Right! I (very Nearly) Give Up!

[ellena]

This fishless cycle is driving me mad. I'm going back to 24hr testing as seeing it going the wrong way twice a day is too disheartening
One day all was well, and NH3 and NO2 both dropped to 0 within 24 hrs and I thought we were getting there.
Then it went all over the place with NH3 actually going up!
So I got some mature media from LFS, enough to replace all my ceramics. Within 8.5hrs, it had all gone down to 0ppm and I thought I'd finally cracked it.
Now they've slowed right down and after 32hrs, NH3 has started to go up again.
What am I doing wrong?
Full thread here

 

[Nick16]

i take it you are doing daily water changes?

 

[MisterTickle]

Cycling can take a while but believe me, Starting off the right way is the best way, Rushing it can cause so many problems.

 

[ellena]

No not doing any water changes.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

you shouldn't be doing daily water changes with a fishless cycle, thats only for fish-in cycling.

Not had time to pick up the whole thread yet, have you been monitoring pH?

 

[ellena]

Yes, it crashed once and I did a big water change, but it's stayed above 7 since then. As the mystery ammonia is being produced, it actually goes quite high. Think it was nearly 8 this morning.