Is My Fishless Cycle Reversing?

[DJC1]

As of a week ago, ammonia was being cleared in under 12 hours, and as of about five days ago, nitrItes dropped to 0.25 and stayed around that level (they may have dropped a bit under 0.25 a few days ago).

I'm going away next week so decided to just keep topping up with ammoina until I return.

I hadn't checked the levels for the last couple of days, so had a quick check just now to make sure everything was still running smoothly, and although the ammonia is still clearing, the nitrItes have shot up to 2.0!

I did increase the ammoina dosage by 0.5ml about four or five days ago, but I don't 'think' it was effecting the nitrItes at that time.

Could this explain the sudden increase in nitrItes, or is something else going on?

I have also had a bit of a snail explosion the last week and generaly terminate about ten a day on site. Could dead snail cause some kind of nitrIte boost?

 

[Thirdfloor]

NitrIte is the result of ammonia being broken down by bacteria. When ammonia levels go down, nitrIte levels will go up. A second type of bacteria breaks nitrItes down into nitrAtes

How long has your tank been set up?

Increasing the amount of ammonia you put in will make your nitrIte levels go up until the bacteria that break it down adjust to the new volume.

As for snails, if your tank is big enough, get a couple clown or yoyo loaches to eat the snails, if it isnt big enough, there are several methods fo snail-extraction you can find here on this forum.

Hope this helps!

 

[**sarahp**]

Check your ph - my cycle slowed down when the ph dropped to about 6.4. I did a water change to get the ph back up and the cycle carried on as normal. Also did you use bactinettes to jump start the cycle?? Think I read somewhere that you did or am I confusing you with someone else???