Mud puppy
Aquarium Advice Newbie
Why would ammonia rise from 2ppm to 4ppm overnight during a fishless cycle? I'm helping a friend cycle her tank and she dosed her tank to 2 ppm ammonia and the next day it looked 4+ppm ammonia. Nitrites and nitrates are showing so its processing some but the ammonia isn't dropping. After a few days we did a partial water change just to get the ammonia back to a reasonable range and didn't dose any ammonia but the next day it was back up to 4+ppm. I've done fishless cycle in 4 tanks in 2-3 weeks and never have seen this issue. Can someone explain how the ammonia could rise without dosing during a fishless cycle?