[Jeff B.]

Total newbie question, but I'm in the midst of my 1st fishless cycling, restarting a 30 gal. tank that's sat idle for a long while. I've been consulting several guides for this (including the excellent one on this site), but seem to have hit a wall.

The tank's actually been cycling for about a week, but since it started, Nitrites have been fixed at 2.0 ppm, but today actually dropping to 0. Nitrates, however, have been steady at about 20 ppm, showing no signs of rising.

Not sure if this is a factor, but the tank is moderately planted- hornwort, 1 big Amazon sword, a couple Ludwigia, dwarf hairgrass, and a good-sized bunch of Wisteria.

Yes, I'm impatient, but is this just a phase of cycling, or should I consider a water change to get things moving again?

Thanks!

 

[Jeff B.]

Anyone? Like I said, 1st time trying to do a fishless cycling, so advice is much welcome!

 

[latchdan]

How ammonia you adding? I only did wc when nitrites were off the chart.

 

[Immortal1]

Good evening Jeff. Some helpful info for your situation would be as follows;
1. What are you using for an ammonia source?
2. How are you determining when to add more ammonia?
3. What have the ammonia readings been like during your first week?

Seeing as you have only been doing this for about a week, I would not worry about the nitrites or the nitrates yet and I certainly would not worry about a water change yet.