Continuing Bio-Cycle

[Draven]

Well after a 3day weekend I just came in to check my little guys water in the new tank. Ammonia has gone down a bit, to about 1.0 (from 8.0 last Thursday). I haven't been able to put in 10 drops/day like I've been needing to. So can I just pickup today with the 10/day?

Now the Nirtite has gone off the chart. All last week it was 0.0, today it is easily 5.0+. Do I continue adding 10/drops of Ammonia a day until the Nitrite drops down, or is now the time when I cut the 10/day in half?

 

[luxum]

Cut the dose in half now that your nitrites are spiking, and don't neglect to feed the ammonia or the first colony which is almost of sufficient size will die back.

 

[tstenback]

agreed. You have to be diligent in feeding the bacteria now or all will be for not. Good luck with it.

 

[Draven]

I just added another 5 drops of ammonia, because of being gone the last 3 days would it be all right to add a few more to make up for it? Everything seems to be looking good.

 

[luxum]

No, i wouldn't add extra at the moment, just don't forget that daily half dose from now on.

 

[Draven]

Should I cycle my water while doing this or not? I don't think I ever notice if anyone said to be doing weekly water changes. I would think not..

 

[luxum]

No, don't do water changes yet, you want to leave the ammonia and nitrite in the water so the bacterial colony will grow to convert it. Changing the water would dilute the levels and be counterproductive. Once the cycle is established you may need to do several large water changes to get the nitrates down to something reasonable, and there are a few other situations where a water change might be adviseable in a fishless cycle, but your situation isn't one them.

 

[Draven]

Is the cycle complete, when all traces drop to 0? or what?

 

[luxum]

The cycle is established (never finished, it's a cycle after all ) when both ammonia and nitrite read 0 (actually zero, not just close to zero) and there are measureable nitrates.

 

[Draven]

Today that Ammonia is less then 0.25, the Nitrite is off the chart 5.0+/ppm, and the Nitrate is roughly 5.0/ppm.

I've been adding 5 drops of Ammonia a day this week. Looking good?

 

[jacblades]

looking good

 

[luxum]

Agreed!

 

[Draven]

Today that Ammonia is less then 0.25, the Nitrite is off the chart 5.0+/ppm, and the Nitrate is roughly 5.0/ppm.

I've been adding 5 drops of Ammonia a day this week. Looking good?

It's now July 19th. None of my levels have changed. Ammonia is still 0.25/ppm Nitrite is 5.0/ppm and Nitrate is 5.0/ppm.

At what point is the Nitrite supposed to drop so that I can put my fish in his new home.. It's been roughly 2 weeks.

 

[luxum]

There are no rules. Be patient. I can't predict when your bacteria will finally make the leap to handle the load, you just have to wait and keep dosing, sorry. I can reassure you that 2 weeks is well within normal, though.

 

[Draven]

It's now July 19th. None of my levels have changed. Ammonia is still 0.25/ppm Nitrite is 5.0/ppm and Nitrate is 5.0/ppm.

At what point is the Nitrite supposed to drop so that I can put my fish in his new home.. It's been roughly 2 weeks.

I just ran another test before the weekend. The results are amazing. The Ammonia is 1.0/ppm, the Nitrite dropped to 0.0/ppm, and the Nitrates are off the freaking chart at 40-80/ppm.

I'm really worried now. The nitrites are awesome, but what about the nitrate? Is it supposed to jump that high!! It was staying at 5/ppm for the last 2 weeks.

So what's going on here? My ammonia is going back up, and my nitrate is going bonkers! I'm doing 6-drops a day of 10% grade ammonia.