fishless cycling question

[mattmathis]

I have a tank that has been fishless cycled for about a week and I have just been adding ammonia everyday to keep the bacteria alive. Ammonia and nitrite were at zero, and after my big water change nitrates droped to 10.

Now all of a sudden this afternoon I have .1 Nitrite!

What could cause this? What should I do now?

Thanks!

 

[Blueiz]

You may have dosed a little more ammonia than usual. I personally woiuldn't be to concerned about it. There is the + or - error factor for the test and .1 isn't that much. Just monitor it for a couple days.

 

[jim692]

what are all your water parameters (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, ph, temp)?

what test kit are you using?

 

[mattmathis]

Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = .1
Nitrate = 10
ph = 7.6

API & Hagen

 

[jim692]

liquid test kit or strips?

are you dosing 4 ppm of ammonia daily or some other consistant amount?

how long has the tank been cycling for?

 

[dkpate]

Cycling for about a week. Says in the first post lol.

 

[jim692]

I have a tank that has been fishless cycled for about a week and I have just been adding ammonia everyday to keep the bacteria alive. Ammonia and nitrite were at zero, and after my big water change nitrates droped to 10.

I took this to mean the tank was believed to have finished cycling a week ago because of the stated big water change, and past tense of cycled.

 

[mattmathis]

Yes, that was correct Jim, It has been finished cycling for 1 week.

They are liquid drop test kits with he glass viles. And I have been using 1 drop of ammonia the same size everyday.

Thanks

 

[dkpate]

Bah, ok, sorry....I need a nap lol!

 

[mattmathis]

I was going to add red cherry shrimp, would it have hurt them if they were in there when this happened?

Should I put some hardy fish in there for a week or so before adding the shrimp?

 

[Blueiz]

Do you intend to stock with anything other than cherry shrimp? If so I would add the fish first since they will create more of a bio load than the shrimp. I would add the shrimp last.

If cherry shrimp are all you are going to be stocking, I'd check my levels to see which way they are going for a couple of days before adding them.

 

[BigJim]

Cherry shrimp are supposed to be pretty sensitive to water quality. If you're confident that the cycle is complete, I'd add some fish first and let the tank get established.