I've been working on fishless cycling my 10g tank for a while now. I started the cycling process in late September, and right now it's at the point where ammonia is dropping, but the nitrites have been slow to show up. The rate at which ammonia drops is also really low and hasn't changed in ~3 weeks -- it only ever needs ammonia once a week. The nitrites are visibly not zero (with an API test kit), yet still not even at 0.25.
I'm fine with being patient, but to me it seems like this is going slower than expected, and that it seems to have stalled has me wondering if something else is wrong.
I've been occasionally dropping in ground up fish food, and I did use a dechlorinator (for the first three weeks or so, I used betta fish drops, then I bought some seachem prime). I've also done occasional water changes to try to speed things up. I didn't use any seeding material, and I know that can slow things down.
Any advice? Do I need to be more patient, or does it seem odd that I'm only at this part of the cycle after 7 weeks?
I'm fine with being patient, but to me it seems like this is going slower than expected, and that it seems to have stalled has me wondering if something else is wrong.
I've been occasionally dropping in ground up fish food, and I did use a dechlorinator (for the first three weeks or so, I used betta fish drops, then I bought some seachem prime). I've also done occasional water changes to try to speed things up. I didn't use any seeding material, and I know that can slow things down.
Any advice? Do I need to be more patient, or does it seem odd that I'm only at this part of the cycle after 7 weeks?