My fishless cycles confusing me

[MrsLoxy]

So I'm like 4 weeks into a 5gallon fishless cycle. My readings are confusing me...

Finally ammonia is going down at .5ppm
nitrite is at 5+ppm
Nitrates 20+ppm

My ph is at 8.4-8.8


I thought at this point I should be seeing 0 ammonia and nitrites. Any ideas?

[Jill]

4 weeks does seem like a long time to me, but I always use filter media from one of my other tanks to speed the process along. Do you have a friend or a lfs who would let you have something from their tank to seed your tank?

[MrsLoxy]

No I'm stuck with noob tank media unfortunately

[Jill]

Well with the ammonia dropping, nitrites going up, and nitrates appearing.....you're on your way! Just keep doing what you're doing. You'll get there. Have you read the FAQs about fishless cycling available on this forum?

Oh, and to AA!

[MrsLoxy]

Thanks!! I have. Been looking at Chris22s post cause he seemed to be having the same problem as me with the nitrites being crazy high at week 4...looks like pwc did it for him

[Jill]

A 50-60% pwc would probably be good right now to restore the much needed buffers in your new tank.....I agree.

[MrsLoxy]

Ok cool. I'll do a pwc today. Souls I dose ammonia up to 2.0 or something?

[Jill]

Folks here tend to shoot for 4.0 or 5.0 ppm (and so do I). Here is my favorite thread to refer to when I'm fishless cycling a tank.

The (almost) Complete Guide and FAQ to Fishless Cycling

[MrsLoxy]

Awesome thanks

[librarygirl]

Yep try a 100% water change (may take more than one) to get the nitrites down to something you can read on the chart. Since it's only a 5 gal tank you could just dose ammonia up to 2, but it's up to you.

[MrsLoxy]

Ok great! Will try to 2ppm first