Ammonia levels stalled in fishless cycle

[fishless2.0]

Hello,
I am in the process of the fishless cycle (for the second attempt). The nitrites spiked and a few days later dropped to zero and the nitrates are now at 40-80ppm. I have 0 nitrites, 40/80 nitrates and 1 ammonia). I added pure ammonia about 4 days ago to get it to about 3-4ppm but it has not dropped below 1ppm. Should I just let it sit until it reaches zero or add more ammonia to keep it around 2-3ppm? Should I do a water change? I did have fish in the tank, this is the second try at a fishless cycle, I stopped too soon last time and sadly killed 4 fish. That was about a month ago...Any advice would be appreciated!

I also just tested my tap water and it has between .5 and 1ppm ammonia.....

 

[outofwater]

Hi and welcome. How often are you testing? Trying to determine the "timeline" on the drop to 1M for nitrites, and how long has it stayed like that.

 

[fishless2.0]

Thanks for the reply. The nitrites are now consistently zero, but the ammonia won’t drop below 1ppm. They’ve been at that level for 4-5 days. Nitrates are crazy high (very red 40-80 ppm). I thought the ammonia would zero by now. I have not added ammonia for about 5 days).

 

[outofwater]

Sorry, misunderstood that part. So you're testing daily and ammonia is still at 1M? Is there anything in the tank? Decorations, plants, maybe snails or shrimp?
When the ammonia drops below 1M you need to add more or your nascent bacteria colony will starve. It is normal for the nitrates to be high because the bacteria that eats those is the last to appear and multiply. Eventually you should see both ammonia and nitrites go down to zero and nitrates under 5 or 10, tops.

Are you using any "bacteria in a bottle" products?

This post is clear on the steps to take but if you have any doubts just ask.

Thread 'Cycling Your New Fresh Water Tank: Read This First!' https://www.fishforums.net/threads/cycling-your-new-fresh-water-tank-read-this-first.421488/