give Seachem Stability a try. The tank should cycle in a few days, not weeks