Is My Cycle Stuck?

[Fishywonder]

Hope you can help

Been cycling my filter since last Friday evening, so six days. I seeded the filter by washing a cycled filters media in tank water and pouring that water into the canister.

Using the add and wait method, been processing 4ppm ammonia every 12hrs since Sunday.

But my nitrites are still sky high, in excess of 5ppm (using liquid API)

Am I being impatient or is this normal? I know nitrite bacteria take longer to grow but how much longer do you think I will have to wait? Or will I have to do a water change to jump start it?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

This is normal. A water change can help, not so much to jump start it but to allow the nitrite bacs to catch up. Also, keep in mind that the bacteria you are trying to cultivate prefer much, MUCH lower concentrations than 5+ppm, they prefer 0.14 ppm (or around that level). As such, doing a water change to bring the nitrites down won't hurt. One other thing you can do is dose less ammonia, say 2 or 3ppm, so that less nitrite is produced, giving those bacs a chance to get going, without getting overwhelmed.