Fishless cycling help

[minirhyder]

Hi there!
I'm currently doing a fishless cycle in my 29 gallon aquarium. I am about 6 weeks in at the moment and I'm having the following problem.

My ammonia levels won't drop to 0. They go from 2+ppm (after I add in another dose) to 0.5 ppm overnight and stay there. Nitrite levels spike about 12 hours after addition of ammonia and then go to 0 after 24 hours. Nitrate levels rise as well. Ammonia drops to 0.5ppm after 24 hours and stays there.

In addition my pH levels drop to 6.0 after the same period. I've done numerous water changes from 50% to ~80%, dosing with ammonia after each one, to get the results mentioned above. After ~12 hours pH drops to 6.5, and after 24 hours to 6.0.
I have shells in my aquarium, and I added some crushed coral a few days ago to help with pH buffering, but the problem persists.

What can I do to rectify this?
Thanks.

 

[Mebbid]

Hi there!
I'm currently doing a fishless cycle in my 29 gallon aquarium. I am about 6 weeks in at the moment and I'm having the following problem.

My ammonia levels won't drop to 0. They go from 2+ppm (after I add in another dose) to 0.5 ppm overnight and stay there. Nitrite levels spike about 12 hours after addition of ammonia and then go to 0 after 24 hours. Nitrate levels rise as well. Ammonia drops to 0.5ppm after 24 hours and stays there.

In addition my pH levels drop to 6.0 after the same period. I've done numerous water changes from 50% to ~80%, dosing with ammonia after each one, to get the results mentioned above. After ~12 hours pH drops to 6.5, and after 24 hours to 6.0.
I have shells in my aquarium, and I added some crushed coral a few days ago to help with pH buffering, but the problem persists.

What can I do to rectify this?
Thanks.

The crushed corals and shells take a little bit of time dissolve into the water and add their buffering to the water. When you do those large water changes it is just removing anything that is added into the water. From my experience, doing a fishless cycle should require a minimum of water changes. When I did my cycle I performed a total of two changes before the cycle was finished.

I would suggest trying to invest in a GH/KH test kit to keep a track of your levels. API makes them fairly cheaply.

What ammonia test kit are you using to track your changes?

 

[minirhyder]

All my test kits are API.

So you're saying I should let it be, for the water to build up hardness?
What about the low pH? Won't that stall my cycle indefinitely?

 

[Mebbid]

All my test kits are API.

So you're saying I should let it be, for the water to build up hardness?
What about the low pH? Won't that stall my cycle indefinitely?

Potentially, yes but at 6 weeks into your cycle I would consider it pretty thoroughly stalled as it is. Adding some buffering capacity into your water will help level out the pH issues that you are having and it is actually a very good thing that it's being taken care of now because those pH swings will do a fairly good job of killing any fish that you put in atm.

What is the source of water that you are using? Is it tap water or is is store bought?

 

[minirhyder]

Tap water

 

[Peteostler43614]

What are the parameters of your tap water? Ph, kh, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate?

 

[minirhyder]

pH: 7, ammonia/nitrite/nitrate: 0
I don't have a kh kit on hand, but I haven't had pH problems caused by tap water in the past (and adding shells has worked quite well), so I doubt this is a direct cause of my tap water.