Fishless cycling & Ammonia not dropping

[Medusa]

I've been fishless cycling my new 40 gallon tank for quite a while now. I've gotten the Ammonia to peak, followed with the nitrite and then cut the ammonia dose in half only for the nitrite to drop drastically and the ammonia to stay peaked.
What am I doing wrong?

I'm so frustrated with fishless cycling at this point!

It took a while for the nitrite to peak. Is it possible that it didn't peak enough?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, I'm so disapointed.

 

[a1wonder]

how long has it been cycling for a the very least it will take a min. of two weeks to a max (i've heard around here ) being 8 weeks. I use a product that add beneifical bateria to the tank as well as an old filter and a bit of old gravel to speed of the process for my tanks. It just take patients we've all been their at one point staring at an empty tank but in the end it was well worth it.

 

[Slyspy]

My fishless cycle on a small 30l tank took about three weeks, relatively quick and easy for a novice. There should be no ammonia peak since you are adding it yourself. I suspect that you have not had a nitrite peak yet. However, my tank has been running for months now and still some test kits show a trace of nitrites. Since my fish have all survived (even the neons and otos) I suspect problems with the kit not the tank. My nitrates are always very low (lower than the water from the tap in fact) due to my plants, while my ammonia is nil. I believe reduction of nitrite to be the slowest part of the cycle, but it will be sped up by adding filter material, gravel or ornaments from a mature, healthy tank. Don't waste money on off the shelf products, which have a bad reputation for being useless.

 

[Medusa]

I've been cycling it for a couple months. I bought a new filter for the new aquarium and didn't realize that there was carbon in the cartridge and I tried cycling it with that for a month or so before I realized. I'm afraid because there was an overload of Ammonia in the tank once the cartridge was removed that it somehow inhibited the growth of good bacteria. I've heard that too much ammonia can do that.

I've added a good amount of slime for my already established tanks filter and will add some gravel tomorrow and I'm sure this will help.

I'm not sure if I should cut down on the ammonia or not. There is already a large amount in the tank. I think I'll cut it down.
Thanks

 

[modernhamlet]

The best way, I've found, to fishless cycle is to add enough ammonia to bring the levels up to around 3ppm. Then wait until the ammonia starts dropping noticably. Then add enough to bring it back up to ~3ppm. Test daily and continue adding ammonia as described until the tank can turn a full 3ppm of ammonia into nitrates (0 ammonia, 0 nitrite) in one day for 3 consecutive days.

Hopefully that makes sense...

Good luck with your new tank!

 

[Medusa]

Thanks Modern I'll try that.