so ive been cycling my tanks for 4 weeks now. My 2 3 gallon tanks show no signs at all of even starting a cycle & my 6 gallons test reads 0.50 ppm ammonia, 0 ppm nitrite & 20 or 40 ppm (its kinda in between) nitrate. I guess my question is why arent my 2 3g cycling? As far as my 6g I thought in order to have nitrates you had to have nitrites. Im a lil confused.
You would have had to see nitrites for there to be nitrates (as you mentioned). I assume you have been testing everyday? At no point you saw any indication of nitrites? How quickly is the amount of ammonia going down? Within 12-16 hours? Looking at those figures (depending how quickly the ammonia is going down), your tank seems as though it has cycled.
I have yet to start the process myself, haha, but I have been researching a ton (for my English composition research paper). Still learning though!
You would have had to see nitrites for there to be nitrates (as you mentioned). I assume you have been testing everyday? At no point you saw any indication of nitrites? How quickly is the amount of ammonia going down? Within 12-16 hours? Looking at those figures (depending how quickly the ammonia is going down), your tank seems as though it has cycled.
I have yet to start the process myself, haha, but I have been researching a ton (for my English composition research paper). Still learning though!
I did see a nitrate spike & then it was gone. I guess I was under the impression that once the nitrate spike I would see almost no ammonia. So from what I under stand as long as im seeing ammonia its not cycled. Ive never cycled before so im not sure.
Have you been adding ammonia everyday? From what I understand, as soon as you see nitrites, you should cut back the amount of ammonia but still add it everyday. It's not so much that you should see 0ppm ammonia after the nitrite/nitrate spike, it's that the amount of ammonia you put in should go from say, 2ppm, to 0ppm within 12-16 hours. So you are still seeing ammonia, it's just that it is going away very quickly. That, along with 0ppm nitrite and ~20ppm nitrate should indicate your tank is cycled. In your case, I would add enough ammonia to get the level around 2-3ppm and tomorrow check to see if it's at 0. Make sure nitrites are at 0, check to see the level of nitrate, then do your end-of-cycle partial water change to get the nitrates down.
Have you been adding ammonia everyday? From what I understand, as soon as you see nitrites, you should cut back the amount of ammonia but still add it everyday. It's not so much that you should see 0ppm ammonia after the nitrite/nitrate spike, it's that the amount of ammonia you put in should go from say, 2ppm, to 0ppm within 12-16 hours. So you are still seeing ammonia, it's just that it is going away very quickly. That, along with 0ppm nitrite and ~20ppm nitrate should indicate your tank is cycled. In your case, I would add enough ammonia to get the level around 2-3ppm and tomorrow check to see if it's at 0. Make sure nitrites are at 0, check to see the level of nitrate, then do your end-of-cycle partial water change to get the nitrates down.
Im doing a fish in cycle. It was doing good at first then my nitrites disappeared. Ok so will still see ammonia, it will just rapidly decrease. I will keep an eye out.
I guess that would have been helpful information from the get-go, haha. No worries, I shouldn't have assumed! It could just be that you saw the nitrite spike and decrease very quickly. I mean, the nitrate must have come from somewhere. I would say you are fine as long as the ammonia isn't exceeding .5ppm. How often have you been doing water changes?
I guess that would have been helpful information from the get-go, haha. No worries, I shouldn't have assumed! It could just be that you saw the nitrite spike and decrease very quickly. I mean, the nitrate must have come from somewhere. I would say you are fine as long as the ammonia isn't exceeding .5ppm. How often have you been doing water changes?
every night. may have skipped 2 but ive been pretty good about doing it.
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