# Day 19 Fishless Cycle, False Nitrite Readings



## CrackFox (Nov 13, 2012)

Hi. It's now day 19 since I started the pure ammonia cycle. I've never gotten a reading for nitrite or nitrate until yesterday when I tested randomly after adding some more water (the level was dropping due to evaporation) and dechlorinator. By a miracle I got my first nitrite reading and it was a definite 0.25ppm.

However, when I woke up this morning and tested, I was shocked when the reading was back at a definite 0. I decided to test again because I was highly suspicious. The second time I tested I managed to get back my readin 0.25ppm.

I just retested about an hour ago hoping for some clarity and reassurance that it would still read 0.25ppm. However, to my expectation the reading was a crystal blue 0ppm yet again. I just don't understand. Day 19 when ammonia is dropping ever quickly and in amongst about 5 negative nitrite tests I randomly get two postives. I can only assume they're false positives but that doesn't make sense either since I never do anything differently from test to test. What's going on? Is it possible that I have such a minute ammount of nitrite that it only shows once in every couple of tests. 

I'd hope by day 19 I'd have nitrite in abundance. What do you think?


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## jshiloh13 (Dec 12, 2010)

do you have plants in your aquarium? that could effect it.


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## CrackFox (Nov 13, 2012)

jshiloh13 said:


> do you have plants in your aquarium? that could effect it.


I have one moss ball.


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## jshiloh13 (Dec 12, 2010)

The moss ball could be using up the nitrites. How much ammonia are you adding daily? I'm in the middle of cycling a planted 10 gallon and I had nitrates 2 weeks into it, but I have been adding quite a bit of ammonia every day.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

What has been your dosing method? If you have used the method of dosing once and test and wait before you drop again, who knows. This method works, but will not give the speed a usual fishless will give you.

Dosing everyday until nitrites show, a definite value, and then half the dose every 3 days until they go away nearly guarantees a fairly quick 10-14 day cycle.


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## CrackFox (Nov 13, 2012)

jrman83 said:


> What has been your dosing method? If you have used the method of dosing once and test and wait before you drop again, who knows. This method works, but will not give the speed a usual fishless will give you.
> 
> Dosing everyday until nitrites show, a definite value, and then half the dose every 3 days until they go away nearly guarantees a fairly quick 10-14 day cycle.


I've been very interested in this. I've been using the add and wait method. I've been told that since I have a small tank (15gl) I should only be dosing around 2ppm. So i've been dosing to that level, waiting for it to drop to zero then redosing back up. This is the third time i've dosed.

It seems like the ammonia would just keep building and building to the point where the ammount will be so high it will stall the cycle. As I said, I have a small tank and a frugal filter. Should I be adding everytime it drops to maintain a constant 2ppm/3ppm?


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

As with the cycle as well, size of tank means nothing.

2ppm is fine. If you know the amount it took to get there, start dosing everyday from here out and it will finish up faster. I have seen a 20g on here take over 8wks by playing the wait and drop game. 

Ammonia may climb from daily dosing, but once nitrites start to show they will disappear very fast and at that point you dose half the amount and only every 3-4 days. the by-product of the ammonia being processed is nitrites. 

This method also takes away the constant need to test, dose, test, dose. I tested for ammonia 2-3 times the entire 10 days on one tank and 13 days on the other. You can go about either method...both will get you there. If you are liking the process you are using now and the uncertainty it causes, you can stay that method. You will get their eventually. Or, you can trust what I'm telling you.


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## CrackFox (Nov 13, 2012)

jrman83 said:


> As with the cycle as well, size of tank means nothing.
> 
> 2ppm is fine. If you know the amount it took to get there, start dosing everyday from here out and it will finish up faster. I have seen a 20g on here take over 8wks by playing the wait and drop game.
> 
> ...


Sorry, just to be clear should I be dosing up to 2ppm everyday. Like today for example, the ammonia was at 1ppm. Doing it your way would that mean I dose until it climbs back up to 2ppm or are you saying to keep adding the 2ppm dose everyday so it's constantly multiplying. For example

Day 1: 2ppm (takes 1ml for the sake of example)
Day 2: Add another 1ml (the level will then be 4ppm)
Day 3: Add another 1ml (the level will then be 6ppm)

and so forth?

It's the second example that I imagine the ammonia becomes off the scale high. So is it just about adding everytime to maintain a constant reading of my desired ammount (in my case 2ppm)

Sorry if this is a really stupid question. I've read about both ways of cycling but this way has always worried me since I've read that once ammonia gets past a certain point it stalls the cycle. This method i'm using is painfully slow and isn't giving me any results, so I'm ready to try this method, I just want to be clear on the rules


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Sort of. Do you remember the amount that it took to initially get to 2ppm? That is the amount that you dose. For the ppm after that, it is irrelevant when it comes to ammonia. Just dose and *don't worry about how high the ammonia gets.* Whoever said that high levels of ammonia stalled a cycle must not really understand how the nitrogen cycle works. Higher levels of ammonia force things to occur at a much faster rate.

Once you start getting confirmed nitrite readings, cut the dose in half and dose every 3-4 days. Keep that method to the end. Nitrites will go very high, but once it starts to go down it will drop off in nearly one day.

Once you start down this road, no need to test for ammonia until you see the nitrites have gone away. This is just to ensure they are clear before stocking.


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