Fishless cycle 5 Gallon

HI all,

So about 4-5 days ago I set up this 5 gallon fluval spec



I added filled it up and dosed with prime. The next day I added some Dr. Tims one and only and dosed with ammonia. I believe I way over did the ammonia because it was at almost 8 ppm! Today these are my results (in the pic) ammonia looks about 1-2 nitrite looks about 2 and nitrates look about 20. I do have snails in there and plants. I did take out about a gallon of water on the second day and refilled with already primed water. My question is should I let it ride out and see if the ammonia/nitrite drop or would it go faster if I did another water change? I have a gallong of water that I treated with prime a few days ago that I can use to refill. Or will using new water with prime effect the bacteria? Should I add more ammonia now or if I change the water?

 

I would do water changes to get ammonia to 1-2 ppm. 8 ppm ammonia can stall your cycle. You can always let the prime water sit out for 24 hours before using it to fill the tank.

 

I would do water changes to get ammonia to 1-2 ppm. 8 ppm ammonia can stall your cycle. You can always let the prime water sit out for 24 hours before using it to fill the tank.

Yes I did that on the 2nd day, ammonia is now at 1-2 ppm. That hinckley bottle down there is filled with primed water haha. So should I change the water a little again?

 

Also my nitrates appear to be 40 or 80, after the tube sat for a while

 

Have you tested your water source for pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate to ensure none of those readings are coming from that?

What kind of snails are in there?

The nitrite looks about 2-5. If it doesn't fall tomorrow, I'd do a large water change to bring the nitrite down to 0 and just dose to 1ppm ammonia.

 

Yes no ammonia nitrite or nitrate in my tap haven't tested ph, tested water as well after adding the ammonia and bacteria and there where no nitrites or nitrates for a few days. I will test again tommorow and post back the results thanks!

 

Have you tested your water source for pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate to ensure none of those readings are coming from that?

What kind of snails are in there?

The nitrite looks about 2-5. If it doesn't fall tomorrow, I'd do a large water change to bring the nitrite down to 0 and just dose to 1ppm ammonia.

Forgot to update: did the water change and re added ammonia. As of today I got 0 ammonia 0 nitrite and 40 nitrates. I added ammonia yesterday and today it was 0. Going to keep dosing ammonia daily until the fish I'm getting are in stock

 

Nice! Congrats on being cycled.