Fishless Cycle

[Bugsvile]

Hi,

I added some ammonia, the correct amount as per the calculator instructions, 3 days ago now but there still appears to be no drop in the ammonia levels. I am using the API master kit now for my tests but they are still showing at around 5ppm. Is this normal? and how long is it normally before you see a drop in levels? The water temperature is at 28c if there is anymore info needed i will provide.

Oh yeah i am doing the add and wait method and testing daily. I know it can take up to a week according to the fishless cycle thread but i thought i may have seen some drop at least!

 

[OldMan47]

The add and wait method might be called the add and settle in for a long wait method. It is not at all unusual for the first movement of ammonia to take a week or more. Relax. There is no reason to test 3 times a day when real movement can be easily noted at this stage by testing every 2 or 3 days. As you near the end of the ammonia bacterial growth, you will be testing every 12hours to verify the speed that the filter can deal with ammonia but there is no need for that this early in the game.

 

[waterdrop]

Just to second what OM47 is saying, it has sometimes taken 3 -weeks- for the first drop of ammonia from 5ppm to zero ppm! But that's extremely rare, only one or two cases seen and the are more cases of 2 weeks and still more of only a week or a little over. For most people, once ammonia drops to zero the first time, it then begins dropping daily, almost right away. At that point the cycler usually sees a little trace of nitrite(NO2) for the first time or it is even growing to be a significant amount about then.

I would raise your temp one more degree to 29C and that should be hot enough. Do post up your tap and tank pH reading, just so it will be here in your thread for reference. You won't need to test pH too often until later, perhaps after you are in to your "nitrite spike" phase.

~~waterdrop~~