jwokmuba2

well im twenty days into my first fishless cycle and finally i have my first nitrite reading today, ammonia dropped from 5-4 PPM to 2 ppm, nitrite .5, and nitrate 10. i am a little confused cause i did'nt expect to see nitrates yet. i still have a little while to go but am very excited. also i wanted to know from some expirenced keepers what my next move should be? please

jdhef

I wouldn't expect to see nitrates yet either, unless like myself, your tap water contains nitrates. Have you tested your tap water? Hard to say what your next move should be, since I don't know which method of fishless cycling you are doing. If you are adding drops of ammonia, I believe you are supposed to cut the amount of drops in half once you start seeing nitrites, but I'm not 100% since I never cycled that way.

Anyway, Congratulations...you are on your way. Just a couple more weeks and you'll be adding fish.

jwokmuba2

im am using the add and wait method.

jdhef

It seems like you're waiting forever, doesn't it? Fishkeeping really does require patience!

jwokmuba2

yeah it take a while. lol, but i might be getting another bigger 55 gallon, and ill have to take my 29 and transfer everthing over to it. thats goin to be even more fun. lol

gmen4life

well once you have one cycled you can seed and insta cycle are you running 2 filters? i would then you can set up tanks in a flash

jwokmuba2

im not running two but i have one in the wings, and i can stick the extra bio sponge in the filter i have on the tank now so it can be almost the same.

gmen4life

yeah always have yourself extra media of some form o need to cycle again after once wooohooo your getting there

jwokmuba2

, i still need some advice for my next step. do i leave everything alone untill ammonia is 0, or do i add more ammonia to raise it back to 4-5 ppm?

kimb

Hi jwokmuba....If your ammonia is a steady 2, I would leave it another day. If it bottoms to 0 (which it should do) then top it back to 2-3. I kept mine at 2-3 once I had nitrites showing and from that point I was about another 2 weeks. Congrats! If you want to get that other piece of media seeded, get it in now...you never know when you'll need it! Good luck.

jwokmuba2

thanks, i just put that spong in the filter so im good there. i also have a carbon sponge container in the filter to. can i go ahead and take that out without hurting the cycle?

to sum up i have one sponge with carbon, and two bio sponges in the filter.

jwokmuba2

updated test readings today,

ammonia 1 ppm, nitrite 1 ppm, and nitrate 15.

should i add more ammonia?

kimb

You can leave the ammonia (there is still some there to feed the bacteria) and wait for 0 then add back up to 2. The good thing about waiting for 0, is you will be able to see how fast it processing. As far as your media, leave it until you are done cycling, it is not hurting anything and you will be doing a big water change before adding any fish. I don't use carbon in my tanks, I remove it from the cartidges before putting them into the filter. You are getting really close...it won't be long now!

jwokmuba2

thanks kimb, im getting so anxious, cant wait to see what the fish will look like in there.

dvc_r

Your NO2 and NO3 will both rise (at different rates). At one point NO2 will start to fall but NO3 will obviously continue to rise. Here's a basic chart of the cycle:

Attached Images

Nitrogen Cycle.jpg (35.5 KB, 22 views)

jwokmuba2

updated test readings:

ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 20,

uhhhhh, isnt this just about the perfect reading that i could get? keep in mind that i never have seen a nitrite spike or nitrate spike. do i need to add ammonia now? and how much?

jwokmuba2

update:

added ammonia to raise level to about 4 ppm, nitrite is 0 and nitrate is 20.