21 days into fishless cycle - looking for some comments

Hi,

I'm new to this forum and I've been reading through a few posts here in the nitrogen cycle forum. I'm 21 days into a fishless cycle and Ammonia somewhere between 4-8ppm, Nitrite 5ppm, Nitrate <5ppm. For 21 days, I was certainly hoping for faster =). But what I want is to ask for are comments on is how I can possibly speed up the process and reach that finish line. Here are some notes...

- 29 gallon tank.
- I have no seed material
- I put in Ammonia only on the first 2 days. It reached > 8ppm and I stopped.
- It was about day 10 that Nitrite started to show and it took another 10 days for it to reach 5ppm.
- Only started to test Nitrate and it is <5ppm. There is no nitrate in the tap water.
- pH has held above 7.6
- I don't have a heater
- HOB filter with water a couple inches down.
- I have a reverse flow UGF but I have that disconnected and using the powerhead to "disturb" the surface more.

So, what can I do to forge ahead and hit that finish line?

Many thanks in advance,

Ray

 

You can safely top off the water whenever you think it needs it, just make sure you dechlorinate the water you're adding. Adding a heater would help, as the bacteria thrives at higher temperatures. Otherwise it's just a waiting game. When your ammonia hits 0 you add more than the see how long it takes to process, I believe the general guideline is you want 4 ppm gone in under 12 hours.

 

It looks like you are close. How are you testing? With strips? Liquid test kit?
I would look in to a heater. I had mine cranked up to 86 degrees. My fishless/ammonia cycle just finished after 3.5 weeks a few days ago.

I would also say, don't add any more ammonia - let it go down to zero.
When it gets to zero, test for Nitrites - if its still high, then its not processing and give it a few more days with no ammonia.

Good luck!

Junne

 

BB= beatifically bacteria grow faster in warm water so a heater would help alot. 86f is a great temp for BB to grow.

you said you only added ammonia on the first two days. have you added anymore? soon as you saw nitrites your ammonia should have started to drop. then you would need to add more ammonia, just making sure you did.

 

I feel like mine is moving super slow if you already saw things at day 21. I'm at day 36 of my fishless cycle. I started out w/fish food but on day 21, I added ammonia until it was 4.0 ppm. Also am using the liquid master kit and haven't seen any drop in ammonia. My temp is 86... is it unusual that after 5 weeks I still have seen no nitrites?

 

Thanks for the replies. Well.. Here is an update.

- I bought myself a heater! And set it to about 85F.
- I am using the API test kit.
- I have been testing for Ammonia and Nitrite daily. I've only tested for Nitrate a couple times. I didn't really see the need since I need both ammonia and nitrite to drop.
- Yes, I only added Ammonia on the first 2 days. After day 1, it was at 4ppm. After day 2, it was at 8ppm. I haven't added any since and it is reading 4ppm now. I wonder if I have just completed saturated the test? Possibly I had more than 8ppm but the test can't get any more "green" =)
- I've been topping up with water that I left out for 24-hours to eliminate chlorine. I've actually changed a bit of water early on thinking I had way too much ammonia in there.

 

yea 8ppm is to high 4 to 5ppm is best. if its to high it can stall your cycle. you should have had to add some more ammonia by now especially if your seeing nitrite. maybe it stalled, I would do a 25% water change.

I would still use a water conditioner. sitting it out can't remove everything.

@ sf0135 it takes longer with fish food. usually after I get my ammonia up to 5ppm it takes a week or two to see nitrite. yours is deff taking awhile, you can go to a pet store and buy some driftwood that is in one of the stores tanks. that can add some seed material.

 

I know it would have made sense to have needed more ammonia. But is it really stalled considering Nitrite is still building? The past 10 days, it went from .25ppm to 5ppm. I can only assume I had more than 8ppm of Ammonia to start and the test kit doesn't show more than 8ppm.

Anyway, tonight, it seems ammonia is down to 4ppm now.

 

if you nitrite is going up then you should have your ammonia dropping so that's good. it sounds ok if your ammonia is dropping.

 

I know it would have made sense to have needed more ammonia. But is it really stalled considering Nitrite is still building? The past 10 days, it went from .25ppm to 5ppm. I can only assume I had more than 8ppm of Ammonia to start and the test kit doesn't show more than 8ppm.

Anyway, tonight, it seems ammonia is down to 4ppm now.

Sounds like it is moving along. Let it go to zero a few days while still checking your nitrite levels. Hopefully you will go to zero nitrites soon!

 

I'm starting to wonder if i've been reading my ammonia wrong and it's been 6+ and that's why I'm seeing no action as far as nitrites are concerned.

 

I'm starting to wonder if i've been reading my ammonia wrong and it's been 6+ and that's why I'm seeing no action as far as nitrites are concerned.

You just need to let the ammonia go down and don't feed the tank anymore. I bet if you do this and let the ammonia be 0 for a few days, the nitrites will get consumed and you will be cycled.

 

That's what I'm gonna do starting today. I'll see if it starts to drop soon or if it stays high for a while.

I wish there was a meter you could use that would just give you exact digital readings simply by dipping it in the water!

 

Clarification on this process. When ammonia hits 0, should I leave it until Nitrite hits 0? I figured it ammonia hits 0, I should add more ammonia as to not kill off the bacteria. How long should I leave ammonia at 0 whilst waiting for Nitrite to go down?

 

Right. You need to keep providing ammonia so that the bacteria that converts ammonia to nitrites stays alive.

 

Clarification on this process. When ammonia hits 0, should I leave it until Nitrite hits 0? I figured it ammonia hits 0, I should add more ammonia as to not kill off the bacteria. How long should I leave ammonia at 0 whilst waiting for Nitrite to go down?

When your ammonia hits 0, check your nitrites - if its still high, leave the ammonia alone for another day. It should be fine. Then if the nitrites still have not gone down much in a few days, do a pwc and put a few drops of ammonia to bring it back up around 2.0. Repeat process if needed but usually by this time, your nitrites should drop significantly if not 0

 

Okay. Thanks for the replies. I am getting a bit restless. This weekend, it will be 4 weeks (28 days). It would be terrific if I can get some fish in this weekend.

Tonight, Nitrite is pretty much off the charts 5+ppm. Nitrate is building slowly and looks somewhere around 10ppm. Ammonia is around 4ppm.

Anyone want to hazard some guess how much longer I need to wait?

 

2 weeks tops. but ya never know for sure, hopefully it will be sooner,

 

I just checked. I think it has been 27 days right now. Ammonia is 0. Nitrite is off the charts. Nitrate still <10ppm. So it seems this cycle stalled? I didn't check for a few days due to a family emergency.

What next?

 

I would order an active sponge filter from angelsplus.com . it's kind of cheating but it worked super fast for me, and now I sound like a commercial..

 

it dosent sound stalled to me. any time now your going to check your nitrite and it will be dropping or even at 0. it really happens out of no where, I would keep at it. it will happen. there is no reason not to order one of those sponges if you want but it might be done before it gets there.

 

I thought mine was stalled for along time. It mayhave been due to too much ammonia. I was reading my test incorrectly (matching colors never was my thing...ask my wife!) I stopped feeding it and 2 days later everything started moving along again. I'm nearing the end now finally!

 

I added more ammonia on Day 27th since ammonia was 0. So I brought it up to 4ppm. Today is day 30th, and there is 1ppm ammonia, Nitrite still off the charts, and Nitrate is still at 10ppm.

So it seems ammonia conversion is slow but happening. It looks like Nitrite isn't going anywhere.

Should I be concerned or stay the course?

Thanks,

 

Stay the course, you are almost there. One day soon, you will wake up and the ammonia and nitrites will magically be gone - same thing happened to me and it was like it happened like that <snapping fingers>
You're so close - you've got Nitrates so its being converted.

Junne

 

Actually, I'm starting to think that the Nitrate was picked up via the ammonia I've been adding (not tap water). I don't think I have any Nitrite to Nitrate conversion.

 

the nitrate could be coming from your tap.

my first cycle took a lil over a month. you have come so far, I would give it 2 more weeks before I start to worry.

 

So I did a huge water change... Retested... Nitrate was reduced from 100ppm down to 5ppm. But Nitrite is still off the charts.

What the heck? Did I have so much Nitrite that when mixed with such a huge water change, it is still off the charts??

 

my nitrite was off the charts every time I did a fishless cycle. then it just suddenly dropped to zero. I would just keep feeding ammonia at least every other day, it will happen.

I'm not sure why it won't drop. might just be there is so much. but that is the point of the fishless cycle, to get a bunch of BB built up fast.