Ammonia

[jonnyf84]

i am now a month into a cycle, in the last 3 days ammonia has almost stopped decreasing despite nitrites been off the chart, nitrates are at 40ppm.

What is going on?

 

[WILDER]

Its normal.
Ammonia drops and nitrite go up then back down to 0.
Just keep up with water changes and increase aeration.

 

[jonnyf84]

Its normal.
Ammonia drops and nitrite go up then back down to 0.
Just keep up with water changes and increase aeration.

this is a fishless cycle so i haven't been doing water changes. The ammonia isn't dropping, it is staying the same despite off the chart nitrite levels - that is the problem.

 

[celaeno]

i've read that a fishless cycle can stall if pH has crashed, so i'd test the pH. if pH has crashed, add pure baking soda to the tank to raise it.

 

[jonnyf84]

yup it was a ph crash, i have a kh of 0.5 - 1, usually when i cycle the ph rises because of the ammonia, tap ph is 7, tested 2 days ago and the tank ph was 8, since then it had crashed to 5, the nitrogen cycle becomes dorment with a ph of 5.5 and lower. Not keen on baking soda as its a very temperary fix so i changed 65% of the water, it'l set me back a week or so but everything should be fine.