Fishless Cycle Stalled?

[Nu2Discus]

Thank you Gorf. I'm letting it ride.

[Nu2Discus]

Today is day 53. Just ran the tests, and here's what I'm getting.

Ph=8.2-8.3. Ammonia=0. Nitrite=0. Nitrate=80-160. TDS=573. Temp 82


Ammonia
[IMG][/IMG]


Nitrite
[IMG][/IMG]


Nitrate
[IMG][/IMG]

I added more ammonia and am letting it ride for now.

[Gorf]

That's a full cycle you have there!

What we need now, is for the bacteria to handle 2ppm of Ammonia in 12 hours - then you're done. No water change yet please.

[Nu2Discus]

Yay!!!! I'll run the tests in a little while and see where I'm at today. Thanks for all your help.

Any idea why the cycle didn't follow the normal progression of ammonia to nitrite to nitrate. Why I was getting nitrates before the nitrites showed up?

[Gorf]

I'm not sure, you were doing some unusual stuff at one point I think. Nitrates can come direct from the water supply.

[Nu2Discus]

Woo hoo! Looks like I've taken another small step forward. Today is day 56 of the cycle. Here's where we ended up.
Ph 8.2-8.3. Ammonia 0 after 24 hrs. Nitrite 0.25 after 24 hrs. Nitrate I'm between 80-160, but closer to the 160 end. TDS 582. Temp 82

It looks like my ammonia is coming down to zero in 24 hrs, from about 2 ppm, but the nitrites are still not there yet, but it's a step forward, so I'm happy about that. I'm hoping this will bring this cycling to an end sometime this week. Today is the beginning of week 8!

Should I be worried about the nitrates being this high? Should I do a water change, or just ride it out the rest of the week, and hope that the cycle will be done by then?

Thanks so much for your help.

[Gorf]

Looking good! Remember to let the Ammonia drop to 0.25ppm or less before dosing back to 2ppm. Nitrates are getting a little steep, but lets stick it out for a few more days. Once they hit a definite 160ppm, then do a 25% water change. Make sure you don't pump any Chlorine in there...!

[Nu2Discus]

Someone pass me a chair. I think I may collapse in a heap. Woo hoo, I think I'm there. Just ran my tests, and here is where I wind up. Today is day 57.

Ph 8.2. Ammonia is zero after 24 hrs from about 2ppm. Nitrite is also zero after 24 hrs. Nitrate is I think a touch less than 160 ppm but close. TDS 587. Temp 82

I just added more ammonia, and I think I'll let it go till tomorrow and see if the trend continues. When I do a water change you recommend only 25%? Bad idea to do more?

Also here's another item, since this tank has been cycling so long, I've lost about 3-4 inches of water from the tank due to evaporation, and also for testing continuously lol. Do you think I should just maybe top it up and see what that brings me to first?

Also with a normal cycle, the nitrites are supposed to spike. But since mine is a little off, I'm thinking I won't have this spike. Is that right?

[Gorf]

Yep, top up the tank with treated water.

The Ammonia bugs develop first, leading to zero Ammonia & lots of Nitrites. Perhaps that's what you mean by a spike?

Regarding the water change quantity, I was just keeping it light as we're just on the verge of a fully cycled tank. There's a delicate balance in there at the moment.

After the top-up. Dose the Ammonia back to 2ppm. We're aiming now for a full Nitrogen cycle in 12 hours.

Good work!

[Nu2Discus]

Yea that's what I meant about the spike. In the normal way things happen, I gather that at first there's zero ammonia, nitrite and nitrates. The ammonia goes up, but nitrites and nitrates stay at zero. Then after a while ammonia starts to go down, and nitrites form, they get really high, but still no nitrates. The nitrites go down, and nitrates finally form.

But with my crazy cycle, I had nitrates, but no nitrites. So now that I have close to 160 ppm nitrates, but the highest I've seen my nitrites were 0.5. But now since both ammonia and nitrites come back down to zero in 24 hrs, I thinking I'll never see the high nitrites. Or am I confused, and the nitrites will still climb up very high?

[Gorf]

You won't see the high Nitrites, I hope!

I'd add that very high Nitrites would be due to seeding Ammonia too high.

[Nu2Discus]

Quick update on my cycle. Today is day 65, I just ran my tests.

Ph 8.2. Ammonia zero after 24 hours from about 2ppm. Nitrite at least 5ppm. Nitrate 80-160. TDS 583. Temp 82

I'm a bit confused at this point, since the ammonia is down to zero in 24 hours, but the nitrites are so high, do I add more ammonia to feed the bacteria? But since the nitrites are so high, do I let them drop down first before adding more ammonia?

[mastermamo]

Day 65!!!! OMG I would go mad

Try this

This is an incredible product. I have used it in all of my 6 tanks and I got results in a week.
In my 2 main tanks I got results in 3 days. I fill 5-10ml into a syringe with a small plastic tube attached to give me more reach and then add 7ml to intake nozzle of my canister (FX5) and 3ml straight into tank. It smells really foul because its live bacteria colonies in the bottle but results are spectacular.