Cycling Day 10

[faildeadly]

So it's day 10 of my fishless cycle.

And the tests read exactly the same as Day 1.
Ammonia - 4ppm
Nitrites - Nil
Nitrates - Nil

The only difference is my pH has increased by 0.4 to 7.8? Why would this happen?

I could use a mature filter source to seed bacteria from a friend but I am reluctant. Her idea of fishkeeping is to fill a tank with water, throw some fish in and see what happens. The only water change that happens in her tank is when the water evaporates enough that the spray bar is exposed and makes it really noisy with the splashing!

Is there anything else I can do to encourage the swamps of Dagobah to speed up it's cycle? And before anyone asks, I've tried using the Force.

 

[4seasons]

It generally takes 10 days for anything to happen with a fishless cycle. First time I did one it took 20 days before I saw a drop in ammonia but 14 days is more common. Once your ammonia drops to 0ppm I wouldn't dose ammonia up past 2ppm and only after it is at 0 for 2 days. At this point there isn't much you can do but wait.

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

Keep the faith faildeadly! I'm sure it took at least two weeks before my ammonia started doing anything - just wait until you're waiting for the nitrite to drop *groan* . It's normal for pH to rise with the presence of ammonia and TBH a higher pH is a good thing for cycling (8.0 is ideal but you're fine where you are - only worry if it seems to drop to below 7 suddendly). Do you have your temp up to 30c? If not, go ahead and increase it. Bear in mind that cycling takes most people 6-8 weeks so 10 days in is nothing!

Regarding your friend's tank it probably just means that she's got some really bacteria laden sponges! As long as she hasn't had any disease in her tank it's probably be safe.