Bkp_80

Hi guys, been reading and absorbing as much information as possible while i've been waiting for my tank to cycle. I bought a 20g starter kit for the kids, and set it up on July 25. I read all the information on fishless cycling and decided to go that route. Long story short, 2 days ago I tested ammonia and Nitrites, and noticed the the nitrites took a little longer to turn purple in the bottom of the test vile ( it had been a instant purple previously), so I decided to check the nitrate levels, and noticed I had about a 80ppm reading of nitrates, it had been around 10ppm, and a light orange , now a deep red, the Ammonia was also reading .25ppm, which is the same as my tap water will test at. I added about 10 eye drops of ammonia and waited 24 hours, this time both Ammonia and Nitrites were at 0, so I figured my tank had finally cycled after 13 weeks. So last night I feed the tank some more ammonia( about 15 drops), as a safety measure to see if it really cycled, and checked this morning the Nitrites are still at 0, ammonia was still at about 5ppm, Nitrates are still blood red, about 80ppm using the API test kit. I checked again this evening and the ammonia still seems to be about 5ppm, my question is since my Nitrates have processed all the Nitrites, will my tank still process the ammonia? I thought I had it licked, but not sure now what i should do, do i need to do the water change now, even though i dont know what kinda fish I'm going to put in it yet, or keep at it and save the water change for when im actually ready to add fish?

Thanks for any help, you guys can provide.

Shawnie

Hi bkp_80 and welcome to fishlore!!
sounds like an ammonia overdose which happens allot with this method...id do a 50% water change and retest tomorrow nite ...once you get a nitrite reading, your suppose to cut the ammonia in half and not let it go above 1-2 ppms...ive never cycled this way, but its what ive read..maybe some other members might have more information that have tried this method..good luck and great job cycling fishless!

Lucy

Welcome to FishLore
Congrats on going fish less!
I agree with Shawnie. Quite a few members have had a stalled cycle using the ammonia method.
Sometimes it takes that water change to jump start it.

Best of luck!

Je55*e

This exact same thing has happened to me, and what Shawnie suggested above is what I did to fix it. Like Lucy said, congrats on going fishless and welcome aboard! =)

aquarist48

Hello BKP and Welcome to Fish Lore. Great tips and advice above. Best of luck with your new set up! I hope you can share some photos down the road.
Enjoy the site!
Ken

Bkp_80

Thanks for the help guys, did a 50% water change last night and checked this morning, Nitrites still 0ppm, Ammonia 1ppm, Nitrates 20ppm. Will I ever get a nitrite reading again, since my tank has cycled once,(meaning reduced Nitrite, and Ammonia to 0ppm over night) Nitrites have been 0ppm since it cycled. Here is a couple pictures, my kids love Dinosuars.

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Lucy

What a cute tank for the kids!
You might not get another nitrite reading if you have enough of the bacteria that process nitrites to nitrates.

jdhef

Why of course it's the "kids" who love the Dinosuars.

I just wanted to make the suggestion that once you have fish in your tank you may want to use a product called Prime as your water condition. The reason I suggest this is because if I read correctly, you have ammonia in your tap water and Prime will detox the ammonia (so it is not harmful to the fish) for 24 hours by which time the bacteria in your tank will have processed it.

Good Luck!

Je55*e

I just have to say, what an awesome tank! I really like the dinosaurs and colors. Can't wait to see what fishies you get when it's cycled.

Bkp_80

I tested last night and the ammonia had droped to the level that it always drops to when I add more to feed the tank. I dont know if this is the lowest my tank can ever achieve or what, the test card shows it should be yellow for 0ppm Ammonia, but it never turns any more yellow than in the picture below. It will eventually turn tanish/yellow after a hour or so of setting in the vile. It was this level last night and I wanted to wait another 12 hours to see if it would go yellow, but its still this level this morning. So my plan is to add about 5 drops of ammonia, and test it 24h later, and will continue this for the upcoming week, unless anyone advises otherwise. I think my tank is cycled, will have to see what the test show this week.

Thanks

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Lucy

Follow the directions on the kit. What ever your reading is 5 minutes later is your reading, not what it reads an hour later.
Personally, at this point, I'd wait it out. Test the water daily without adding anything until you get a true 0 ammonia reading.
At that point bring the ammonia up to 2. Test in 12-24 hours. If, at that point, you get a true 0 reading, your tank is cycle.
If your test is still showing ammonia, repeat the process.

Once your tank is cycled, it should take care of any ammonia in your tap water. Just use Prime as your water conditioner to detox it for 24 hrs and let the bacteria do the rest.

Just my opinion, but that's what I would do.

Now, with all said, there's a link around here somewhere (been looking for it) that explains using a nessler reagent test kit with certain water conditioners that can give you a false ammonia reading.
I'll keep looking for the link.

Here are the link with a couple quotes:
Edit:
All that chemistry stuff is over my head, hopefully it'll help you in some way.
Maybe someone else can comment on it.
Give me a head ache! lol

Bkp_80

I can wait, thats no problem, its taken 14 weeks to get where im at now, lol. I haven't feed it anymore ammonia yet, so I will keep waiting and see if it goes completly yellow. I won't let any bacteria die will I, if I keep waiting without adding anymore ammonia?

Thanks for the help

Lucy

If you have an ammonia reading, there is ammonia feeding the bacteria.
That's why, once you get the 0 reading, add ammonia to 2ppm and test again in 12-24 hours.
Crossing fingers that this time will finally be it and you'll be done.
Cycling is a pain!

Bkp_80

Well its been about two weeks since I last posted, I figured out it takes about 10 drops to get the ammonia up to 1-2ppm in my tank from 0ppm. Test are still reading the same as before, Ammonia is taking about 48 hours to process back to 0ppm, Nitrites are staying at 0ppm, pH is around 7.5 to 8, Nitrates are still blood red, hard to read on chart, but at minimum 80ppm. Is this normal, sure seems like this is taking an extremly long time even from start to now. Guess my question is, is this normal for this phase of the cycle? I thought I was finally at the end, but I really dont know what to do now. Does the high Nitrates make it hard to process the ammonia? Any help, I will appreciate it.

Thanks

Lucy

You could be right about the high nitrates. I've read that high nitrates effect the amount of oxygen in the water. The bacteria needs oxygen.
If it were my tank, I'd do a huge water change and get the nitrates down to about 10 then continue what you're doing.
Have to admire your patience!