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Dirted Fishless Cycling question

868 views 0 replies 1 participant last post by  scolba 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hey folks,

So I have a dirted (Scott's premium top soil, not mineralized) tank setup and planted...and am currently cycling it sans fish. Its the "Stump Island" tank down in my sig. So to start it, I pulled an old mech filter from my Fluval Edge and put that amongst the bio-balls in the sump, and started dosing ammo to 4ppm. I thought we were cooking pretty well because after just a few days, when I tested pre-dose, it was down at .25 or .5....indicated to me that the colony was breeding well. Now just the other night id dosed it again, and came back 24 hours later, and its still at 4ppm or higher. Nitrites are at .5 (though they had been as high as 2 a week ago) and nitrates are at 5....so still pretty low.

So what gives? Is this the organics in the dirt substrate starting to decompose and kick off its own ammonia and is more than the current colony can handle? Do I need to do anything special, or just keep testing daily to ensure it doesn't drop and I starve the colony?

Thanks for any input!

Well, my ammonia dropped back to .5 over the last 24 hours, and nitrites ticked up a bit, so I guess a little more patience was in order. A recurring theme in this hobby, for sure. :)
 
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