Help!

[dthoffsett]

I started a fishless cycle on 9/25 and until today everything seemed great. I was going to get fish today and thought I'd test my water before I did a water change just in case, and to my horror I seem to be back to square one. Below are all my test levels since the beginning, can anyone see where I went wrong. Towards the end I missed a few days of testing, but never missed adding the ammonia. Today I added the full 5ppm to test a little later and see if it's cycling at all.

9/25 Ammonia 5 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 0 PH 8.4 KH 5 GH 9
9/26 5 0 0 7.8 5 9
9/27 5 0 0 7.8 5 9
9/28 5 0 0 7.8 5 9
9/29 (added 4t 5 0 0 8.2 13 9
baking soda)
9/30 5 0 0 8.2 13 9
10/1 3 .25 0 8.2 13 9
From this time on started adding enough ammonia to reach 2-3 ppm
10/2 1 1 0 8.2 13 9
10/3 .5 5 10 8.2 13 9
10/4 0 5 10 8.2 13 9
10/5 0 5 10 8.2 13 9
10/6 0 5 10 8.2 13 9
10/7 0 5 10 8.2 13 9
10/8 0 5 10 8.2 13 9
On 10/10 I added enough ammonia to reach 5ppm and waited 10 hours before testing
10/10 0 0 10 8.2 13 9
10/11 0 0 10 8.2 13 9
10/14 0 0 10 8.2 13 9
10/15 .25 0 0 8.2 13 9

How in the world could I overnight go from a seemingly cycled tank to nothing?! The only think I have added to my tank to whole time was dechlorinator (doesn't affect ammonia), ammonia, and baking soda to bring up the KH. The only other change I have made was 2 days ago to turn the heater down to 78 in anticipation of getting fish. What in the world do I do from here? As I said above, I added ammonia to reach 5 ppm and will test it this afternoon when I get home. Please can anyone tell me what went wrong?

 

[sinistral]

Something doesn't seem right-- your nitrates shouldn't be staying at 10 over time. Nitrates should be rising steadily once they appear, unless you've done water changes.

I'd recommend double-checking your results at your LFS. Nitrate test kits can be faulty sometimes.

 

[jolaf]

Just my way of doing it but i would add some hardy fish and let it take care of itself. Maybe the water changaes are keeping the cycling at bay? The nitrates should be rising and peaking then falling. Maybe the chemicals are not working or are in incorrect doses. I have never done a fishless tank so I am not too up on that. just my opinion.

I started a fishless cycle on 9/25 and until today everything seemed great. I was going to get fish today and thought I'd test my water before I did a water change just in case, and to my horror I seem to be back to square one. Below are all my test levels since the beginning, can anyone see where I went wrong. Towards the end I missed a few days of testing, but never missed adding the ammonia. Today I added the full 5ppm to test a little later and see if it's cycling at all.

9/25 Ammonia 5 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 0 PH 8.4 KH 5 GH 9
9/26 5 0 0 7.8 5 9
9/27 5 0 0 7.8 5 9
9/28 5 0 0 7.8 5 9
9/29 (added 4t 5 0 0 8.2 13 9
baking soda)
9/30 5 0 0 8.2 13 9
10/1 3 .25 0 8.2 13 9
From this time on started adding enough ammonia to reach 2-3 ppm
10/2 1 1 0 8.2 13 9
10/3 .5 5 10 8.2 13 9
10/4 0 5 10 8.2 13 9
10/5 0 5 10 8.2 13 9
10/6 0 5 10 8.2 13 9
10/7 0 5 10 8.2 13 9
10/8 0 5 10 8.2 13 9
On 10/10 I added enough ammonia to reach 5ppm and waited 10 hours before testing
10/10 0 0 10 8.2 13 9
10/11 0 0 10 8.2 13 9
10/14 0 0 10 8.2 13 9
10/15 .25 0 0 8.2 13 9

How in the world could I overnight go from a seemingly cycled tank to nothing?! The only think I have added to my tank to whole time was dechlorinator (doesn't affect ammonia), ammonia, and baking soda to bring up the KH. The only other change I have made was 2 days ago to turn the heater down to 78 in anticipation of getting fish. What in the world do I do from here? As I said above, I added ammonia to reach 5 ppm and will test it this afternoon when I get home. Please can anyone tell me what went wrong?