Fishless cycle not progressing after 3 months

[Colin_T]

you could have a dodgy test kit. maybe take a glass of tank water to a pet shop and get them to test it for you. take your kit as well and test the same water at the same time. If you get different results, one of the kits is faulty.

 

[Slaphppy7]

you could have a dodgy test kit. maybe take a glass of tank water to a pet shop and get them to test it for you. take your kit as well and test the same water at the same time. If you get different results, one of the kits is faulty.

A distinct possibility.

 

[Darryl2000]

A quick little update.

I was getting ready today to do a complete water change as some of the people on here suggested and just start from scratch.

However I thought I ought to test the water one more time before I did, because I dosed the ammonia up to 3ppm a few days ago. And lo and behold I have a tiny bit of nitrite (about 0.20 ppm from what I can tell).

Do you guys think I should leave it a few days and see if any more of that ammonia gets converted into nitrite?

 

[Essjay]

It's up to you. My fishless cycle had the tiniest hint of nitrite for several days before anything else happened - the liquid was faintly purple rather than true blue, but a lot less than 0.25. Maybe give it a couple of days and see what happens then if nothing chnages do the water change - 100% then add 3 ppm ammonia.

 

[Darryl2000]

It's up to you. My fishless cycle had the tiniest hint of nitrite for several days before anything else happened - the liquid was faintly purple rather than true blue, but a lot less than 0.25. Maybe give it a couple of days and see what happens then if nothing chnages do the water change - 100% then add 3 ppm ammonia.

Thanks Essjay, you've been a big help

 

[Darryl2000]

It's up to you. My fishless cycle had the tiniest hint of nitrite for several days before anything else happened - the liquid was faintly purple rather than true blue, but a lot less than 0.25. Maybe give it a couple of days and see what happens then if nothing chnages do the water change - 100% then add 3 ppm ammonia.

I was wondering if you could help me again.

I've been testing the water every day since I saw the hint of nitrite.

Yesterday I had 2ppm nitrite and thought things were starting to kick off. However, the ammonia stayed at 3ppm.

I tested just now and the ammonia is still 3ppm, and the nitrites have gone to zero. I tested the nitrate to see if the nitrites got converted, but I didn't see any change.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't the ammonia have dropped as the nitrites rose? Any advice on what I can try?

 

[Essjay]

Yes, ammonia should have dropped if nitrite appeared.

I think it's time to try seeing if a water change will help things along.