I don't think my nitrites are legit

[soleilvie]

So as some of you may know I've been fishless cycling for a month now. I STILL DON'T HAVE ANY NITRITES. Actually, that was a lie. I bought Nutrafin Cycle a few days ago. The day after I used the Nutrafin Cycle I had a reading for nitrites. Imagine my excitement when seeing that water turn purple after a month of it being blue, eh? So now I'm thinking these nitrites aren't legit, that they came from the Nutrafin Cycle and they're just chillin' in my tank doing nothing. Three days later and the ammonia is not going down. It's still at the same 3-5ppm as it has been for a month. WHY ISN'T THIS WORKING?!

I'm giving it two more weeks. If there is no progress, I'm emptying out the water, refilling with fresh conditioned water, and getting my Betta. If I go this route, how long will it take for the ammonia level to reach .25 before I do a water change? In a day, a couple of days? How long do you propose a fish-in cycle would take?

[Oldfishlady]

How big is the tank and what kind of filtration and type of testing product are you using and how much ammonia are you adding each day
Have you checked your source water for ammonia
With a fish cycle depending on what size of tank, filtration and amount of food you feed and if you remove the uneaten food the ammonia can raise within 2-4 days with one fish IME

[soleilvie]

Originally Posted by Oldfishlady

How big is the tank and what kind of filtration and type of testing product are you using and how much ammonia are you adding each day
Have you checked your source water for ammonia
With a fish cycle depending on what size of tank, filtration and amount of food you feed and if you remove the uneaten food the ammonia can raise within 2-4 days with one fish IME

The tank is a 5 gallon hex, with one of those built-into-the-hood filtration things. I don't know much about filters, but it has a biowheel and a filter media pad thing with carbon in it.

I'm not adding ammonia each day because it's my understanding that you add the initial amount of ammonia (3-5ppm) then leave it until it goes down, whereby the ammonia will deplete much quicker and then it will need to be added daily. My ammonia hasn't gone down since day 1 so I haven't added any. If I did, there would be too much for the bacteria to handle, right?

I am using the API Freshwater Master Test Kit and there is no ammonia in my tap water.

[Oldfishlady]

Sounds like you are dong it right...one more question...how long have you been cycling the tank..

[soleilvie]

Originally Posted by Oldfishlady

Sounds like you are dong it right...one more question...how long have you been cycling the tank..

Today is Day 27. Everything seems to be in order now. My nitrites have spiked (the color is way off the chart) and I can see a slight decrease in the shade of green on the ammonia test (it's hard to read, but it looks to be about 3ppm). Hopefully it will drop to about 1, and then I will add a couple more drops of ammonia for the bacteria to feed on. I really think this is all because I added that Nutrafin Cycle. I wonder how different the results would be had I added it at the start...

[shmifty5]

the nutrafin cycle is most likely bacteria with some type of food source for them, these products aren't very reliable with some having a huge success and some crashing, i have personally cycled a tank for 4 months with almost no change in ammonia readings for nearly 2 months.

your cycle sounds pretty normal to me. keep us updated on how the bottled cycle is doing for you.

[Oldfishlady]

IMO those cycle start products are a waste of time and money, we had one product called Biozym (I think that was the name...been a while).... but it was taken off the market and it would cut the cycling time in half... so cycling would only take 2-4 weeks instead of 4-8 weeks.
I cycle with fish and as long as the needed water changes are made and water prams monitored it can be safe IME......