Need Fishless Cycle Help

Hello all ,
I'm 21 days into a fishless cycle on a 50 gal tank with marineland penquin 350 gal/hr.
heater temp set at 80-80 degrees
used prime on tap water initially , have a aerator running
added ammonia to get to 4.0 ppm, with 2-1/2 caps of stability daily for a week
Tank PH 6.7
Nitrites showed up about 2 weeks in -2.0 ppm
Nitrates showed up about 3 days later - 40 ppm
Two days ago ammonia level dropped to under 1.0 ppm, nitrites read 5.0 ppm / nitrates read 80 ppm
brought ammonia level back up to 4.0 ppm to see if it would drop back to under 1.0 ppm
Hasn't budged off 4.0 , nitrites still 5.0 , Nitrates read 80 ppm
Ph reading went from 6.7 to 6.0
Should I do a partial water change ? if so how much ?
And what can I do to raise ph - , Baking soda if so how much ?

Thanks in advance

 

Cycling a fishless tank can take more then a month. You just have to stay patient in this process.

As for your Ph, adding baking soda will only be temporary. What you can do is go buy a bag of crushed coral at a LFS, $8 for 10 lbs at Petco for me and add maybe a cup and a quarter of crush coral into a mesh bag and throw that into the HOB. In a few days it will go up from 6.0 to about 7-7.2ish.

 

The nitrite test only reads up to 5.0ppm, it could be much higher. High nitrites can stall your cycle so yes, do a huge water change! If you want to know just how high your nitrites are you need to take a sample of your water, dilute it by exactly half with water you know has 0 nitrites, then test again. If it still reads 5.0ppm then dilute it again and retest, keep doing this until you get a readable answer below 5.0 and then multiply by the number of times you've diluted it +1.

 

Cycling a fishless tank can take more then a month. You just have to stay patient in this process.

As for your Ph, adding baking soda will only be temporary. What you can do is go buy a bag of crushed coral at a LFS, $8 for 10 lbs at Petco for me and add maybe a cup and a quarter of crush coral into a mesh bag and throw that into the HOB. In a few days it will go up from 6.0 to about 7-7.2ish.

Thanks Fashoosa- I will go with the crushed coral , Do I leave it in or take out after I see it rise ?

 

The nitrite test only reads up to 5.0ppm, it could be much higher. High nitrites can stall your cycle so yes, do a huge water change! If you want to know just how high your nitrites are you need to take a sample of your water, dilute it by exactly half with water you know has 0 nitrites, then test again. If it still reads 5.0ppm then dilute it again and retest, keep doing this until you get a readable answer below 5.0 and then multiply by the number of times you've diluted it +1.

Thanks Aquaphobia , I will test with dilution technique & then do a water change what do consider huge 70-90% ?

 

Thanks Fashoosa- I will go with the crushed coral , Do I leave it in or take out after I see it rise ?

I left mine in the tank. If you take it out it will eventually drop. You may have to replace it every few months but a bag of it should go a long way.

You will want to keep track of the PH. This is why I add a little like a cup and a quarter to start with. If you go too much then your PH will skyrocket and you'll have to readjust the amount, so I would take the time you have while there is no fish and check the PH.

Remember though whaterver fish you want make sure the PH is good for them. Some like it low and others like it really high. Can't please all the fish so you want to pick fish that will be ok within a certain parameters. An example would be that Severums like PH around 6.0-7.5. When I put other fish in there, I had a pH of 6, all the other fish died except the severum. That's why it's good to make sure everybody jives with the magic number of 7.

 

I left mine in the tank. If you take it out it will eventually drop. You may have to replace it every few months but a bag of it should go a long way.

You will want to keep track of the PH. This is why I add a little like a cup and a quarter to start with. If you go too much then your PH will skyrocket and you'll have to readjust the amount, so I would take the time you have while there is no fish and check the PH.

Remember though whaterver fish you want make sure the PH is good for them. Some like it low and others like it really high. Can't please all the fish so you want to pick fish that will be ok within a certain parameters. An example would be that Severums like PH around 6.0-7.5. When I put other fish in there, I had a pH of 6, all the other fish died except the severum. That's why it's good to make sure everybody jives with the magic number of 7.

Yes thanks Fashooga ,yes I want to get it up to 7.0 asap , I read that it slows the cycle when it gets that low . I'm being patient but man I don't need it going slower - LOL

 

Just so you know, there are alternatives to crushed coral if you can't find it or balk at paying what they charge for it! For me it's much more expensive than other places probably because I live on an island. What I chose to use was crushed oyster shells, available at any farm supply in huge bags or in bulk for egg-laying chickens. It costs a fraction of the price of crushed coral.