Questions during fishless cycling

[pog0]

Hey everyone,

I have a real newbie question when it comes to the whole fishless cycling. I have been following some instructions that another user posted up and is now stickied. Everything seemed to be perfect until we noticed our ammonia levels were crazy high - 5 ppm! We stopped adding ammonia for about 2-3 days and it dropped down to about 3 ppm with still 0 nitrites. Kept adding a lower dose of ammonia per 10 gallons - 4 instead of 6-7 drops per 10 gallons in our 29 gallon tank. Things were awesome, nitrites started to show. A couple days later we noticed ammonia dropping really fast and our nitrites shot through the ceiling in a matter of a few days - 0 ppm ammonia, 5 ppm nitrites as of today. I added 13 drops of ammonia just right now. It seems that I am doing everything right, the question is... Am I? Is something messed up since my ammonia is pretty much zero? I hope to hear that I am on the right track, but I have prepared myself for the worst. Thanks in advance!

-pog0

[ivwarrior]

From what I understand, that sounds about right. The organisms that feed off ammonia are established and converting it to nitrites. Soon, Nitrites should drop, and nitrates should start to show up the nitrite feeders get established. Ammonia readings should stay 0 now.

[pog0]

Glad to hear good news... I should continue to add ammonia on a daily basis as I have been doing right?

[ivwarrior]

Yes. Until the nitrites drop and nitrates show up, then you can start slowly stocking the tank.

[mousey]

One thing to be aware of is this- all seems to be going well then all of a sudden the artificial cycle will crash and you will see the ammonia levels go up again.
We have had endless discussions on this on another forum and we come to the conclusion that ammonia in the bottle seems to kill off the nitrate converters so it seems better to cut back on the ammonia.
i am not saying this will happen to you-- but it has happened to a number of us. Just be prepared.
If you want to know what othewr web site I frequent PM me.

[Hevach]

I had the same experience mousey refers to, but it wasn't the bacteria dying, the pH crashed down to around 4.0. The cycle tends to push the pH down, and if it drops too far, the bacteria stop growing or die off. A fishless cycle has a similar effect on water chemistry as going too long without a water change. The second time through I monitored pH daily after nitrates started showing up, and did a very large water change when it dropped below 6 (pH is 7.8 from the tap). Aside from that I kept dosing ammonia daily and had no more problems, only took one water change about three weeks in.

[pog0]

Thanks, Hevach! I'll start keeping an eye on the pH. It's probably been about 3 weeks now - although it feels like forever