I am sorry villa, you did not follow the directions.
There is supposed to be a 2nd full ammonia dose done when ammonia drops to .75 ppm or less and nitrite rises to over 2 ppm which comes before the snack is needed. But your results look fishy. 1 ppm of ammonia gets converted to about 2.5 ppm of nitrite. The nitrite bacteria do not start to increase until nitrite has risen. You say ammonia did not drop until after day 6 and by day 9 it was down by half. That means you should have been reading close to 5 ppm of nitrite, and for sure over 2 ppm, on day 9.
And then, how can there be any nitrite on day 6 if no ammonia has been converted yet? This is not possible. There is something wrong with your test results either from a bad kit, a mistake in testing or the ever present color interpretation issues. They report results that don't happen.
What test kit are you using and how old are they? You never answer this either:
Did you use anything from a cycled tank in your tank? Do you have any live plants?
The best I can come up with is making sure your test stuff is OK and you are doing the the tests right. Then
what ammonia are you using, what else is in the tank and
what dechlor are you using. Something is causing impossible readings and you need to know what to get things on track or even to know where they stand.
For example, you posted above "The tank dealt with that 1/3 dose within 24 hours and ammonia i s now <0.25ppm." If the tank dealt with a 1/3 dose in 24 houtrs ammonia tests at 0 and nitrite also tests at 0. Neither of these happened.
But for sure you are not on the schedule in the article. It is dose ammonia to 3 ppm and wait for test results which show ammonia dropping and nitrite rising, then dose that same 3 ppm amount a gain and wait for the test numbers to hit the specified targets. It is in the second waiting period that ammonia drops to 0 and nitrite is still up there that you feed the snack dose. After that you are again waiting to hit targets which is basically very low or no ammonia and nitrite and you doe another fulls ammonis dose. Now you want to have that go to 0/0 in under 24 hours. If if doesn't you wait for the numbers to drop and try it again with q 3 ppm dose.
Day 1 Set up your tank with the décor etc. Fill it with dechlorinated tap water and add the filter and heater. Turn everything on and wait for the tank temperature to reach the desired 75 - 85 F range. Make sure the tank runs for at least a couple of hours no matter what. You should already know the parameters of your tap water and that they are in a proper range for cycling.
Add the initial dose of ammonia. This should be an amount that produces a test kit reading of 3.0 ppm (1 ppm = 1 mg/l). Because of possible testing and experience issues, we strongly advise that fish keepers new to cycling do not exceed 3 ppm of ammonia. Too much ammonia and/or dosing too often will usually work against the process rather than helping it. You can use the dosing calculator found here Ammonia Calculatorhttp://www.fishforums.net/aquarium-calculator.htm to determine the initial amount for a tank your size which should produce the recommended 3 ppm level. (Please read the Suggestions and Trouble Shooting section below on how to calculate the volume of your tank.)
Record the actual amount of ammonia you add for the initial full dose as it will serve as the base amount for calculating a later maintenance addition. To be sure the ammonia has time to circulate in the water, wait about 30 minutes after adding it to test the level in your tank to confirm it is 3 ppm.
Now comes the hard part- you need to be patient as mostly what you will be doing is waiting and testing and waiting some more.
Days 2 and 3 Do nothing.
Day 4 Test for ammonia and nitrite.
Days 5 and 6 Do nothing.
Day 7 Test for ammonia and nitrite.
Continue testing every 3 days (Days 10, 13 etc).
If at any time you test and ammonia is under .75 ppm and nitrite is clearly over 2 ppm, it is time to add more ammonia. Add the same full amount as you did the first time. Now, begin to test the ammonia and nitrite levels every other day. (You should be seeing nitrate soon if you have the kit.)
After the second ammonia addition, while waiting for nitrite to rise, peak and drop, the bacteria will need a maintenance feeding. When you get two consecutive ammonia readings of 0 ppm, give the bacteria a “snack” by adding 1/3 of the full amount. This “snack” should be needed somewhere between days 21 and 27 of the cycle.
After the maintenance feeding, whenever you test and ammonia is .25 ppm or lower and nitrite is clearly under 1 ppm, it is time to add a full ammonia dose again and test in 24 hours.
If ammonia and nitrite both read 0 ppm, you are cycled. Do a large water change, be sure the water is the proper temperature, and add fish. The odds are this will not be the case quite this soon.
If ammonia and nitrite do not both read zero, continue to test daily. Whenever ammonia is again at .25 ppm or less and nitrite is clearly under 1 ppm, add the full amount of ammonia and test in 24 hours. Follow this pattern of testing and adding until both tests read 0 ppm. The cycle should not take much longer to be completed.
I think the only way to get control of things may be a massive water change. Then a retest of all params and then the addition of enough ammonia to get it to 3 ppm. if you have any ammonia when you test after the big water change, you need to reduce your dosing level on the ammonia calc by that amout. I f the ammonia test after the water change is .25 ppm, then calculate the dose for 2.75 ppm 3. Of if you test ammonia at .5 ppm then the addition is to 2.5 ppm. If the test is 0 ammonia, the the calc is for the full 3 ppm.
After doing this test daily and report the results in the thread.
/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/421488-cycling-your-new-fresh-water-tank-read-this-first/
