Cycling-suspect Results.

[jaycat]

Hi,

I'm cycling a 4' tank, and I'm on to the second stage, well I was...

after a week the ammonia has dropped to 0, so I raised back up to 3ppm.

Nitrite was off the scale, 48 hours later ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 10.

Where on earth do I go from here? I have the fish ready to transfer from a smaller tank over, but it seems too quick for my liking. Shall I raise the ammonia back up or what? Ideas please. Temp in the tank is 30 degrees, and it has been in darkness IF that makes any difference.

Test kit is API and well in date. All seems a bit quick to me, 10 days.

Thanks

 

[minxfishy]

Well it can happen that quickly and the nitrItes can drop suddenley to 0, however, to be on the safe side, I would keep up adding the ammonia, up to 5ppm for another week, test daily, even every 12 hours to be absolutely sure.

 

[jaycat]

Usually you should have to do a water change to drop the nitrates too, so I've no idea what has happened.

Don't want to put my beloved fish in there if it's not safe for them.

 

[minxfishy]

Whoops never even looked at the nitrAte result!!

Although that one can be hard to get right with the API test, so could have just been a false reading.

 

[rhostog]

I think you're very wise to be cautious - I'd agree, keep up the ammonia for a few more days.

My small tank cycled with a sudden drop in nitrites, and then 2 or 3 days later I had traces of nitrite appear again, and it took a couple of days to clear. I think I may have added a little more ammonia than usual the day before, and the nitrite-eating bacteria weren't mature enough to cope quickly with the slight raise in nitrite that resulted. I was very glad I hadn't put fish in yet.

 

[jaycat]

Hi,

just to let any one who is answering know that I am not new to the hobby of fishkeeping, I just have never had this particular thing happen as I've been cycling a tank before. Usually the whole process goes according to plan and takes about 4 weeks, this had only been 10 days, and i'm at a loss as to what to do next,

raise levels of ammonia again,

water change, which I doubt will help.

It's the NITRATE that is throwing me somewhat.

 

[waterdrop]

Are you just surprised that you got any nitrates(NO3) at all after only 10 days? You may just have had some good inoculation via some re-used equipment or the water that came in or something. Its not impossible to be lucky.

Its hard to tell from your description but it doesn't sound like you are "qualifying" the fishless cycle to quite as tough a standard as we've been trying to do over here in "New to the Hobby" lately. So here's what we've been doing: When your 5ppm ammonia drops to zero, raise it back to 5ppm, no more than once per 24 hours. (In other words, if it drops to zero in say 10 hours, don't put ammonia back in until 24 hours from the last time you put ammonia in.)

You need to note the time (people usually do it morning or evening) and see if both ammonia and nitrite(NO2) are dropping to zero in 12 hours or less. As soon as that happens you keep adding the 5ppm of ammonia each day for one more week, making sure it drops both ammonia and nitrite to zero within 12 hours or less. If it can do it all week then you know you have a very robust filter and you can do your big day with the big water change and the adding of the first batch of fish.

(sorry if all that was obvious)
~~waterdrop~~

 

[jaycat]

Hi,

thanks for the reply. I have just raised the ammonia back up to 4ppm after 24 hours, so roughly about what you are advising to do, and I will continue to do this for another week, then do the water change, then slowly add my fish and plants. I'm adding at 9pm which allows me to check the 12/24 hour readings on amm and nitrite.

Thanks again.

 

[waterdrop]

So are both ammonia and nitrite dropping from 4ppm to 0ppm in under 12 hours yet? If so, how many times has that occurred?

 

[Corleone]

One little catch I didn't notice mentioned: A few people have reported the API nitrite test will turn sky blue with extremely high readings. Watch when you add the drops and shake it up - if it gets dark and then gets light again, that's a very high reading, but if it stays sky blue, that's a 0 reading.

 

[jaycat]

Right, this am ammonia is 0, trite is 0.5 so I'll raise the ammonia back up to 4 at 9pm after I've taken another reading of nitrite.

Drops def didn't go dark purple when they hit the bottom of the vial, I double checked that one too. Thanks though.

 

[waterdrop]

Good catch Corleone. Even though jaycat wasn't a case, we should remember. I'd forgotten that too.

 

[Corleone]

Yep - it's an unusual case, but a couple months back I accidentally gave somebody the go-ahead without considering it, and they appeared to have a massive nitrite spike after adding the fish as nitrite fell back into the readable range. I remember that any time somebody has readings they think might be off.