Cycle taking forever

[33miles]

Today's readings (Trying VERY hard to be patient)
Ammonia 0.0
Nitrite 1.0
Nitrates way off the chart high
Should I start to change some water before the nitrites come down to 0?
I do believe I understand the "cycle", I just wish it were faster here! I don't want to add any fish before NH3 and NO2 are at 0.

Now, I'm very much a newbie here so take my experience (not advice) with a grain of salt....

About the 6th week of cycling my tank, the ammonia level in my tank was going no where. Also, I didn't boil the driftwood I bought and it made the water look like tea. So, after getting tired of looking at the tea water, i did about an 80% water change (and dosed the ammonia back to 5 ppm). The next day or so, the ammonia level had dropped to 0. Now, was it the changing of the water that did it or was it just time for the bacteria to start bringing it down faster, I don't know......but it made me happy.

 

[gzeiger]

Changing water at this point wouldn't hurt anything as long as you re-dose ammonia. I'd be surprised if you didn't find everything good to go in the morning though. The conversion of 4 ppm ammonia should produce about 11 ppm nitrite, so if you're only reading 2 at this point you have a well-established colony. Maybe they aren't quite keeping up with the NH3-eaters yet, but since they can double their population about twice a day (depending on temperature) they should make the final adjustment before you next check.

 

[dianeww]

DONE!!!!
Ammonia is 0.0, Nitrite is 0.0, Nitrate is 10 ppm after a 40 % water change, and I'll do another change or two to get the nitrate down closer to zero to start out.

And now, onward to fishes! This is only a 20 gallon tank, and I'm thinking a couple of fancy goldfish would be nice. I used to have goldfish for years, but those moved outside to a pond, and the tanks gave way to tropicals and a saltwater set-up. Miss those goldies indoors, though the pond is a joy, too!

Wish me luck, and thanks to you all for following along and advising!

 

[gzeiger]

Make sure you don't leave the tank sitting with no ammonia source now. Either put fish in it quickly or add more ammonia to make sure your bacteria can survive.

 

[bluerose]

I believe the max you could have in a 20g is two goldies and that would be pushing it... goldies grow too much and are messy fish unfortunately.

There are oodles of fun combos in a 20g though!

I agree with gzeiger-- make sure you keep dosing ammonia to keep the bacteria alive.

 

[dianeww]

Believe me, I know how messy the goldfish are! I think two should be fine in a 20. And I've already added more ammonia since everything went to zero. I do not plan to let this cycled tank get away from me!

 

[laxpatrick]

Cycling seems to take forever for me - 55gal. I'm now in my third week with no drop in ammonia...

 

[33miles]

Cycling seems to take forever for me - 55gal. I'm now in my third week with no drop in ammonia...

Yep....that was about half way for me.....see my post above

HANG IN THERE!!!!

 

[laxpatrick]

Thanks - as I posted in my thread, I saw an ever-so-slight increase in Nitrites. I think that's a good sign.