Hows My Fishless Cycle Doing?...

[DJayP]

Hi peeps, my 90l tank has been set up for 17 days now. I have been adding the ammonia for 13 days. Ammonia is dropping from around 3/4 in well less than 24 hours. Heres my test results (with API liquid test kit) after adding ammonia at 7am this morning:

AMMONIA - 0
NITRITE - 5
NITRATE - 10

So basicly now im just waiting for the nitrite to drop to 0. One thing i want to ask is, do the nitrates always go off the chart or is it possible for the nitrites to drop without that much nitrate present? I don't have any plants in my setup.

Neil 8)

 

[Squid]

When i did mine the nitrates went sky high.. I takes at least twice as long for the nitrites to go down to zero than the ammonia did, so by this time you have normally accumulated a fair amount of nitrates..

Cheers
Squid

 

[mark.w.jones]

Agreed. Plants can actually slow down a fishless cycle a bit as they absorb ammonia, nitrite, nitrate etc. to stay alive. HIgh nitrates perfectly normal. Nitrites take a millenia to go.

to TFF

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yup agreed with the above, don't worry if your nitrates are sky high, the water change before adding fish will bring them back down then regular weekly maintenance will keep on top of them.