fishless cycle

[lougotzz]

I am confused. My ammo is off the charts and my nitrites are dropping. Will my ammo drop too? I thought my ammo would drop first. Am I comming to the end of my fishless cycle

 

[tstenback]

hello again lougotzz
Yes normally the ammonia will come down first but water being water it sometimes doesnt do what we want it to do. I have had this happen recently and when the nitrites hit 0 I still had 3ppm of ammonia and my nitrates were 20. So in effect the cycle was over but i still had ammonia. The ammonia will come down naturally but it may take a bit of time... if you are impatient at this time and you have zero nitrites and positive nitrates then do a 50% water change and check the ammonia level then wait 24 hours and check it again. If still too high do the same thing again. until after a 24 hour period the ammonia reading is 0. Then as a final precaution after the tank has been at 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and positive nitrates for a day add the some ammonia to the tank and about 1 hour later take the measurement. Wait 24 hours and take it again if it is zero thenthe tank is successfully cycled...throw a big party and invite us all. HTH