Fishless Cycling Going A Little Too Fast

Captain Retardo

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After finding the ammonia for my tank for fishless cycling, I put it in right away and now, the second day (24 hours) My ammonia eating bacteria can lower my ammonia level down from about 4-5 PPM to around 0.5-1.25 PPM in only 21 Hours!!! Yesterday my nitrite level was very high (second off the top of the chart) and today I imagine it will be off the chart, I already have a nitrate reading of about 5.0 PPM.

Just wondering, this seems very abnormal, it is already the second day and I am almost done with the cycle, by the way it is going I shall be ready by the weekends, perfect because a store near us just got some healthy Bolivian Rams and are only selling them for $2 American!!!

Am I just lucky???

Edit-I forgot to add; My tank light is on a very long time, the water level is just below the rim (so that the filter makes more surface tension) I have two airlines in my tank and they are connected to a 50 gallon airpump (I have a 29 gallon tank) the airlines have no airstone so the bubbles are bigger, the tank temp is constantly around 85-87 degrees fahrenheit. So I have optimum conditions for bacteria growth, but I did not get the tank seeded...
 
Hmmm...interesting. Let's hear how long the nitrite stage takes. I thought mine was pretty good going, when I cycled in 10 and 14 days respectively, but it seems you might beat that.
 
the high temp may have something to do with it. Apparently...not sure about this...the bacteria is seeded by the air. Maybe you just got lots of nitro(whatever they are called) bacteria floating around. Vaccum for gods sake...j/k
 
did you use biospira? i know it's supposed to help w/ the cycle.... and who knows- the fiasco w/ the other ammonia might have already started your cycle w/o you knowing it :) wouldn't that be nice??
 
I did not use biospira!

On the third day my ammonia level dropped from around 4.0 PPM to 0.25 in 7 hours! and Today it dropped from 5.0 PPM to 0 in 7 hours!

The bad thing is that my nitrIte eating bacteria is slowly growing, I think I will have to do lots of small water changes though because my nitrIte level is way to high (I estimate it to be about 2.5 times as much as the highest level on my test kit)

and who knows- the fiasco w/ the other ammonia might have already started your cycle w/o you knowing it wouldn't that be nice??

lol, i don't see how though, I totally cleaned the tank and drained it of all its water (almost) 3 times! and I put chlorinated water in instead of dechlorinating it first when I started over
 
i found the nitrite part really strange. pretty much every day i was topping up ammonia to 5ppm to have it drop to zero in 24 hours and i tested the nitrite every day and every day it was off the scale. then, one day, it was gone, and i danced all the way to my lfs :good:

i wouldnt worry that you are always topping up the nitrite and it seems to not be going anywhere, just be patient and as soon as you are ready to give up, you will get a nice surprise :D
 
Your right! Today I put about 4.5 PPM ammonia in in the morning and when I came back 7 hours later My ammonia was 0 and my Nitrite was 0.25 (probably a little less!) but the weird thing is that my NitrAte is at around 7 or 8 still...

Do you think by tommorow I'll be able to have fish in the tank?
 
Good for you. Mine took a month and it just now cycled. Overnight the nitrites dropped to zero.
 
my nitrate was low at the end.. think its coz i had a nitrate sponge in the filter (whoops). but aye, if your ammonia is dropping that fast and the nitrite has spiked and returned to zero, a big water change is all thats needed :D
 

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