Ph level lowering in fishless cycle tank

[Samantha1801]

I am on day 12 of my fishless cycle. I've noticed the last few days that while my ph stays steady at 7.6 my high range ph went from being around 8.0 to testing around 7.4. Is this normal? Do I need to do something different? My ammonia dropped to 0.50 and I was advised to bump it back to at least 2.0 ppm. Which it was when I tested 2 days ago. Tonight it is at 2.0 ppm still. My Nitrite has been pretty consistent at 1.0 ppm. And Nitrate has gone from around 40 ppm at the start to now being around 10 ppm. Am I doing something wrong? Any advice is appreciated

 

[Aiken Drum]

Just keep going. pH will move around a little as your water chemistry settles down, but isnt really important.

Nitrate shouldn't be dropping unless you are doing water changes or have a lot of plants in there. But, you have to take account that testing isnt all that accurate. All sorts of things can throw off readings, and one of the things that is reported to effect nitrate readings is nitrite, so i wouldn't pay too much attention to nitrate, beyond it being a good sign you have some. Does your tap water show nitrate?

You are 12 days into possibly an 80 day process. Too early to say if things are progressing.

What water temp are you at? Higher temperature can help a little. Optimum temperature for fishless cycle is 28c (82.5f).

Have you had any advice on how to speed up a cycle process?