Help with fishless cycling

[pednurkim]

I started cycling my 55 gallon tank on July 19th. I am using Fritz ammonium chloride for the ammonia source. My tap water tests 0 for ammonia, nitrite and nitrates. After 8 days ammonia was testing 0 ppm in 24 hours. Dosed to 200 ppm, again zero in 24 hours. I dosed ammonia every few days with going to zero in 24 hours every time. Nitrites became extremely high, so I did a few water changes to get the level down. It had been about 6 days since dosing ammonia. I dosed ammonia with getting nitrite level at 0.50 ppm. Ammonia 0 ppm 24 hours later. It has been a week and nitrites still don't decrease. I do have nitrate production. Before I did the water changes to get the nitrites down, my nitrate was 80 ppm. My hope was get the nitrites to a manageable level and I would then see everything converting in 24 hours. That is not happening. The ammonia goes down, but nitrites still stay bright purple (2-5 ppm - I can't tell the difference), and a nitrate level of 5 - 10 ppm. What am I doing wrong? And will this ever end? I have had heater, bubbler and filter running entire time. The tank pH always reads between 8.0 and 8.2. Any help would be great! Thanks!

 

[CarissaT]

Just trying to understand the time line, if you dose ammonia it’s going to 0 within 24 hours, but if you dose it every day, with no water changes, do nitrites climb every day too? Or do they stay the same?

 

[Slaphppy7]

"Dosed to 200 ppm, again zero in 24 hours. I dosed ammonia every few days with going to zero in 24 hours every time."

I'm guessing you mean 2 PPM? I'm not sure 200 is even achievable....

At any rate, are you following the fishless cycling stick here? https://www.fishforums.net/threads/cycle-your-tank-a-complete-guide-for-beginners.475055/

 

[pednurkim]

Just trying to understand the time line, if you dose ammonia it’s going to 0 within 24 hours, but if you dose it every day, with no water changes, do nitrites climb every day too? Or do they stay the same?

Yes, every time I dose ammonia, nitrites climb too. I had to do 3 75% water changes to get down to 0.50 ppm nitrite.

 

[pednurkim]

"Dosed to 200 ppm, again zero in 24 hours. I dosed ammonia every few days with going to zero in 24 hours every time."

I'm guessing you mean 2 PPM? I'm not sure 200 is even achievable....

At any rate, are you following the fishless cycling stick here? https://www.fishforums.net/threads/cycle-your-tank-a-complete-guide-for-beginners.475055/

Yes, sorry, I did mean 2 ppm! I did follow the directions, except my nitrites have never gone down except with the large water changes, so I added the snack after I got the nitrites down.

 

[CarissaT]

I think maybe it just needs more time. It’s been a bit over a month…you’re probably getting close now.

If you’re getting nitrate production, it is cycling, just hasn’t gotten enough of a bacteria colony to keep up with the nitrite yet. I would go with daily lower doses of the ammonia and see what happens in another week.

 

[pednurkim]

Yes, sorry, I did mean 2 ppm! I did follow the directions, except my nitrites have never gone down except with the large water changes, so I added the snack after I got the nitrites down.

I think maybe it just needs more time. It’s been a bit over a month…you’re probably getting close now.

If you’re getting nitrate production, it is cycling, just hasn’t gotten enough of a bacteria colony to keep up with the nitrite yet. I would go with daily lower doses of the ammonia and see what happens in another week.

I started getting the nitrates about 2 weeks ago. That is why I did yhe large water changes thinking the nitrites were so high I could see them converting, but the nitrites seem to barely be changing. I'll keep waiting. Thank you!

 

[pednurkim]

Yes, sorry, I did mean 2 ppm! I did follow the directions, except my nitrites have never gone down except with the large water changes, so I added the snack after I got the nitrites down.

I guess the biggest thing I am confused about is if my nitrites never go down, I don't add ammonia anymore? That sounds like the ammonia bacteria colony would decrease too much, so I did add some after about 6-7 days. It still decreased to 0, but took a little longer, but nitrites still didn't change that I could tell. So should I not add anymore ammonia until nitrites drop a lot on their own?

 

[CarissaT]

I think you should keep doing ammonia just decrease the dose to avoid building up massive nitrites too fast. Then once both ammonia and nitrites are going away you can go back to regular dose to make sure it’s ready for fish. It will catch up fast then.

 

[pednurkim]

I think you should keep doing ammonia just decrease the dose to avoid building up massive nitrites too fast. Then once both ammonia and nitrites are going away you can go back to regular dose to make sure it’s ready for fish. It will catch up fast then.

OK. Thank you!

 

[Essjay]

Are you following the method on here exactly and only adding ammonia once the targets given in the method are reached? Adding ammonia too often will make so much nitrite the cycle will stall.

 

[pednurkim]

Are you following the method on here exactly and only adding ammonia once the targets given in the method are reached? Adding ammonia too often will make so much nitrite the cycle will stall.

I had added ammonia one time more than it said. That is why I did the water changes to decrease the nitrites. Then did a partial ammonia dose to make sure those bacteria were still able to clear it to zero in 24 hours. It was cleared. The problem is the nitrites never clear or seem to really go down. I do have a small amount of nitrates (5-10 ppm). The way I read the guide though seems to be no more ammonia added unless nitrites are below 1 ppm. Mine are never that low. If I had done that, it would have been about 3 weeks of adding no ammonia. I can't imagine the bacterial colony to handle ammonia wouldn't be very decreased in that length of time. I'm so confused.

 

[Slaphppy7]

What is the temp of the tank?

 

[pednurkim]

Started with it at 78, then increased it to 83 last week.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Good. Do you have a bubbler going?

Warmer water holds less oxygen, which the BB (beneficial bacteria) need to thrive; a bubbler will create more surface agitation, which will help with gas exchange/oxygenation of the water column