help! cycling the 125 litre

[dannehhx]

hello

okay so my new set up has been running now for 17 days, external filter, planted, heat at 82 degrees, air pump bubbling, fishless cycling with flakes and pure ammonia.

for the last 7 days my nitrite has been on or around 5ppm, was a deep fuchsia colour, so did a w/c to prevent stalling and has stayed at 5ppm.

the tank can consume 1ppm of ammonia now within 24 hours but the nitrite is not going down (not even with the w/c i did 4 days ago) and the nitrate is starting to climb again (40ppm).

I haven't dosed ammonia in the tank for over 2 days now, added flakes the day before yesterday so any suggestions on what to do next?

carry on with dosing the ammonia or should i convert back to using flakes for the phosphates for the time being?

thanks guys!

 

[Hbbambislayer]

I'll offer 2 suggestions maybe 3. 1st just use the ammo forget the flakes. 2nd you need to do WC big oneslike 75+% probably 3 your goal is to get nitrites down to less than 1ppm. Don't forget to add your conditioner between water changes. The high nitrite staying is a common problem with the Fishless Cycle they get to high to quick and the BB isn't there yet to consume them. I'd wait a half hour in between WC test than repeat. After you get your nitrites d down to less than 1ppm just add enough ammo to get you 1ppm. Have you tested for nitrates yet to see if you established any BB to consume your nitrites yet.

 

[Hbbambislayer]

Oh I see you have nitrates sorry I missed that part. That's a good sign. This isn't a big deal it just something that usually happens the BB for nitrites is just very slowwwwww to develop fully. Do your water changes get them down and you'll stay moving along again

 

[librarygirl]

You're doing pretty well for 17 days in!

The nitrite phase is the longest, typically lasting about 3 weeks before it drops. If they do get too high though it can stall things. I would suggest a large water change (as much you can take out)--don't forget dechlorinator -- and then test again. Try to get nitrites to a readable level on the chart (<2). Then redose ammonia. The nitrites will probably rise again, that's normal. Are you only dosing ammonia to 1ppm consistently or did you reduce the ammonia amount?

 

[dannehhx]

You're doing pretty well for 17 days in!

The nitrite phase is the longest, typically lasting about 3 weeks before it drops. If they do get too high though it can stall things. I would suggest a large water change (as much you can take out)--don't forget dechlorinator -- and then test again. Try to get nitrites to a readable level on the chart (<2). Then redose ammonia. The nitrites will probably rise again, that's normal. Are you only dosing ammonia to 1ppm consistently or did you reduce the ammonia amount?

hi library girl thanks for the reply !

last year I cycled my 68 litre using the same method, so this time I used some old gravel, water, ornaments and a bit of media from my established set up to start off this cycle

I was dosing the level of ammonia to 2ppm but reduced as my nitrites rose so suddenly and didn't drop after a w/c so been divided between using more flakes than ammonia to help the nitrifying bacteria along.

will do a big w/c tomorrow and retest again, will repost tomorrow

 

[dannehhx]

okay, so i did a 70% w/c and here are my readings:

ph: 6.8-7.0
ammonia: 0
nitrite: definitely more like 5ppm today
nitrate: 30ppm

i also installed my co2 diffuser today so its dropped my ph slightly..

i have missed my ammonia dosing for today but i will put a few crushed flakes now just to help the nitrifying bacteria, do i dose tomorrow morning with ammonia?

thank you

 

[Hbbambislayer]

I'll say it 1 more time water changes big ones back to back to back. Nitrites 1pom or less is your goal or you'll be sitting at 5+ppm forever. Forget the flakes.

 

[Hbbambislayer]

Think of the BB for nitrites as a baby. You put to much food in its mouth it spits it all back out. To much food for the BB you have established so far

 

[Hbbambislayer]

Is almost like math. You have 5ppm nitrites. Do 50% wc your gonna have 2.5. Do another 50% water chang e you get 1.25ppm and so on. The problem is your nitrites aren't 5ppm there probably closer to 10ppm that's why you do big water changes back to back to back 75% 3 times would get you in the .25-.5 range that's something your BB can work with and grow from