Ammonia won't go down

[PlainWhiteT92]

Hi there. I am currently doing a fishless cycle in my 29g. I am using Dr. Tims's ammonia as my source while using stability as my live bacteria. I started the process about 3 weeks ago and have seen spikes in nitrites (over 5ppm) and nitrates (around 80ppm) but my ammonia is still sitting at 2ppm. Dr. Tim's website said to do a water change if nitrite gets over 5ppm so I did 2 50% water changes and got the levels down. I didn't add ammonia right away to see if anything in my tank was creating ammonia but it stayed at .5ppm for 3 days, but the nitrite slowly increased. I am stumped as to why I have yet to see any ammonia drops while nitrites and nitrates are going up. Tested tap water and is read 0 nitrites and nitrates with .25 ammonia. Also used water conditioner for water changes. I did have a bacterial bloom about a week into the process but it cleared up by itself.
Only dosed with ammonia twice - once at the start and once a few days after water changes
pH is 7.4
temp is 80
I have some driftwood, some rocks and a gravel substrate. no live plants

Thanks for any help!

 

[Passionfish]

Hi there. I am currently doing a fishless cycle in my 29g. I am using Dr. Tims's ammonia as my source while using stability as my live bacteria. I started the process about 3 weeks ago and have seen spikes in nitrites (over 5ppm) and nitrates (around 80ppm) but my ammonia is still sitting at 2ppm. Dr. Tim's website said to do a water change if nitrite gets over 5ppm so I did 2 50% water changes and got the levels down. I didn't add ammonia right away to see if anything in my tank was creating ammonia but it stayed at .5ppm for 3 days, but the nitrite slowly increased. I am stumped as to why I have yet to see any ammonia drops while nitrites and nitrates are going up. Tested tap water and is read 0 nitrites and nitrates with .25 ammonia. Also used water conditioner for water changes. I did have a bacterial bloom about a week into the process but it cleared up by itself.
Only dosed with ammonia twice - once at the start and once a few days after water changes
pH is 7.4
temp is 80
I have some driftwood, some rocks and a gravel substrate. no live plants

Thanks for any help!

Wait for about 1 more week, I think it will clear up. That's all I can really say. I don't really like adding chemical ammonia, and I just put some slow degrading food inside of the tank for it to cycle itself. That way you don't run into as many problems with using chemical ammonia.

 

[PlainWhiteT92]

Wait for about 1 more week, I think it will clear up. That's all I can really say. I don't really like adding chemical ammonia, and I just put some slow degrading food inside of the tank for it to cycle itself. That way you don't run into as many problems with using chemical ammonia.

yeah, I don't think I would use dr. tim's again

 

[Passionfish]

yeah, I don't think I would use dr. tim's again

Websites like that are essentially trying to play God with the aquarium cycle. You don't really need to control it, patience is key.

 

[mattgirl]

At 3 weeks you are still fairly early in your cycle. I am going to recommend you start adding a tiny pinch of ground up fish flakes daily until this cycle is complete. This thread will explain my reasoning behind adding the fish food along with the bottled ammonia. PSA: Something I am seeing more and more often, fishless cycling.... | Aquarium Nitrogen Cycle Forum | 477380