Cycling levels dont make sense

[wetfarticus]

Im fishless cycling my 55 gal planted tank. I used Drs Foster and Smith's live nitrifying bacteria and dosed with Tims ammonia up to 2 ppm. In 24 hrs the amonia was gone and i would redose back to 2 ppm. This went on for 4 days. No nitrites or nitrates. I then read that having carbon/charcoal in your filter is not good, so i removed it from my filter (Aquatop CF-500). I reseeded with the bacteria starter and dosed the ammonia back to 2ppm, turned the heater up to 82F deg. Turned on the bubbler. The ammonia is still disappearing and i have yet to see nitrites or nitrates. Its been 2 days since i removed the Charcoal and a total of 7 days since filling and starting the cycle.

With the ammonia disappearing like it is, shouldn't i be seeing nitrites by now?

Nervous i am doing something wrong.

 

[Potluck]

It takes longer than 2 days to cycle a tank, your filter has to build up beneficial bacteria, the filter is a good one it has a uv sterilizer, I'm not sure if that could be causing it

 

[wetfarticus]

It takes longer than 2 days to cycle a tank, your filter has to build up beneficial bacteria, the filter is a good one it has a uv sterilizer, I'm not sure if that could be causing it

I turned the UV off.

I just figured that 7 days of dosing to 2ppm ammonia that some kind of nitrites/nitrates should be showing up. If the ammonia is dropping, then the bacteria are feeding on it (i assume), and if thats the case, i should be seeing nitrites (again I assume).

I know it takes longer than 7 days to complete a cycle. From everything i have read, when the ammonia levels drop, the nitrite levels spike. I am just making sure its normal for so much ammonia to be eaten up without seeing any sign of nitrites?
Just raised the ammonia from 0.25ppm back to 2ppm again this morning.

Lots of different stories about how long it takes to complete a cycle. All i have read tell how once the initial couple doses of ammonia have been used up, they started seeing the nitrite levels.

Maybe i am just being paranoid.

Thanks for the reply.

 

[Ironworker161]

Wetfarticus, okay this is just a guess. I believe that a lot of the nitrifying bacteria that you buy at the lfs are a different strain of bacteria than those that grow naturally in your tank. So with that in mind, perhaps the bacteria you added are getting rid of the ammonia, but your test kit is not able to detect them. Just a thought , I remember reading an article about it a while ago. But like I said, it's just a guess. Good luck.

 

[wetfarticus]

Wetfarticus, okay this is just a guess. I believe that a lot of the nitrifying bacteria that you buy at the lfs are a different strain of bacteria than those that grow naturally in your tank. So with that in mind, perhaps the bacteria you added are getting rid of the ammonia, but your test kit is not able to detect them. Just a thought , I remember reading an article about it a while ago. But like I said, it's just a guess. Good luck.

Wow. That would suck. Im using the API Master Test Kit. I will look into it though.

 

[coralbandit]

Are you doing the nitrate test properly?
Shaking the living daylights out of bottle 2 before adding drops...

I don't think the carbon did anything good or bad..
It sure did not remove the ammonia, lets all think about that...

There still is much talk like Ironworker said.
To boot the patent for the real deal expired so now big industry names can say they make the same thing.. I would have thought anyones proper ammonia would work but would have wanted a reputable bacteria brand.
You bought DFS bacteria and Dr.Tims ammonia? That's backwards to me ?

 

[Potluck]

Yes usually once you see ammonia stay at 0 without adding more you'll get nitrite then that turns into nitrate, I didn't add anything to my small tank except a piece of shrimp and some fish flakes, it took forever to cycle though like 3 weeks

 

[wetfarticus]

Are you doing the nitrate test properly?
Shaking the living daylights out of bottle 2 before adding drops...

I don't think the carbon did anything good or bad..
It sure did not remove the ammonia, lets all think about that...

There still is much talk like Ironworker said.
To boot the patent for the real deal expired so now big industry names can say they make the same thing.. I would have thought anyones proper ammonia would work but would have wanted a reputable bacteria brand.
You bought DFS bacteria and Dr.Tims ammonia? That's backwards to me ?

Its definitely that order

 

[wetfarticus]

Are you doing the nitrate test properly?
Shaking the living daylights out of bottle 2 before adding drops...

I don't think the carbon did anything good or bad..
It sure did not remove the ammonia, lets all think about that...

There still is much talk like Ironworker said.
To boot the patent for the real deal expired so now big industry names can say they make the same thing.. I would have thought anyones proper ammonia would work but would have wanted a reputable bacteria brand.
You bought DFS bacteria and Dr.Tims ammonia? That's backwards to me ?

Its definitely that order