Newbie: Wait for Nitrite spike to pass or...?

To catch you up, this is my 3rd month into fishless cycling and I added TSS+ a month ago. I have been dosing ammonia to 2ppm, which was being converted directly to nitrates (no nitrites) which I read was not abnormal with TSS+ However, the ammonia is taking 4 days to get down to 0.25 and did not speed up after each dose.

NOW, out of the blue I have around 4/5ppm of nitrite (hard to read with the API test kit. I diluted it about 50% down and got around 2 ppm. My ammonia is at 1.5 ppm, I last dosed it 2 days ago. Nitrates are at 30 ppm, pH 7.4, temp 29 C

I feel as though I should wait and see if the nitrites will drop on their own, but I have also heard that leaving high nitrites can stall a cycle (which I don't need after 3 months of waiting already )

So just wondering whether I should do a water change to get the levels down, or should I wait? Also, when can I dose ammonia again (I am in no rush, just wondering)

Also, am I anywhere near the end or is there still a long wait? :/ I am excited to see nitrites though

 

ive always had my ammonia at 3ppm to kick start my cycle. anyway . leave your ammonia alone until its 0 . then dose like 2 or 3 ppm on ammonia and see what it is the next day. if your ammonia is 0 and your nitrates are 0 . you're in luck, you're done. though i do think 3ppm is better

 

I cycled my tank in less than 3 months so I would assume your pretty much done.
Do you have plants in your tank?
And have you been doing water changes since you started the cycle? (How often)
How long have your nitrates been up?
When nitrates go up usually the rest should go down.

I would do a water change, maybe 25-50% change.
When you feel confident that your cycle is done, usually that is the beat time to add fish. If you have doubts you should keep waiting. That’s the best mindset

 

I am not aware of any scientific proof that around 4/5ppm nitrite will stall a cycle. Maybe if we are talking about absurd ppm readings, but that is not the case here.

You are on the right path now with nitrites. How long? No one will definitively be able to say. I was able to process ammonia in a couple of weeks (down to zero) but it took another several months for my tank to be able to convert nitrite to zero ppm. It just depends. Good thing is you are going in the right direction. I never use the bottle start stuff, so I can't speak to what it does to an aquarium/readings.

Water change won't hurt the cycle one bit. It is up for debate if water changes actually help a cycle or not, but there is one thing I am sure of: it won't hurt. I do them during cycling because...well what else am I going to do? I happen to believe that new water replenishes some of the elements that the bacteria use when colonizing the tank.

When to re-dose ammonia? Up to you. You literally don't have to dose ammonia again if you don't want to. Despite common miss-information, the bacteria will not starve or die in the time it takes for you to cycle your tank. You can also re-dose ammonia anytime it hits zero ppm; it makes no difference. (to an extent, as long as you keep the ppm <=3ppm)High ammonia can actually start to kill beneficial bacteria. Just realize, the more ammonia you add the more nitrite that has to be converted. (that number will increase as ammonia --> nitrite)

The best part about cycling is you don't have to "guess" or feel out if you are done or not. When you can convert added ammonia to zero ppm along with the nitrites remaining zero ppm after 24 hours of addition: you are fully cycled.

 

as far as i know . with a fishless cycle you dont have to worry about nitrates lvls at all

 

I cycled my tank in less than 3 months so I would assume your pretty much done.
Do you have plants in your tank?
And have you been doing water changes since you started the cycle? (How often)
How long have your nitrates been up?
When nitrates go up usually the rest should go down.

I would do a water change, maybe 25-50% change.
When you feel confident that your cycle is done, usually that is the beat time to add fish. If you have doubts you should keep waiting. That’s the best mindset

I am not done yet because I had to add TSS+ a month ago after no movement
The tank is not planted for personal reasons
I've done 2 50% water changes, the last one was about a week ago, I think it induced the nitrite spike.
Nitrates have been showing for about 3 weeks, but I have finally hit a nitrite spike

And thanks for that last bit

 

I am not aware of any scientific proof that around 4/5ppm nitrite will stall a cycle. Maybe if we are talking about absurd ppm readings, but that is not the case here.

You are on the right path now with nitrites. How long? No one will definitively be able to say. I was able to process ammonia in a couple of weeks (down to zero) but it took another several months for my tank to be able to convert nitrite to zero ppm. It just depends. Good thing is you are going in the right direction. I never use the bottle start stuff, so I can't speak to what it does to an aquarium/readings.

Water change won't hurt the cycle one bit. It is up for debate if water changes actually help a cycle or not, but there is one thing I am sure of: it won't hurt. I do them during cycling because...well what else am I going to do? I happen to believe that new water replenishes some of the elements that the bacteria use when colonizing the tank.

When to re-dose ammonia? Up to you. You literally don't have to dose ammonia again if you don't want to. Despite common miss-information, the bacteria will not starve or die in the time it takes for you to cycle your tank. You can also re-dose ammonia anytime it hits zero ppm; it makes no difference. (to an extent, as long as you keep the ppm <=3ppm)High ammonia can actually start to kill beneficial bacteria. Just realize, the more ammonia you add the more nitrite that has to be converted. (that number will increase as ammonia --> nitrite)

The best part about cycling is you don't have to "guess" or feel out if you are done or not. When you can convert added ammonia to zero ppm along with the nitrites remaining zero ppm after 24 hours of addition: you are fully cycled.

wow several months!! Maybe I'll measure levels tomorrow and if they are not going down I will do a small water change. Thanks for your thorough answer!