I Need Help

[tigerchilly]

today ..ammonia 1-0.5ppm and nitrite 5+ppm

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Hold fast.

 

[Sanjay]

Hi!!
After 33 days of my fishless cycle, my nitrite was 0 (light blue) when i tested in at night!! I couldnt believe it had finally happened!!
Now ammonia and nitrite are processed back to 0 after 10 hours and have been doing so for 3 days now, so I know im almost there!!
Now im checking for nitrates and that seems to be a constant 40 ppm.
The nitrites will be 0 out of the blue one day and you can almost celebrate!!
Stick with it - soooo worth it!!

 

[tigerchilly]

thanks mate sounds like a plan....i think im getting the hang of it...

so when i get zero on ammonia, i put some more ammonia in is that right?

and keep on testing ammonia and nitrite until they read zero?

then what?.....

 

[Sanjay]

Hiya.
You are right - when you get a 0 reading for ammonia, dose it back up to 2ppm and keep checking for nitrites too.

Every time the ammonia drops to 0, put some more in to a level of 2ppm. (Gotta keep those ammonia bacteria going).

I did a large water change inbetween as well to try and help reduce the nitrite level.

You will notice the nitrate level goes up as nitrites become 0. Then a very large water change should reduce the nitrate level.

When ammonia and nitrites read 0 iin 10/12 hours, you are there my friend!!

 

[tigerchilly]

ah cool...thanks man

 

[tigerchilly]

today ammonia 0.50ppm maybe lower and nitrite still same 5+ppm

 

[Sanjay]

Its the time the nitrite bacteria take to grow thats the waiting part!! Seems to take forever but one day.......0!!!

 

[tigerchilly]

how many times do i dose ammonia before i can put fish in.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Until you get zeros for both ammonia and nitrite. It takes time and patience. It doesn't happen over night, unfortunately.

 

[tigerchilly]

ok so my ammonia is not quite there but my nitrite is zero taday.

 

[the_lock_man]

Hi TC - the problem with the API ammonia test is that it's very difficult to tell 0ppm from 0.25ppm (which is one of the 2 reasons why I don't use the API tests). So, I'm going to assume that you are actually seeing 0ppm ammonia.
 
Is this test result 24 hours after you last added ammonia?

 

[tigerchilly]

i put my first ammonia dose a week ago...then tested 24 hours later and had high ammonia reading and nitrite was also high.

and i kept testing everyday and they started to drop..and today very low if not zero and i also did a nitrate test which read zero.

i dosed ammonia again and ill be testing in 10 hours.


if ive got anything wrong can you please let me know.

 

[the_lock_man]

Basically, when you see Double Zeros (ie 0ppm for ammonia and nitrite) 24 hours after a dose, then you are into stage 3 of the process. That is keep dosing the ammonia and wait for both ammonia and nitrite to be processed to 0ppm in 12 hours.
 
I don;t really understand from your reply whether your Double Zeros result above was after 12 hours or 24 hours of your last dose of ammonia.

 

[tigerchilly]

it was 24hours ...and im on my second ammonia dose so now ill check after 12hours and should see zeros?