Cycling quesiton

[Sea_Monster87]

I'm cycling a 2.5 gallon that I'm going to use as a fry tank. It's been cycling since Saturday, and the Ammonia still hasn't gone down. In fact, it's gotten higher. It was .25 on Sunday, 1.0 on Monday morning, and it's been 2.0 since Monday night. Also, the nitrates went from 10 to 40 in just a few days, and then went down to 20, but the ammonia still won't go down. I thought that the Ammonia was supposed to spike, and when the Ammonia goes down, the nitrate would spike, but they seem to be spiking at the same time. I've tried prime, stress zyme, and a 10% water change and still nothing has lowered the ammonia. Is there anything else I could do?
Thanks,
Sea Monster

 

[myfrint]

When Ammonia starts to go down, nitrIte begins to increase. Not nitrAte.

 

[cutechic]

Yes, you add ammonia until nitrites spike, and both gradually go down as they are converted into nitrates, which increase. When ammonia and nitrites are both at 0, your tank is cycled. Do a big water change to reduce nitrates right before adding new fish, and you're set to go.

Unless there are fish in the tank, don't do water changes until the tank has finished cycling. This will prolong the cycle.

 

[samsung-401]

Take water from your alrdy larger tanks and put it in er 2.5

it will save u alot of time.

 

[luxum]

Water from an established tank won't help. The bacteria you want live on surfaces, they aren't free-floating.

 

[Sea_Monster87]

I used water and some decorations from my 20 gallon. There are no fish in the tank. I did a 20% water change this morning and the Ammonia went down a bit.

 

[clutterydrawer]

doing water changes will slow down your cycle because it removes the ammonia which the bacteria need to feed on. if tehre is less ammonia, there is less food for the bacteria, so tehy won't multiply to cope with it! could you add a bit of gravel from your established tank? or even a bit of the filter sponge? (but not too much of it or it will damage the established tank!)

 

[astroboy]

why bother to cycle it?

Just take gravel and filter media from one of your old tanks and throw it in there. You could immediately throw a fish in there as a source of ammonia so your bacteria don't die. Instantly cycled

 

[Sea_Monster87]

Yes, I can add cycled gravel from my 20 gallon. I'll try that.