snowflake311
Fish nerd
I read about fishless cycling on this and a few other sites. I know how it works what needs to happen and all that. BUT I have a problem.
It started out all good added 4ppm ammonia and waited. Then after about 10 days it dropped to 0. My nitrites were showing up So I got excited. I was only adding about 1.ppm to feed the tank daily. I noticed my nitrites were going down after about almost 2 weeks My nitrates were going up to 40ppm. Here is were I think I went wrong. I started to add more ammonia about 3-4 ppm. So my nitrites spiked again. I checked my ph it was at 6. when I started it was 7.4. My ph is crashing everyday now. I do a water change to bring it up but it just drops again. I add ammonia after the water changes now only 2ppm. I'm thinking maybe I should add less.
I'm getting really annoyed with this. My ph is crashing my nitrites will not go down and now it is even taking longer for the ammonia to go down. It's like my cycle is also doing a mini cycle. I think it's because I started to add more ammonia then the bacteria was use to when the second batch stared to grow. I have cycled a tank before with fish and that went way better then this all my fish lived too. Its been over a year and a half all but 2 have died ( they died a year after they lived throw the cycle) . I thought this fishless cycle was going to be easy but I think I some how managed to mess it up.
I did a water change to bring the ph up its at 7.0 now it was 6 or lower before that My test kit does not go lower then 6.. MY tap water PH is 7.4 I never had a crash in my other tanks.
I have plants in the tank too so I don't want the PH to keep crashing. Also the bacteria does not grow well with a low ph. What should I do. Oh I do have a mature tank I just now took some filter medium and swished it around in the tank and squeezed out a sponge into the new tank. I was trying to do with with out seeding it. OH well.
Any advise on what is going on or what I need to do. Has anyone had this happen to them?
Tonight I did a small water change to bring the ph back up its at 7.4 again. I added about 2ppm of ammonia to feed the tank. tomorrow morning I will check it all again I hope things are starting to fix it's self.
It started out all good added 4ppm ammonia and waited. Then after about 10 days it dropped to 0. My nitrites were showing up So I got excited. I was only adding about 1.ppm to feed the tank daily. I noticed my nitrites were going down after about almost 2 weeks My nitrates were going up to 40ppm. Here is were I think I went wrong. I started to add more ammonia about 3-4 ppm. So my nitrites spiked again. I checked my ph it was at 6. when I started it was 7.4. My ph is crashing everyday now. I do a water change to bring it up but it just drops again. I add ammonia after the water changes now only 2ppm. I'm thinking maybe I should add less.
I'm getting really annoyed with this. My ph is crashing my nitrites will not go down and now it is even taking longer for the ammonia to go down. It's like my cycle is also doing a mini cycle. I think it's because I started to add more ammonia then the bacteria was use to when the second batch stared to grow. I have cycled a tank before with fish and that went way better then this all my fish lived too. Its been over a year and a half all but 2 have died ( they died a year after they lived throw the cycle) . I thought this fishless cycle was going to be easy but I think I some how managed to mess it up.
I did a water change to bring the ph up its at 7.0 now it was 6 or lower before that My test kit does not go lower then 6.. MY tap water PH is 7.4 I never had a crash in my other tanks.
I have plants in the tank too so I don't want the PH to keep crashing. Also the bacteria does not grow well with a low ph. What should I do. Oh I do have a mature tank I just now took some filter medium and swished it around in the tank and squeezed out a sponge into the new tank. I was trying to do with with out seeding it. OH well.
Any advise on what is going on or what I need to do. Has anyone had this happen to them?
Tonight I did a small water change to bring the ph back up its at 7.4 again. I added about 2ppm of ammonia to feed the tank. tomorrow morning I will check it all again I hope things are starting to fix it's self.