5 Gallon Tank Fishless cycle, I need help

I’ve been doing a fishless cycle for 14 days. On June 6th My ammonia went 1PPm,
Nitrite 0.50ppm
Nitrate 5ppm
I thought everything was going good then the next day (June 7th) It all went too 0. That was uh very weird.... then I tested the next day(June 8th) and my ammonia is now
Ammonia 0.25ppm
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0.
This is so weird and frustrating is my tank cycling? Or do I need to dose with more ammonia.

 

how much ammonia are you dosing?

 

how much ammonia are you dosing?

I haven’t been dosing ammonia that’s probably why. I just added a few tropical flakes in my tank since I don’t have pure ammonia would that help?

 

yes, you should be dosing between 2-4ppm. keep feeding the beneficial bacteria.

 

I haven’t been dosing ammonia that’s probably why. I just added a few tropical flakes in my tank since I don’t have pure ammonia would that help?

in a fishless cycle. having pure ammonia works pretty well since you dont have to worry about killing anything and you know you are dosing exactly how much ammonia and what you need. i feel rotting food doesnt do that. thats how i did it. i purchased dr tims ammonium chloride and kept my ammonia at 2ppm

 

Liquid ammonia helps greatly because you can keep it at a constant level. You should be dosing so the ammonia gets to 2 and then when it drops below 1 dose to get it back up to 2. Once you dose to 2 and it is 0 within 24 hours you should be done with the cycle.

 

when you can turn 2ppm of ammonia into nitrates within a 24 hour period your cycle is finished

edit : 2ppm ammonia , 0 nitrites, ? nitrates > 0 ,0, ? then when that happens . dose 2ppm again and hope the same thing happens by the next day to be sure

 

in my opinion, fishless cycles take 2 weeks, and params may not be the most stable for the first few days...