Ammonia level is not coming down??

[jmueller]

Hi all,
About 4 weeks ago I started my tank. I added about 5 ml of ammonia to the new tank. After a week or two, the nitrite level started to come up. For the last couple weeks the nitrite level has been been up. As the nitrite level comes up, shouldn't I see the ammonia starting to come down? Would you expect it to take this long? I want to get on with fish!!

Thanks
Jon

[two utes]

Be patient. Are you doing any water changes?

[MendoMan]

Start checking for nitrates. Should be any day now.

[Kirbs]

What is your ammonia reading? I just cycled a 50 gallon and check ammonia reading every morning. Sometimes twice a day! It's 0 every morning and i have to add at least 1 TBS of ammonia to keep the cycle going. My Nitrate gets up to as high as 40 to 80. I change 50% of the water every other day.

[jmueller]

I haven't done any water changes yet. I assumed that would knock down the ammonia level. I was going to start water changes as soon as nitrates started coming up. My ammonia is currently at ~4 mg/l.

[jmueller]

Ok, after looking back closer at the calendar, it's been closer to 8 weeks since I added the ammonia. The level is still around 3 mg/l. Reading the label on the ammonia I used - it states that it contains 10% ammonium hydroxide. Could this be the problem? It doesn't state that it contains any surfactants or scent/perfumes. Not sure what to do. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks,
Jon

[Kyla]

just checking to see that u have a filter running on this tank?

[jmueller]

I have a canister (aquatop cf400) and 2 sponge filters going. The KH and GH are low - does this impact the rate at which nitrifying bacteria forms?

[Bizarro252]

4ppm may be a bit high, try a water change to lower it to 2ppm. Here is a sweet calculator to help future dosing BTW:
https://www.hamzasreef.com/Contents/Calculators/AmmoniaCycling.php

What kind of bacteria are you adding? I also assume you dechlorined the water with some sort of conditioner?

[MendoMan]

I have a canister (aquatop cf400) and 2 sponge filters going. The KH and GH are low - does this impact the rate at which nitrifying bacteria forms?

Bingo. Low KH and GH make it very hard to establish some of the needed bacteria.

[jmueller]

I have added a small quantity of food - a pinch of flake food and about 1/2 a cube of frozen blood worms. Otherwise, I really haven't added anything for bacteria. Do I need to raise my KH and GH?

Thanks,
Jon

[MendoMan]

I have added a small quantity of food - a pinch of flake food and about 1/2 a cube of frozen blood worms. Otherwise, I really haven't added anything for bacteria. Do I need to raise my KH and GH?

Thanks,
Jon
You don't need to add anything for bacteria but if you want to add one of the products that are out there it won't hurt.