Cycling

[EthanF]

Hi I'm in my 2nd week of fishless cycling and so far
Last night I added 5ppm ammonia after it had dropped, the nitrite was off the chart. This morning ammonia is at 1ppm nitrite is off chart nitrate is close to bottom colour... Where to go from here? Need help

Thanks

 

[MBOU]

In my signature there is a link to the Beginners Resource Center, if you follow that link there is a section on cycling that will instruct you on what to do next

 

[eaglesaquarium]

That needs updating, quite honestly.
 
 
First, stop adding 5ppm ammonia.  Add enough to bring the levels to 1-2 ppm - adding too much ammonia will raise the nitrite levels way too high!
 
 
Second, keep a close tab on the nitrite - use tap water to dilute the tank water in the test tube.  1ml tank water, 4ml tap water.  Test as usual.  Multiply your result by 5 to find out how high your level really is.  If its over 10ppm, do a partial water change to clear the nitrites out a bit - ideally you want them no higher than 5ppm, as higher levels will actually encourage the wrong bacteria.
 
 
Third, start testing nitrate.  You want to see an increase in nitrate.  This test is less accurate than the others, but its still a nice indicator of progress.   If using the API test, be sure to shake BOTTLE 2 A LOT! And shake the test tube a lot as well.
 
 
Finally, keep a close eye on the pH.  If the pH starts to drastically drop, do a partial water change to reset the other minerals in the tank so that the bacteria colony can continue to grow.

 

[MBOU]

Feel free to update it Eagle I wouldn't know, I never use ammonia in cycling a tank

 

[eaglesaquarium]

That job has already been assigned.  Basically the fishless cycle thread suggests adding ammonia up to 5ppm, which is now pretty universally accepted as much higher than necessary and actually inhibits the growth of the bacteria to a certain extent.   Further, it doesn't advocate dropping the ammonia during the nitrite spike, which also needlessly extends the process, as too much nitrite also inhibits the bacteria we want.
 
 
I've done it three times, and been an observer a bunch of other times...  But, I've never had so start from scratch after the first one!    The joy of mature media!!! 

 

[EthanF]

Okay thanks, I was just following a thread on here that says 5ppm but I will change now

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Yeah, that's the old thread that I was mentioning.  Its got the big points, just the dosing has changed significantly since it was written...  Adding that much won't really "hurt" anything, just cause it to be slower than it needs to be. 
 
Like I said, we are working on revisions (actually a full rewrite), but haven't been able to finish it yet.

 

[EthanF]

No problem

 

[Noahsfish]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but when there's nitrite present in a tank, isn't the nitrate reading innacurate?