Cycling Help - Nitrite Disappeared?

[AKLB]

Hello everyone,

I’ve been fishless cycling my 200l/55 gallon aquarium with pure ammonia for around 5 weeks. I started off by dosing ammonia to 4ppm, testing it occasionally and redosing whenever ammonia fell below 0.5ppm back up to 4ppm. Within 2 weeks I’d started getting nitrite, with this increasing to over 5ppm by around 4 weeks.

However, when I just tested the water all my nitrite has disappeared and my ammonia is at 2ppm, having last redosed a week or two ago. My nitrate is also quite high, around 40-80ppm. Is it normal for nitrite to completely disappear like this?

Also, I’m having trouble with various algae. There’s this dark green algae covering the leaves on my plants, and the water is also a cloudy green. I’m not sure if this could be linked to my nitrites disappearing, but how could I reduce this algae and remove this green water? I’ve been limiting my lights, but this hasn’t done anything so far.

Thanks in advance,
Adam

 

[AKLB]

Quick update, nitrites are back (again) but are now really high, yet the ammonia doesn’t seem to be decreasing very quickly at all.

Could anyone please offer any advice on what’s going wrong? The tank has been cycling for nearly 8 weeks and it doesn’t even seem to be close to finishing.

 

[V227]

My suggestion is to start over and try the old school "Fish In" tank cycle. Use your test kit to confirm all the parameters are at zero, then put the kit away.
Stock your tank with some tough, inexpensive fish, Tiger Barbs, Zebra Danios, Mollies, or a mixture. 9-12 fish should do.
Feed very sparingly, they dont need much. once a day. Watch your fish closely for the coming weeks, looking for signs of stress. Only conduct a WC if the fish obviously look stressed.
In 4-6 weeks your tank should be good to go.
Fish In tank cycling is not cruel and if done correctly chances are you won't lose any fish.
Hope things level out for you soon.