Cycling Tank, Ammonia Going Down But No Ni/na

I'm cycling a 20 gallon long tank, I started on 6/27 with a dose of ammonia that brought the reading up to around 5ppm. On 7/3 I started using Stability. I did a double dose like the instructions said and have done a single dose every day since, as well as a cap of Prime every other day. Three or four days ago the ammonia had gone down to around 1ppm, so I dosed it back up to 3ppm and today it was back down to 1ppm again. I've tested for nitrites and nitrates every other day or so since I started using Stability and I've yet to have a reading for either.

How has my ammonia gone from 5ppm down to 1ppm, back up to 3ppm and down to 1ppm again, and still no nitrites or nitrates? I have no live plants in the tank, only a few pieces of driftwood, Super Naturals sand substrate, a few pieces of slate and one fake plant. Any ideas?

 

You should not use Prime during cycle .. Prime Detoxifies ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate

 

You should not use Prime during cycle .. Prime Detoxifies ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate

Sure you should if you have chlorine in your water as the chlorine would kill the BB. Prime binds with ammonia and nitrates making them non toxic to fish, but doesn't affect BB ability to consume it.

I used stability too and had similar readings. It didn't seem to help my tank cycle any quicker, took a month. I would skip the stability. Others have said they had weirdness using bottled bacteria. And just keep dosing the ammonia up to between 2-4 any time it drops below 1 and be patient. It will eventually work itself out.

 

Although you don't need prime every other day, just in the water you use to fill the tank and any top offs or water changes. But shouldn't change water until ready to add fish unless nitrites are off the chart, then only do a 50 percent change with prime as high nitrites can stall the cycle I'm told.

 

Thanks for the responses guys. As PhillyKev pointed out, Prime detoxifies A/N/N, it doesn't remove any of it and it's still consumed by BB just the same. I read, I believe on Seachem's site, that the A/N in a detoxified state is more easily consumed by BB. That's why I've been using Prime every other day (Prime binds for 24-48 hours). I plan on adding a fish or two in the next couple of days so I'm going to be using the Prime regardless.

I'm still confused though. The ammonia has to be going somewhere, but with no Nitrites/ates I have no clue what's consuming it.

 

Maybe you had your ammo spike and missed it? Took me 10 days of dosing ammonia daily (and that ammo clearing daily) until I had a nitrite spike and nitrates didn't go up during that time either. So 10 days of ammo dosing, and it disappearing in a day with just a slight rise of nitrite halfway through that to 1ppm and no nitrates. I logged everything daily. It was confusing, but eventually worked. Responses I got on here trying to get clarification was that bottled bacteria often causes bizarre test results until cycle complete.