Am I being impatient or is my cycle stalled?

Are you doing a fish in cycle, fishless cycle or was your tank cycled and you had a sudden ammonia or nitrite spike?: fishless

Tank
What is the water volume of the tank?: 36 gallon bowfront
What type of water are you using in your tank? (tap, well, RO/DI, other): tap
When did you start cycling the tank?: 1/9/23
What type of filtration are you running on this tank? (sponge, HOB, canister, other): Aqua-tech power filter for 20-40 gallons with bio-foam filter
If canister or HOB list all the media you are running in it. (manufactured cartridges, sponge, etc.):
Do you have good water agitation/surface movement?: I have a 30GPH air pump with oxygen stone running
What is the water temperature?: 78F


Products used while cycling
If this is a fishless cycle what ammonia source are you using? (fish food, Dr Tim’s ammonia, other): Dr. Tim's ammonia
If adding liquid ammonia how often do you dose ammonia in your tank and in what quantity? (1ppm, 2ppm etc.): I started out following the "Add and wait" method detailed in this link Ammonia Instructions For A Fishless Cycle | Aquarium Nitrogen Cycle Forum dosing first to 5 ppm until my ammonia came down to under 1.0, then back to 3 ppm until it fell again, and so on until nitrites and nitrates were both off the charts, when I did more reading that suggested I should stop adding ammonia until nitrites fell significantly.
If using fish food as your ammonia source how much are you adding and how often?: NA
Are you using a dechlorinater and if so, which one?: Yes, used Aquasafe
Are you using bottled bacteria and if so, which one?: No
Did you add seeded media from a previously cycled tank?: Yes, I initially added a filter cartridge that had been in my healthy 10 gallon tank that had been running for 4 years, and then added another about 2 weeks into the cycle
What other products/chemicals are you using? (list them all): none

Testing and cycling process
What was your knowledge of the nitrogen cycle before beginning to cycle your tank? (none, beginner, intermediate (please explain), advanced): beginner, I cycled my 10 gallon 4 years ago, and it has been running happily ever since, but I had forgotten most of what I learned then. I read quite a bit before I started, but there is a lot of conflicting advice and information out there.
What do you use to test the water? (API liquid, test strips, other): Master API test kit
Did you test your tap water for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and pH, if so post the results below?:Yes, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, 0 nitrates, pH 7.2-7.4
Have you done any water changes and if so, when?: roughly 80% water changes on days 19 and 21
How much water did you change?: 80 % x2
Did you vacuum the substrate?: no
Did you clean your filter, filter media, decorations and/or glass?: no
If using disposable cartridges have you replaced one recently?: no


*Parameters - Very Important
What are your parameters? We need to know the exact numbers, not just “fine” or “safe”.
Day 25:
Tank water:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 2
Nitrate:40-80
pH: 7.2

Tap water:
Ammonia:0
Nitrite:0
Nitrate:0
pH: 7.4

Explain your cycling problem in detail. (Please give a clear explanation of what is going on, include details from the beginning of the problem leading up to now) I'm mainly wondering if my cycle is still on track, has stalled, or if I'm just being impatient. Should I do more water changes?
I'll paste excerpts from my testing below, but a summary is
1. the ammonia took almost 3 weeks to completely disappear despite preseeding
2. nitrites and nitrates were off the charts by day 19.
3.Based on some of the reading I'd done, I did two water changes to bring them down until the nitrates read 0. The nitrites still didn't get below the rich purple color that looks between 2-5 to me, but tests out at about 0.5 ppm when I do a dilution of 1 part aquarium water to 4 parts tap water.
4. In the week since the water changes, the nitrates have slowly climbed back up to the 40-80 range, but the nitrite reading looks exactly the same, and so does the dilution. Is this normal? Shouldn't it be dropping if nitrates are climbing or am I misunderstanding the conversion ratios?

Day 1:
Tank water:
Ammonia: 3.0
pH: 7.4

Day 3
Ammonia: 0.5
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate:5
pH: 7.2

Day 11
Ammonia: 0.5
Nitrite: 2-5 first time positive

Day 15
Ammonia: 0.5
Nitrite: 2-5
Nitrate:40
pH: 7.2

Day 19
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: immediately deep purple
Nitrate:160, dark red
80% water change

Day 20
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 2-5? not immediately purple
Nitrate:80
80 % water change
nitrates 0 immediately after this water change

Day 22
Ammonia:0
Nitrite: 2
Nitrate:20
pH: 7.2

Day 23
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 2
Nitrate:40

Day 24
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 2
Nitrate:40
pH: 7.2

 

Looks fine to me. You are almost there...Just a bit more patience

 

Ok, thanks! I will try to hang in there!

 

In my opinion your cycle is probably already done. You are producing plenty of nitrates, which means you are processing plenty of nitrites.

Your nitrite levels are most likely still off the chart which is why the test is showing no change. In my opinion its a waste of time to wait for your tank to process a huge amount of nitrite that it will never see again in normal operation.

To verify that it is actually finished, I'd change enough water to get nitrites to zero again. Then dose a small amount of ammonia, like 0.5-1ppm. Wait 24 hours and then do another round of tests. I'd bet that after 24 hours you will see zero ammonia, and zero nitrites.

If I were in your shoes, I'd be adding fish this weekend. Just remember to keep testing regularly for the first couple weeks after you add fish... just to make sure it's all going according to plan.

 

In my opinion your cycle is probably already done. You are producing plenty of nitrates, which means you are processing plenty of nitrites.

Your nitrite levels are most likely still off the chart which is why the test is showing no change. In my opinion its a waste of time to wait for your tank to process a huge amount of nitrite that it will never see again in normal operation.

To verify that it is actually finished, I'd change enough water to get nitrites to zero again. Then dose a small amount of ammonia, like 0.5-1ppm. Wait 24 hours and then do another round of tests. I'd bet that after 24 hours you will see zero ammonia, and zero nitrites.

If I were in your shoes, I'd be adding fish this weekend. Just remember to keep testing regularly for the first couple weeks after you add fish... just to make sure it's all going according to plan.

This was good advice! Here's an update for anyone else who might find themselves in my shoes. It took two more big water changes to get the nitrites down to 0. I then bumped the ammonia up to 1ppm, and after 24 hours ammonia and nitrites were back to 0! 3 days after adding fish they seem to be doing great, levels are 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, 5 nitrates consistently, and I will keep testing regularly. Thanks everyone!