Stalled cycle and mixed information

Hello! I'm a complete newbie to the fish tank world. I recieved an axolotl and his 10 gallon tank a few months ago (tank was already cycled). My axolotl was too big for the 10 gallon, so I saved up and got a 55 gallon tank for him. I did my research and began my cycle on 10/02. The tank has sand, a few rocks, 3 java ferns and one anubis with a 75 gallon tetra whisper filter. I used a cup of sand from the old tank and part of the sponge from its filter to try and jumpstart the cycle in the 55g. I've been dosing with tim's ammonia and seachem prime when needed, as well as seachem stability the first week. Today 11/02, my tank perameters read pH 7.8, ammonia 0PPM (dosed to 4ppm 12 hours ago, about to dose to 4ppm again) nitrites 2-5ppm, and nitrates 40-80ppm. My nitrites and nitrates have been stuck for 2 weeks now, I joined a facebook group for advice where I'm receiving differing suggestions. Some say to keep dosing ammonia to 4ppm and not let it hit 0ppm and dont do water changes, others are saying to do water changes until my nitrites hit 1ppm and dont dose ammonia as often so nitrites can take over. I gave in and did a water change the day before last then re-dosed ammonia to 4ppm after testing perameters which remained the same; did a test 12 hours later and ammonia was at 0ppm while nitrites dropped to 0.25ppm. Asked for advice in the group, they said to dose ammonia back to 4ppm and ammonia as well as nitrites should hit 0 in 24 hours. It's been 24 hours and nitrites have raised back to 2-5ppm. I'm so confused and dont know what to do from here. The ammonia drops to 0 every 12 hours, nitrites remain high and nitrates have been stagnant the entire time. Do I continue to dose to 4ppm and just wait out the nitrites, or do I need to start doing water changes and stop dosing every 12 hours to try and lower these perameters??

 

Here's the reading-friendly version:

Hello! I'm a complete newbie to the fish tank world.

I recieved an axolotl and his 10 gallon tank a few months ago (tank was already cycled). My axolotl was too big for the 10 gallon, so I saved up and got a 55 gallon tank for him. I did my research and began my cycle on 10/02.

The tank has sand, a few rocks, 3 java ferns and one anubis with a 75 gallon tetra whisper filter. I used a cup of sand from the old tank and part of the sponge from its filter to try and jumpstart the cycle in the 55g.

I've been dosing with tim's ammonia and seachem prime when needed, as well as seachem stability the first week.

Today 11/02, my tank perameters read pH 7.8, ammonia 0 PPM (dosed to 4 ppm 12 hours ago, about to dose to 4 ppm again) nitrites 2-5 ppm, and nitrates 40-80ppm.

My nitrites and nitrates have been stuck for 2 weeks now.

I joined a facebook group for advice where I'm receiving differing suggestions. Some say to keep dosing ammonia to 4 ppm and not let it hit 0 ppm and don't do water changes, others are saying to do water changes until my nitrites hit 1 ppm and don't dose ammonia as often so nitrites can take over.

I gave in and did a water change the day before last, then re-dosed ammonia to 4 ppm after testing parameters which remained the same; did a test 12 hours later and ammonia was at 0 ppm while nitrites dropped to 0.25 ppm.

Asked for advice in the group, they said to dose ammonia back to 4 ppm and ammonia as well as nitrites should hit 0 in 24 hours. It's been 24 hours and nitrites have raised back to 2-5 ppm.

I'm so confused and dont know what to do from here .

The ammonia drops to 0 every 12 hours, nitrites remain high and nitrates have been stagnant the entire time.

Do I continue to dose to 4 ppm and just wait out the nitrites, or do I need to start doing water changes and stop dosing every 12 hours to try and lower these parameters?

 

Thanks ruud! Very helpful.

So firstly, the people to say to keep it at 4ppm is wrong. You don't need to do that. The common reason given for this is that nitrifiers ('beneficial bacteria') will die off if not immediately then within a few days if they are starved of ammonia. This is false. Nitrifiers are very resilient and go for weeks to months before going dormant, let alone die off, let alone die off significantly. Here's one review article done by actual scientists on the matter, a good place to start if you want to know more: https://academic.oup.com/femsec/article/58/1/1/468326. So no, you do not need to re-dose ammonia right now. Only re-dose ammonia when both ammonia and nitrite drops to zero.

Secondly, 4ppm ammonia is a lot. Even extremely heavily fed tanks only produce 2ppm ammonia a day, and 1ppm ammonia is plenty.

 

I agree with Azedenkae ...please dont dose any more ammonia.

Here is what is happening, I'll keep this simple.

Your nitrite test only goes up to 5ppm....but you have WAY more than 5ppm nitrite in your tank right now.

1ppm ammonia = approximately 2-3ppm nitrite.

Your tank is probably cycled but because you keep dosing so much ammonia your nitrite eating bacteria can't keep up.

I would do a huge water change....like 90-100%

Then dose 2ppm ammonia and watch it all convert to nitrate in 24 hours then go add your fish.

 

I second the advice above. Your beneficial bacteria are processing 4 ppm of ammonia in just a few hours. That is why you have nitrites in the tank. You have 40-80 ppm nitrates, so you have bacteria that are converting nitrites to nitrates. Because you are adding 4 ppm ammonia, which is way too much in my opinion as well, the bacteria that convert nitrite to nitrate need a few more hours to do their job.

Thus, I would suggest that you have plenty of bacteria to consider your tank cycled. After all, you seeded the tank with both sand and filter media from the previous tank, so cycling should have been quick. It is only because you are adding so much ammonia that you are still seeing nitrite.

Rather than cutting off the ammonium chloride addition "cold turkey" I would suggest that you ramp it down to zero over the course of several days (3.5, 3.0, 2.5, 2.0, 1.5,1.0, 0.5, 0.0). By the time you get to zero addition, I suspect everything will have stabilized and ammonia and nitrite will be at zero.

 

Thank you all so much! I had a feeling the information I was given was not entirely accurate, I read to not let ammonia hit 0 though, so I thought I was doing the right thing . I havent dosed ammonia yet, I wanted to see what advice I'd get from here first. I'll completely replace the water and only dose to 2ppm ammonia now, and check back in in 24 hours. Again, thank you all so much ❤

Here's the reading-friendly version:

Hello! I'm a complete newbie to the fish tank world.

I recieved an axolotl and his 10 gallon tank a few months ago (tank was already cycled). My axolotl was too big for the 10 gallon, so I saved up and got a 55 gallon tank for him. I did my research and began my cycle on 10/02.

Also thank you for this, this is my first time posting in any kind of forum. I didnt realize how badly I formatted it

 

Advice above is good.

I recommend stopping dosing any Prime. It can deplete oxygen and your animal needs oxygen.

Prime is only used to dechlorinate water. Once the chlorine is gone, Prime has no effect other than to reduce oxygen which is essential to life.

 

Advice above is good.

I recommend stopping dosing any Prime. It can deplete oxygen and your animal needs oxygen.

Prime is only used to dechlorinate water. Once the chlorine is gone, Prime has no effect other than to reduce oxygen which is essential to life.

I only dose prime when adding water to the tank, either due to evaporation or water change. Sorry, I should have clarified that!

 

After I did a 90% water change at 1:30pm and dosed ammonia, perameters read:
pH: 7.4
Ammonia: 2ppm
Nitrites: 0ppm
Nitrates: 10-20ppm


Now being 11:30pm, my perameters read:

Ph:7.4
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 2.0ppm
Nitrate: 40ppm

So, I do not dose ammonia again until my nitrites read 0ppm?

 

After I did a 90% water change at 1:30pm and dosed ammonia, perameters read:
pH: 7.4
Ammonia: 2ppm
Nitrites: 0ppm
Nitrates: 10-20ppm


Now being 11:30pm, my perameters read:

Ph:7.4
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 2.0ppm
Nitrate: 40ppm

So, I do not dose ammonia again until my nitrites read 0ppm?

Test again at 1:30pm tomorrow and see if that nitrite is all gone.

Dont dose any ammonia for now.

 

Test again at 1:30pm tomorrow and see if that nitrite is all gone.

Dont dose any ammonia for now.

Thank you! I just wanted to be sure, it feels odd not dosing ammonia immediately.

Fingers crossed I have 0 nitrites tomorrow!

 

Thank you! I just wanted to be sure, it feels odd not dosing ammonia immediately.

Fingers crossed I have 0 nitrites tomorrow!

I keep a hospital/quarrantine tank running with no fish in it.

I'll add about 1ppm ammonia once every 1-2 weeks to feed the bacteria and keep the biological filter fed.

You definitely don't need to dose ammonia so often. The bacteria can go a very long time without eating.

I hope you have 0ppm nitrite tomorrow at 1:30pm...let me know. I'm curious!

 

You definitely don't need to dose ammonia so often. The bacteria can go a very long time without eating.

Or so much!. 1-2ppm would be plenty.
In fact, this can be very counterproductive - you'll set yourself to wait for a much larger Nitrite-eating capacity to develop than that which is necessary for your system. I did this and am convinced it added weeks to my cycle.

 

Or so much!. 1-2ppm would be plenty.
In fact, this can be very counterproductive - you'll set yourself to wait for a much larger Nitrite-eating capacity to develop than that which is necessary for your system. I did this and am convinced it added weeks to my cycle.

Yep...that's exactly what's going on here.

We've done a full water change to get all of that nitrite out of the tank then re-dosed 2ppm of ammonia yesterday.

We are waiting on confirmation at around 1:30pm today that all ammonia and nitrite has converted and that this tank is in fact cycled.

 

My tank is cycled!! I tested at 1:30, perameters were:

Ph: 7.4
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 40ppm

Thank you all soo much!! Sad to know I was the reason the tank cycle stalled, but everything is perfect now

 

My tank is cycled!! I tested at 1:30, perameters were:

Ph: 7.4
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 40ppm

Thank you all soo much!! Sad to know I was the reason the tank cycle stalled, but everything is perfect now

Congratulations! It’s a great feeling when you see those results you have been patiently working towards.

 

AcidHugs, that’s great news


As my request not to sidetrack the thread was ignored, Aquafrescas questions & responses have been moved Can Prime also be used to neutralize nitrogenous elements if necessary? | Aquarium Nitrogen Cycle Forum | 528771

 

Congratulations! It’s a great feeling when you see those results you have been patiently working towards.

For sure, I'm so excited to finally be able to put my axolotl in his new tank!

 

Axolotl are beautiful amphibians! Would love to see a photo of the tank! Anyways happy fishkeeping!

 

My tank is cycled!! I tested at 1:30, perameters were:

Ph: 7.4
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 40ppm

Thank you all soo much!! Sad to know I was the reason the tank cycle stalled, but everything is perfect now

That's awesome! Congrats!
Now you get to enjoy it.

 

Axolotl are beautiful amphibians! Would love to see a photo of the tank! Anyways happy fishkeeping!

I dont have a pic of the tank just yet, it's kind of bare other than a few plants and rocks. I want to decorate it some more and put a background on so you cant see all the wires hanging off the back. This is my Axi though! His name is Arlo

 

I dont have a pic of the tank just yet, it's kind of bare other than a few plants and rocks. I want to decorate it some more and put a background on so you cant see all the wires hanging off the back. This is my Axi though! His name is Arlo

He is adorable!

 

This tank is cycled and ready for fish. You have been very patient. The tank has probably been cycled for some time now

 

AcidHugs, that’s great news


As my request not to sidetrack the thread was ignored, Aquafrescas questions & responses have been moved Can Prime also be used to neutralize nitrogenous elements if necessary? | Aquarium Nitrogen Cycle Forum | 528

My apologies, I am new to forums and didn’t mean to hijack someone’s post.