its been about a month since i started fishless cycling, lately i have been adding about 1/3 to 1/2 cap of ammonia a day to keep it between 1ppm and 4ppm.
my tank has shown high nitrites, and nitrates at ~5ppm over the past two weeks or so. i just tested my nitrates again tonight and they were >150ppm.
so i have ammonia=1 nitrites>5 and nitrates>150
should i let my tank sit and wait until i have no ammonia or nitrites and low nitrates, or should i do a large water change and go from there?
#1. Make sure you've seeded the tank with a good colony of bacteria from an old filter from an established tank.
#2. I'd do a few water changes to get the nitrites / nitrates down a little bit
#3. I would add a heater (if you don't have one already) and warm the tank up to 80 deg F or so. That will really speed up the bacteria metabolism / growth rate
Wendyjo is right on - and it could very likely take another week to 2 weeks for the cycle to get to that '0' for both ammonia & nitrites, and a reasonable level of nitrates.
Do a large wc now, and give the cycle more time.
In order to maintain the development of the cycle, you need to keep adding ammonia as & when it drops down to 1 ppm, until your cycle is fully complete and you're ready to add fish.
If your nitrates are really 150 I'd probably do a partial water change and then continue as usual. I'm not sure but nitrates that high may slow down the cycle. Someone jump in if that's not accurate.
Nitrifying bacteria do not like ammonia or nitrite over 5 ppm, but do not seem to care about nitrate.
They require carbonates, they use that as a source of carbon. If the KH can be held stable as low as 3 degrees is fine, but a lot higher works, too. If it keeps dropping (for example, I have substrate that keeps removing the carbonates) keep adding carbonates.
Once a day (not more often) add enough ammonia to read 3 ppm.
When the bacteria can remove the ammonia within 24 hours and nitrites also read 0 ppm the cycle is done.
If you are still not ready for fish keep on feeding the bacteria.
Water changes are optional, but when you are ready for fish you will need to do a really large water change to get the nitrates way down.
ya i shoulda been testing my nitrates over the past week, i was so tired of seeing ~5ppm that i stopped testing for em, then boom maxed out.. :icon_redf
anyways:
eco-complete
10g
tetra 10i
just finnished the WC, ill check params again in a few.....
Do water changes to keep the nitrites under 5 ppm.
When you feed too much ammonia the first population of bacteria turn it into too much nitrite faster than the second population can get rid of it. That is why you aim for 3 ppm max on the ammonia. That much generally will not make the nitrite spike too high.
okay. so it will be complete when:
i dose 3ppm of ammonia, and in 24 hours i get readings of 0 ammonia 0 nitrites and any amount of nitrates. then do a wc to get rid of excess nitrates. then its ready?
but isnt it bad to have 0 ammonia, because then some of my nitrifying bacteria would die off?
The bacteria will not die off so long as you keep adding ammonia, or a source for producing ammonia, like some fish. So when your ammonia & nitrites are '0' and your nitrates low after a wc, your cycle is complete and i'ts time to add your fish.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
The Planted Tank Forum
3.5M posts
130.6K members
Since 2002
A forum community dedicated to Aquatic tank owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about flora, fauna, health, housing, filters, care, classifieds, and more!