Cycling Question

[Kevros]

I started my fishless cycle 13 days ago, I was fortunate enough to be able to take half a sponge of mature media from a friends tank and then added 5ml of ammonia, yesterday my ammonia finally dropped to 0.1ppm so I then topped up with another 5ml. Today I have tested again and my ammonia is 0.1 again but my nitrite and nitrate levels are through the roof, do I need to do a water change to get these down or do I still top up the ammonia until it cycles within 12 hours and my nitrite levels go down? Thanks

 

[chickennuggets123]

Yes, do a water change.
You should do that weekly.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

No. A water change is not necessary. You could do it, but you don't need to. You might want to lower your ammonia dosing to 2 or 3ppm until the nitrites hit zero. Then raise your dose back up to 5ppm until you get the double zero reading in 12 hours.


chickennuggets is correct about the weekly water change, but that isn't necessary until after you have fish.

 

[Kevros]

The ammonia calculator is telling me to add 5.71ml (200 ltr tank), so I'll do that. Does this mean I'm in my qualifying period where I check for ammonia every 12 hours? Thanks again

 

[HayzH]

The ammonia calculator is telling me to add 5.71ml (200 ltr tank), so I'll do that. Does this mean I'm in my qualifying period where I check for ammonia every 12 hours? Thanks again

sounding good

 

[Miles_hot]

You're not in the qualifying period until it can do 5ppm in 12 hours to double zero, but your making good progress

 

[Aqua Tom]

You're not in the qualifying period until it can do 5ppm in 12 hours to double zero, but your making good progress

+1, lets be clear on this.

Your qualifying week starts when your filter processes 5ppm Ammonia & related Nitrites in 12 hours. When this happens you then continue to dose & test for a week just to make sure you dont get a wierd reading. If its all good then its fish time.

Tom

 

[Kevros]

Thanks for the advice, I'll await my first double 0