Fishless cycle Problems

[Gunny]

Hi, Been doing the fishless cycle for 25 days, I slowed down adding ammonia when I got a Nitrite spike 10 days ago, but the Nitrites wont go down, I tested for Nitrates thinking I have added to much Ammonia , my Nitrate levels where about 75mg/l )

I have stopped adding Ammonia totaly now and done 2 50% water changes in the last couple of days to get the levels down a bit, but nitrites are 3.3-33mg/l and nitrates are still 75mg/l

I am guessing I added too much Ammonia , which got converted to nitrites and some of which is getting converted nitrates, but because there is so much nitrites in the water my readings aint going down.

Should I continue doing daily water changes?

 

[happyadd]

It shows that your cycle is working well. I would stop adding ammonia completely. When your nitrite does drop to zero (it took mine about 2 weeks) add fish straight away, that was my method and it worked well.

The high nitrate reading is as you think, this is my theory too. You may need to bring it down a bit before adding fish, I think 40 is around average but it can vary considerably. Water changes are the way forward, I would wait till your tank has cycled before doing this.

By changing water during your cycle your only increasing the length of it. I only know this cos I had the same problem. I also overdosed on ammonia and it took ages to disappear. I have fish now thoug and their all healthy and my water is perfect.

Its all about patience, I could hardly stand it but its tough luck im afraid!

Look good so far though!

 

[rdd1952]

You probably need to keep adding ammonia so the ammonia eating bacteria that have already formed will not die off. If you wait on the nitrite to drop (up to 4 weeks) the ammonia eating bacteria will die from lack of food. Just add enough ammonia to bring it back up to about 1.0 ppm. When it drops back to zero (probably 10 to 12 hours) add again. I am almost 2 weeks into the nitrite spike. I am adding ammonia twice daily, morning before leaving for work (generally back to zero when I get home) and then again in the evening (again, generally back to zero when I get up. Don't let the good bacteria you have already formed die off. Happyadd is correct that you should not change water. Only top off if it starts to get low.

Edit: When I got home today my nitrites were 0. Finally, I'm cycled. Nitrates are off the chart but a water change will fix that. Looks like I'm fish shopping this weekend.