Old Chestnut I'm Afraid-Fishless Cycle

[spannerman]

Hi, I just need reassurance everything is going OK. Cycle has been running 3 weeks, I originally with an Ammonia reading of 4ppm until the highest Nitrite reading I got was 2ppm. I am now adding ammonia to get a level of 2ppm each day, and I retest the following day and get the following results, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0.5. Nitrate 5. Does this sound as if all is progressing well? S.

 

[Raechal]

Sounds like you're almost there....well has your nitrites and nitrates spiked yet?

 

[spannerman]

The highest reading I am getting is NO2 = 0.5ppm, and NO3 = 5ppm, they seem to be staying pretty constant. I wasn't sure whether I needed to add more ammonia to increase the NO2 reading or to just leave it to tick along until I was getting 0ppm on all readings. I am getting a lot of brown algae, is this normal? S.

 

[daza]

I would add the ammonia on a daily basis anyway (or bring it up to 4ppm when it falls below if you prefer this method). If ammonia is at zero because you haven't added any (as opposed to bacteria consuming it) and the nitrite then goes to zero the chances are that it fell to zero because the bacteria died off (due to no ammonia to feed on).

Brown algae is normal at some stage during the cycling. Green algae may also appear, as might a bacterical bloom (white cloudy water) which should clear up on its own.

 

[spannerman]

Thanks for that daza, I thought that's what may have been happening. I think as you say that the ammonia is being consumed too quickly

 

[daza]

if you add 4ppm of ammonia and it is at zero 24 hours later then that's good. That is about all the ammonia consuming bacteria you want/will get. If this is happening then keep adding it daily and the nitrites will then rise and fall, etc.

p.s. I come from Luton