cycle help

[jaredjb]

I added ammonia for the first and only time on Dec. 11th. Everyday it has been 4ppm. Do I need to wait longer or is something wrong?

 

[Polkadots]

I'm also doing my fishless cycle right now. It took 25 days for mine to lower at all. Every tank is different, after all! It may just be that you need to wait longer.

If you think your cycle is stalled, try doing a pwc and adding a tiny pinch of ground up fish food.

 

[mistersprinkles]

I'm also doing my fishless cycle right now. It took 25 days for mine to lower at all. Every tank is different, after all! It may just be that you need to wait longer.

If you think your cycle is stalled, try doing a pwc and adding a tiny pinch of ground up fish food.

Adding a pinch of fish food won't do anything, other than encourage fungus to grow on the fish food.

Ammonia is already present.

Is the tank adequately aerated? Do you have a lot of surface movement?

 

[trickshot3102]

I would suggest aeration

 

[Rivercats]

If you turn your heater up to 84 or so it will aid BB growth as bacteria grows faster in higher temps. Also you can do a WC and lower your ammonia down to 2ppm and see if the cycle gets moving. Once it does you can always dose back up to 4ppm of ammonia. Remember you won't start seeing nitrites until enough nitrosomonas bacteria has built up to convert the ammonia into nitrites.

 

[trickshot3102]

Yeah if you turn up the heat, more bacteria will grow and multiply

 

[Thepokerkid227]

Whenever I cycle I turn the heat up between 84-88, and keep the water level 2inches or so below filter if using an HOB to get a waterfall effect and really aerate the water and get it moving. Good luck!

 

[jaredjb]

Thanks for all the tips. The water level was already about that low and I have bubbles working the other end of the tank. Temp was at 80. Turned it up this morning. Now at 84

 

[Thepokerkid227]

Keep us posted on your test results

 

[jaredjb]

yesterday ammonia was down to .25. and nitrites were between 2 and 5. I brought ammonia back up to 4. Today ammonia was at .5(brought it back to 4) nitrites were at 5, and nitrates were higher than 0 but less than 5.

 

[threnjen]

now that you have seen nitrites, please dial back the ammonia dosing. Dose 1/2 dose (so only to 2ppm) every 3 days.
Your cycle is right on track.

I will politely disagree with a previous poster recommending against the fish food. A very small amount of crushed up fish flake will degrade to provide a phosphorous buffer to your water which is very important to your cycle. generally tap water has trace phosphorous but this can become depleted and the addition of new phosphorous will provide the needed replenishment.

 

[jaredjb]

I did 2 wcs this week a 50% on Sunday and a 100% on tuesday to try to lower Nitrites and bring ph up. Nitrites lowered and ph went up. I started doing 2ppm ammonia every few days. Nitrites are way high again and ph dropped a bit. I also added a little bit of food. Today I started seeing Nitrates for the first time when I tested. Was thinking about changing water again this weekend to bring nitrites down and get ph back up

 

[threnjen]

You can avoid the WC if you just add baking soda to bring the pH up and another smidge of fish flake. Or you can water change if you prefer.
Your cycle seems to be doing great!