son

Hi,
This is my first attempt to do a fishless cycle on a 5g tank. I'm started dosing the tank with NH3 on August 21st. The NH3 levels have been dropping to zero within 6 hours for about 3 weeks now but the NO2 levels remain off the chart. I can’t test the nitrate levels because the nitrite levels are so high (as per the test kit instructions). When do the Nitrite eating critters kick in? My fish (and I) are getting impatient .
Thanks

Lucy

Congrats on going fish less! Cycling can be very frustrating.
Sometimes the cycle stalls when using ammonia.
Go ahead and test for nitrates, see what that reading is like.
You may need to do a water change to get the nitrite levels down to a readable level.
What's your pH reading?

If you would fill in your aquarium info, it would be helpful. It's found under My Settings at the top left.

jdhef

When I cycled my tank, the nitrite phase took about a week longer than the ammonia phase.

son

I have updated my settings ... the PH is around 7.3.

Lucy

Thanks! Good luck, you might just have to give it more time like jdhef suggests.