How long till Nitrites??

[Sky042]

been 48 hours so far.
Not seeing the Ammonia drop
Still registering no nitrites.

I can't remember how long it should take to start seeing some.


Now I HEAVILY seeded the two tanks in question.
I'm wondering if maybe I'm slowly digesting ammonia and the bacteria is keeping up with nitrite production?


I'm at a little over 4ppm(between 4 and 8 on my test kit) for ammonia and I'm afraid to add anymore.

Should I be adding anymore?

When should I see nitrites?

 

[houndour]

i'm not sure I did my fishless cycle exactly right, but I didn't see nitrites for a week to 10 days I think. And then my nitrites took _ages_ to disappear again. Whole thing took about a month.

 

[AlexsDaddy]

If you heavely seeded them, then the bacteria may be keeping up with the nitrItes. Have you checked for nitrAtes?

 

[Karah's_Mommy]

I'd be a bit more patient, give it a few more days. I've had nitrites show up between days 4-6 before, and some not til much later.

 

[Sky042]

Guess I was just expecting the ammonia level to actually drop in the first 48 hours.

 

[Sky042]

Update
my 54G this morning showed .50 Nitrite and a slight reduction in ammonia.

the 125 is still staying the same.

The only thing I can think of is the temp on the 54 accidentally got bumped up to 83~84 degrees while the 125 is still at 76.

I'm wondering if the higher temps are helping the bacteria process.