Fishless Cycle Help

[Dean1992]

Hello all.

I am new to the hobby, and I have had an 11 gallon aquarium set up for 2 months. The fishless cycle has been going perfectly with Ammonia levels dissipating in 12 hours constantly. Two days ago I had a reading of 0 Ammonia and 0 Nitrites. And I figured the cycle was complete. So going by many forms and reaearch into the fishless cycle, I did a 90% water change two days ago to reduce the level of Nitrates. After the change I added the daily dose of 5ppm of Ammonia as per usual. But today my Ammonia is through the roof a full 24 hours after adding it. My water is also very cloudy, resembling diluted milk. Giving me the idea it is a bacterial bloom, but I dont know why. I am not sure what to do, whether to keep adding the Ammonia or not, and is my cycle completely messed up?. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I am worried the two months of perfect cycling has been thrown out of the window.

Thank you, Dean.

 

[Electric Warrior]

Good question, but I always assumed that you do a large WC within 24 hours of adding fish, and therefore you don't dose any ammonia after the WC (Since there should be fish present within a day)? I can only assume that 5ppm on a fully cycled tank is a bit much?

 

[Dean1992]

Good question, but I always assumed that you do a large WC within 24 hours of adding fish, and therefore you don't dose any ammonia after the WC (Since there should be fish present within a day)? I can only assume that 5ppm on a fully cycled tank is a bit much?

Yeah, I was only going to dose it for another day, just to make sure the ammonia was still lowering to 0 after 12 hours. But it wasnt, so I held off on getting the fish until I worked out what the hell was going on. Any Ideas on what to do to fix this?, and any idea what happened?.

Thanks for the response.

 

[fluttermoth]

I would do a complete, 100% water change and then redose with ammonia once you've refilled and see how it goes.

It's unlikely to have totally ruined your cycle. Did you remember to dechlorinate when you did your big change?

 

[4seasons]

Did you remember to dechlorinate when you did your big change?

That would be my guess as well. Chlorine on a fully cycled filter is bad news.

 

[jb1997mcd]

When you redose your tank after the water change only dose to about 2ppm. Dosing up to 5ppm after the initial dose is high and can affect your cycle. Chances are the dose up to 5ppm caused some issues with your beneficial bacteria. As Fluttermoth mentioned you should get your cycle back fairly quickly.

I have accidentally dosed 5-6ppm late in the fishless cycle and it did disrupt my cycle. It recovered fairly quickly.

hope this helps.

jb