New Tank Cycling Process Progression

[Mervin]

Hi everyone,
 
I made a post a few weeks ago about a strange fungus in my tank. Since then I think I have successfully removed the strange white fungus by removing the gravel, decorations and plants and letting them dry out. I took cutting from some of the plants and am currently growing them. (More on that later). After everything dried out I put it bank in the tank and everything seems to be ok fungus related, it's been 2 weeks and no signs of it yet.
 
During this time I've been taking readings of the ammonia and for the first 2 weeks the readings havn't dropped at all. Infact, 4 days ago they seemed to be rising, they went from 4 to 8+! I did a partil 30% water change then waited 30 minutes and retested. They were at the same level so I did a larger 60% water change and retested. They went down to around 3.
 
The next day I amanged to obtain some gravel from an already established tank (it turns out an ex boyfriend of my sisters friend has one! and they are on good terms!) I got the gravel in a new (hand washed stocking which has never been washed in detergent before) and placed it in my tank so it is secured at the top and kind of floating near the bottom. I gave it a squeeze and a big white cloud came out of it which I took to be a very good sign.
 
Yesterday I tested the ammonia and it had dropped to about 0.5! I added some more and today it dropped agan to 0! I just tested the nitrite and it instantly went purple in the tube. I waited 5 mintues to be sure and it is definitely off the chart! Which I am taking to be a good sign!
 
At this moment as you can imagine, I am very excited and can't wait to add fish and get my little community going!
 
I also decided to take a nitrate reading to see if that was up to anything (I feel like a wizard with all of these colourful potions!). The nitrate reading was also noticeable, it is between 5 and 10, a clear orange colour, if not a little dark orange!
 
So at this moment I am a bit confused and need guidance and advice about what to to do next, what I should be checking for and what to expect. I thought that the nitrate shouldn't be noticeable until the nitrite had gone to 0.
 I realise that the established gravel media I introduced could be throwing some readings off as to how established my tank actually is.
 
Do I keep dosing ammonia to feed the nitrite bacteria?
Should I be checking for the nitrite to go down?
Am I just checking for the nitrate now?
 
Where abouts in the cycle am I?
 
Thank you for any help, thank you for reading!
 
 

 

[Mervin]

I forgot to mention the plants I have are just cuttings and are only between 2 - 5 cm).
 
My readings were:
 
Ammonia: 0.5
Nitrite: 5+ (off the chart, the solution instantly went purple)
Nitrate: 8
 
I've now added Ammonia to bring it back up to about 4-5. So now my readings are:
 
Ammonia: 5
Nitrite: 5+
Nitrate: 8
 
Tomorrow I will test again and give new readings. What should I be looking out for now?


Ok so this is where I think I am at. I just don't want to make any mistakes!!
 

Every time the ammonia drops back to zero, raise it back up to 3 to 4 ppm and continue to check nitrites. The nitrite reading will go off the chart... Once the ammonia is dropping from around 4 ppm back to zero in 12 hours or less you have sufficient bacteria to handle the ammonia your fish load produces. Continue to add ammonia daily as you must feed the bacteria that have formed or they will begin to die off.

The nitrite spike will generally take about twice as long to drop to zero as did the ammonia spike. The reason for this is two-fold. First, the nitrite processing bacteria just develop slower than those that process ammonia. Second, you are adding more nitrite daily (every time you add ammonia, it is transformed into nitrite raising the level a little more) as opposed to the ammonia, which you only add once at the start and then waited on it to drop to zero. During this time, you should occasionally
test for nitrate too. The presence of nitrate means that nitrite is being processed, completing the nitrogen cycle. The nitrate level will also go off the chart but you will take care of that with a large water change later. It will seem like forever before the nitrite finally falls back to zero but eventually, almost overnight, it will drop and you can
celebrate. You are almost there. Once the bacteria are able to process 4 or 5 ppm of ammonia back to zero ammonia and nitrite in about 10 to 12 hours. You are officially cycled. You can continue this for a few days just to make sure it isn't a one time thing and of course, you need to continue to add ammonia up until the day before you get your fish.

 
I need to keep topping up ammonia when it goes down to 0 and check for the nitrate reading. Once it goes off the chart I need to keep doing this until the ammonia is dropping to 0 in under 12 hours?
 
So exciting!!