Ammonia Keeps Rising

[chriswhewell]

hi everyone agian

im currently cycling my 25 l tank. ive got a few plants in there and a bubble wand thingy. and a heater. the thing is that my ammonia keeps rising and im worried that my cycle may be goin backwards. the first few days of my cycle i was having to add ammonia to keep it at 4ppm because it was dropping rather quick. but now its just keeps rising. it was 2ppm and few days ago now its at 4ppm. please help

 

[deftuch]

Dude once you have ammonia levels of 4ppm you shoudnt touch the tank!. I mean come on. Let it cycle! You shoukd be testing for nitrite and nitrate now, not ammonia. When you get a nitrite reading. Post test results on here to get advice what to do next. Sounds like your doing what everyone else does. Youre getting impatient and anxious. Relax. If you have a filter and your tank has a heater and you have ammonia, then your tank is on its way! Good luck

 

[slimeneo]

Yeah, don't add any more ammonia until it reaches 0.

 

[chriswhewell]

Dude once you have ammonia levels of 4ppm you shoudnt touch the tank!. I mean come on. Let it cycle! You shoukd be testing for nitrite and nitrate now, not ammonia. When you get a nitrite reading. Post test results on here to get advice what to do next. Sounds like your doing what everyone else does. Youre getting impatient and anxious. Relax. If you have a filter and your tank has a heater and you have ammonia, then your tank is on its way! Good luck

hi deftuch

ive been testing for nitrites and get a reading 0.25 ppm
ive also tested for nitrate and got a reading of i think just below 5.0ppm but not sure . the colour doesnt realy match up.

so should i just leave it??. as ive got plants in there is it ok to leave the light on for say 6-7 hours a day.im worried about algee. i think i may have some already on my hc.Hemianthus callitrichoides . because it looks sorry for its self on the tank floor. and it seams to be collecting debris from the tank

thanks for you time my friend
sorry for the noobishness
kind regards
chris

 

[deftuch]

Dude once you have ammonia levels of 4ppm you shoudnt touch the tank!. I mean come on. Let it cycle! You shoukd be testing for nitrite and nitrate now, not ammonia. When you get a nitrite reading. Post test results on here to get advice what to do next. Sounds like your doing what everyone else does. Youre getting impatient and anxious. Relax. If you have a filter and your tank has a heater and you have ammonia, then your tank is on its way! Good luck

hi deftuch

ive been testing for nitrites and get a reading 0.25 ppm
ive also tested for nitrate and got a reading of i think just below 5.0ppm but not sure . the colour doesnt realy match up.

so should i just leave it??. as ive got plants in there is it ok to leave the light on for say 6-7 hours a day.im worried about algee. i think i may have some already on my hc.Hemianthus callitrichoides . because it looks sorry for its self on the tank floor. and it seams to be collecting debris from the tank

thanks for you time my friend
sorry for the noobishness
kind regards
chris

it doesnt matter that your ammonia is rising and dropping this is normal. you have nitrite and nitrate so its clear your bacteria has begun to colonise efficiently and your tank is nearly fully cycled. test daily until your ammonia levels go to zero then do a 30 percent water change. test for ammonia again 5 hours after the change. if its still zero then you are doing ok and can start testing for nitrites too! test daily for ammonia and nitrites until they are both at zero, then do another 30 percent water change, test again 5 hours later if they are still at zero you can add fish basically should be ok to add fish im not an expert but ive never been one for adding plants before a tank is cycled because the zero to low nitrate levels can cause algae problems. but id leave them in there and see how it goes. 6 to 8 hours a day of continuous lighting is a good target range for tropical tanks, that should be fine providing your tank isnt in contact with direct sunlight also!

 

[snazy]

Why would ammonia rise in a fishless cycle on its own unless you redosed? It doesn't make sense and it's not normal.
As for the cycle, test the ammonia level, wait until it's full 0, test the nitrItes, if they are 0 too, you are done but redose for another while until you are sure both clear up in no longer than 24 hours. If nitrItes are not 0 at the same time as ammonia, then redose ammonia, wait until it's 0 again and test nitrItes again, repeat until ammonia and nitrItes are clearing to 0. Then test the nitrAtes. Don't test for nitrAtes until nitrIte is at 0 as most tests show higher reading for nitrAtes when there's nitrItes in the water. Also, test your Ph in the process, if it has dropped from the normal level, do a 100% water change and redose, otherwise the cycle will stall.