Hey guys, I'm on the 23rd day of my fishless cycle, and I've been having a little trouble lately.
About a week ago, my tank was consuming ammonia pretty rapidly, and I would regularly redose up to 3-4 ppm. Obviously this means that my nitrite levels were pretty dang high, so I did a 50 percent pwc to bring the levels down to measurable levels. After this, the levels were still off the charts. But I figured, "whatever", they'll have to drop eventually anyway. At this time my pH was pretty high; higher than the near neutral that it had been.
Fast forward a few days, and my ammonia consumption has slowed down drastically, with nitrites still being off the charts. I checked my pH and it almost at a solid 6, which is markedly lower than what I was expecting to see. My tap water, after settling for 24 hours, has a pH of about 7.2.
I'm assuming that my cycle has been frozen due to this low pH value, so for the past 3 days I have done a daily 40-50 percent pwc to attempt to bring the pH back up. But it's simply not working. I checked again today and the pH is still near 6. Additionally, my ammonia reading has been frozen (after taking into account the changes from the pwcs) and my nitrite value, after these several pwcs...is STILL off the charts.
So I guess my questions are:
1. Is the pH likely the culprit for this strange readings?
2. Why is my nitrite value not dropping after several water changes?
3. What the heck should I do? Lol.
Also, just some tidbits of info:
1. It is a 5 gal tank.
2. I ALWAYS remember my dechlorinator.
3. My ammonia is pure and contains no surfactants.
4. Aquarium is at a steady 86 degrees.
Thanks guys I really appreciate it.
About a week ago, my tank was consuming ammonia pretty rapidly, and I would regularly redose up to 3-4 ppm. Obviously this means that my nitrite levels were pretty dang high, so I did a 50 percent pwc to bring the levels down to measurable levels. After this, the levels were still off the charts. But I figured, "whatever", they'll have to drop eventually anyway. At this time my pH was pretty high; higher than the near neutral that it had been.
Fast forward a few days, and my ammonia consumption has slowed down drastically, with nitrites still being off the charts. I checked my pH and it almost at a solid 6, which is markedly lower than what I was expecting to see. My tap water, after settling for 24 hours, has a pH of about 7.2.
I'm assuming that my cycle has been frozen due to this low pH value, so for the past 3 days I have done a daily 40-50 percent pwc to attempt to bring the pH back up. But it's simply not working. I checked again today and the pH is still near 6. Additionally, my ammonia reading has been frozen (after taking into account the changes from the pwcs) and my nitrite value, after these several pwcs...is STILL off the charts.
So I guess my questions are:
1. Is the pH likely the culprit for this strange readings?
2. Why is my nitrite value not dropping after several water changes?
3. What the heck should I do? Lol.
Also, just some tidbits of info:
1. It is a 5 gal tank.
2. I ALWAYS remember my dechlorinator.
3. My ammonia is pure and contains no surfactants.
4. Aquarium is at a steady 86 degrees.
Thanks guys I really appreciate it.
just keep trying. 
