High Readings, fishless cycling

[StarOrbs]

I've been fishless cycling for 14 days now and my readings have been getting higher everyday and I'm wondering if I should do a partial water change or just reduce the amount of ammonia I'm putting in. My readings today are:
Ammonia >5 ppm
Nitrite >3.3 ppm
Nitrate > 100 ppm

 

[WILDER]

http/www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_fishless.php

 

[StarOrbs]

Alright then I guess I should stop adding ammonia till the ammonia level actually goes down a bit.

 

[Slyspy]

Not so sure. I just added the same amount of ammonia every day and halved it when the nitrites spiked. Not sure about that article either. When my cycle was done I stocked my tank in one go. The point with fishless cycling is that you can do this. Even fully stocked your fish are unlikely to produce ammonia to 5ppm, so if your bacteria can consume 5ppm in a day then they can easily service a full load of fish. Also his cycle times seem rather too short, especially his unplanted tanks. Why, if using the same method, would it take weeks to cycle a 6G planted (like it did mine) but only days to cycle a 6G unplanted? In fact it should take roughly the same time no matter what the tank size and whether it is planted or not. Adding mature tank water will do nothing to speed up a cycle. His method seems slightly out as well.

 

[StarOrbs]

I don't know but my ammonia level is way too high for me to measure it I just want to make sure it gets down to around 5 ppm vs 7-8 ppm you know. I still put in a little ammonia everyday no matter what anyway. I'm just trying to get the ammonia levels down a bit.

 

[StarOrbs]

Tested my ammonia again today still above 5 ppm. All my readings are off the chart and my nitrite is still going up above 5 ppm. My guess would be around 8 ppm for ammonia. Should I just leave it alone and let it come down on its own?

 

[StarOrbs]

My guess would be around 8 ppm for ammonia. Should I just leave it alone and let it come down on its own?

 

[Squirrelbuddies]

I'm new to fishless cycling - but have learned a lot since coming here. I added ammonia (55 drops per day) until I got a nitrite reading (which was only a couple of days ago) and then I started to backoff (30 drops). (And I actually skipped adding ammonia one day - before the nitrite appeared - because I didn't want the ammonia to go any higher.)

I've been cycling for 10 days now.

I don't know if I have the right answers -- but I guess if it were my tank I'd back off adding ammonia for one day and see how much the ammonia reading goes down after 24 hours.

And then I'd have a glass of wine!

 

[StarOrbs]

Problem Solved! No need for anymore replies.

 

[DivaSkyChick]

So how's it going? Are you cycled yet?

 

[StarOrbs]

Almost my nitrites have started to go down and the ammonia is going down pretty fast now too. So I should have fish by the end of the week.

 

[modernhamlet]

Nitrites can be notoriously slow in dropping completely, so be patient. Sounds like things are going well though. Congrats!

Regarding fishless cycling method, I'm a strong proponent of only adding ammonia when you need to bring it back up to between 3 and 4 ppm. In addition to concerns about very high ammonia levels actually inhibiting bacteria growth, this method also allows me to have a much better idea of where the cycle stands. I have better control of the process and know everyday just how much ammonia was turned into nitrite and how much nitrite was turned to nitrate. Because of this, I was able to predict the day the cycle would complete about 5 days ahead of time on my more recent tank.

Basically, I've gotten good results (2 tanks: 29g planted and 75g unplanted, 19 and 23 days to cycle respectively) with this method and suggest it as a modification to standard fishless cycling.

You're almost there! Good luck!

 

[Slyspy]

Was going to say that i'll try that next time but then realised that I have no more for any more tanks then