Fishless cycling ammonia dropping very fast

[Welshsamantha]

Hi I'm in process of doing my fishless cycle.the last few days nitrite has shown up and now gone off chart.im testing twice a day and by next test ammonia is nearly at zero.so topping ammonia up twice in 24 hours.is this normal for ammonia to be dropping so fast thanks


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[Masha]

This sounds very much like a normal fishless cycle to me. Have you had a look at this article? The (almost) Complete Guide and FAQ to Fishless Cycling - Aquarium Advice

Basically, you are starting to see growth of the first kind of bacteria, that converts ammonia to nitrites. But you don't yet have enough of the second kind, that converts nitrites to nitrates. So the ammonia is dropping, nitrites are spiking, but you probably don't have much nitrate yet. Once the second type of bacteria has duplicated enough to process all the nitrites being produced, your cycle is complete.

Don't worry if ammonia falls to 0, just redose it every 24 hours (not more often than that) up to whatever ppm you are using. The article recommends 4ppm, but I've seen better results with 2ppm as then you don't get quite such high nitrite spikes.

At this stage it's normal to need to do quite big water changes to get the nitrites down into a readable range.

 

[Welshsamantha]

Thank you so much
Was thinking something was wrong.this is my first fishless cycle.would you recommend a water change to reduce nitrites or wait a while yet thanks

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[Masha]

Most people say that very high nitrites might stall the cycle because although you are trying to grow bacteria that live on nitrites, they don't thrive if nitrites are too high.

Be prepared, at this stage it can take several huge (70% or more ) water changes before nitrites are lowered to a measurable level.

If you find the Nitrite spikes are getting too much for you, consider lowering the ammonia dose. Apparently 4ppm ammonia is much higher than a fully stocked tank will produce

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