Cycling confusion...

[AyalaCookiejar]

I am totally lost.

I've been fishless cycling my tank for a month now. At first I had high ammonia... then ammonia and nitrites... then all three... and now I have ammonia, 0 nitrites and some nitrates.

How did the nitrites go back down to 0 and the ammonia stayed the same? For like two weeks I saw no change in the tests hardly at all, and now the ammonia and nitrates are the same but the nitrites are 0.

I just don't understand, lol.

[callistra]

Editing now nvm I see what you mean... It may have to do with your dosing of ammonia (fishless or fish in?) or do you have live plants? Did you use bottled bacteria source? How much ammonia?

[AyalaCookiejar]

But my ammonia isn't 0. It's about 2ppm. The lowest it got was 1ppm but I added more. The nitrites fell from .5 to 0.

Edit: no live plants ammonia was never higher than 4ppm.

[callistra]

Then it has to do with your dosing. You haven't really had a nitrite spike then. Nitrite will get 5ppm+ and then one day it will just fall to zero. Nitrates will be like off the chart at that point.

Also, the way I've always done it is to keep ammonia at 4ppm. Test daily, if it drops add more ammonia.. wait.. test..

[AyalaCookiejar]

Okay, thanks. I will add more ammonia.

Does it usually take this long for anything to happen? Two weeks in a row I had 2ppm ammonia, .5 nitrites and 10 nitrates.

[callistra]

You're using a drops kit right?

I've never dosed ammonia so low so IDK. I use 4ppm and keep it there until the cycle ends. It can hang a while there but once it takes off it will be like overnight practically.

What the size and temp of your tank? What filter are you using? What's the PH?

[AyalaCookiejar]

I use the API master test kit. I started off with 4ppm.

The tank is 4 gallons with two internal filters. I know it may not hold a stable cycle in that tank size but I have two filters in it with extra filter foam shoved into them and decorations in the tank to grow BB. One is a Whisper 10i and the other is some kind of Aqueon internal filter I think... The pH is 8 and the temp is 77 degrees currently. The heater is adjustable I just haven't gotten to adjusting it yet.

[callistra]

I would bump temp to between 80-85. It will speed up your cycle

I wouldn't use 2 filters in something so small.. Even one might be too much current but two I can't imagine wouldn't be too much.. Just be careful I guess

[AyalaCookiejar]

I'm not using both filters in that tank once they're cycled. One is for my ten gallon tank so I will move it when the cycle is finished... The Aqueon filter has a low flow and I'll probably do extra water changes or regular testing after it cycles because I'm not sure it will hold a stable cycle on its own. My ten gallon currently is floating three one gallon temporary tanks to keep them warm which is why I didn't do the fishless cycle in it.