Doesnt Seem To Be Any Cycling

[kvnkne]

Hey, I have been following advice from the responses to my last post. I have been doing daily water changes and additional when ammonia levels are more than 0. Its been a couple days and my readings are always .25-0. I have yet to get any readings from nitrite or nitrates. Is there something that I should do?

 

[drobbyb]

It can take up to two weeks before you see any nitrites sometimes.

 

[OldMan47]

At least 2 weeks and sometimes longer is needed just to start processing ammonia effectively. At that point it will still not be taking care of your fish's needs but you might get by with smaller water changes.

 

[Gvilleguy]

Just curious - why the daily water changes? If this is a fishless cycle, I would think those are not necessary every day. My cycle was among the longer ones I've seen - and ammonia did not drop until around 26 days, so don't sweat only a few days.

 

[RadaR]

Just curious - why the daily water changes?

Have a look here

 

[OldMan47]

The reason for the daily water changes is easy Gvilleguy. That 0.25 ppm reading is hard on the fish and is not needed to cycle the tank. A daily water change to get levels back down where they do no harm to the fish is only playing fair with the fish. Unfortunately, a fish-in cycle is a royal pain in terms of the work involved.

 

[Gvilleguy]

I missed that this was a fish-in cycle. That makes total sense.