Help

[carfabreb]

Just keep at it - testing and water changes daily. If your readings get higher do larger water changes and cut back on feeding. You can drain the tank down to a few inches and refill if its bad. Its a lot of hard work which is why its easier to do a fishless cycle, but although it seems like forever you will get there !

Thanks Gilli, I have to say the fish do seem happier after a water change! lol. I do wish though the darn fish shop we got the tank from had told me SOMETHING, ANYTHING about keeping fish, instead of nothing at all. When will I know the cycle is completed?

 

[mhancock]

Just keep at it - testing and water changes daily. If your readings get higher do larger water changes and cut back on feeding. You can drain the tank down to a few inches and refill if its bad. Its a lot of hard work which is why its easier to do a fishless cycle, but although it seems like forever you will get there !

Thanks Gilli, I have to say the fish do seem happier after a water change! lol. I do wish though the darn fish shop we got the tank from had told me SOMETHING, ANYTHING about keeping fish, instead of nothing at all. When will I know the cycle is completed?

So pleased it is getting there!

You'll know when it the cycling is complete as the ammonia and nitrite levels will both be steady at zero

 

[KISSfn]

In the future, you will test your water and Ammonia and Nitrite will read zero and Nitrates will be on the rise. Cycle complete.

 

[OldMan47]

How about a few simple facts to guide you. Each 1 ppm of ammonia will become 2.7 ppm of nitrite when it is converted, so very little ammonia becomes far more nitrite. Keep that ratio in mind as you are starting to see the nitrites. Once nitrites start converting to nitrates, the ratio becomes 3.6 ppm of nitrate for each 1 ppm of ammonia. The ratio is even worse except for one thing, nitrates are relatively benign. If you see a tiny drop in ammonia but find lots of nitrite or nitrate, refer back to those ratios. The huge numbers you get in those other chemicals often just reflect the fact that ammonia is the smallest of the numbers in identical nitrogen concentrations. We need to move ammonia on through to nitrates but it is not free, there is a cost in effort by the fish keeper until the cycle is complete.

 

[Gilli]

You will know your tank is cycled when you have a constant 0 ammonia reading, 0 nitrite reading and some form of nitrate reading - either 10, 20 etc.