# 3 weeks in and finally Nitrates!



## AFishNamedCP (Oct 7, 2012)

I'm so happy!!! today I was going to drain the whole tank and start all over!! But I decided to do one last test first. I thought my cycle was stalled , since I saw no movement down in ammonia in 2 weeks. But today my test said nitrates!!! I don't have to start all over!!!

I'm doing fishless cycle. I started everything fresh. used no media from established tank. First I did fish food. a week later and no ammonia. I gave up and dropped some ammonia in the tank. I got readings right away . I put it up to the 2.0 range. The next two weeks I tested ammonia and pretty much the reading was the same. I am unsure of the colors at times because some times I read in daylight and others at nighttime. but it varied anywhere from 1.6 to 2.5 . I did drop some more ammonia in a week in trying to get some activity. Anyway , todays reading are:

Ammonia - 2 ppm
Nitrites - 3 ppm
Nitrates -10 ppm
ph - 7 
ch - 80 ppm (4.8)
gh - 120 ppm (7.2)
temp - 80 f

My ammonia has never really substantially dropped it seems. It never goes back to 0 in a 24 hour period. But anyway, I dropped another 3 drops of ammonia in the tank to help feed the process. At 2 ppm, I figure I have room up to 4. I hear you should keep putting ammonia in, So I figured it probably good since I'm getting nitrites and nitrates. I'm just kind of surprised my ammonia is not making any moves downward.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

A positive reading on nitrates can be misleading. Are you dosing daily? From the looks of it you really needed to go to the fishless cycle sticky and read there. Putting a set amount of ammonia in the water and just waiting for it to go away or other things to happen will definitely stall you. The last two fishless cycles I did took 10days, but it was with a set schedule of ammonia dosing and very little testing.


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## AFishNamedCP (Oct 7, 2012)

So, what should my ammonia schedule be at this point? The consensus from reading is once you get nitrites nitrates etc. to go half dose every other day. So, it would be 2.0 ppm ammonia. My nitrites and nitrates reading are still good but I would consider them stalled. They really haven't budged in 5 days. My main concern has been my ph is low and even the hardness is low which I'm at a lost because I've been been putting in new tap water which is 8 ph and moderately hard. I guess you always wonder should I do something now and be that much closer to the end or do nothing and avoid upsetting the balance?


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

I never tested for ammonia until later in my fishless cycle to see if it had dropped to zero. Then and in the beginning to get it to the value I wanted. You drive yourself crazy testing for ammonia when you're dosing it. Just dose. If you have nitrites showing already, dose every 3 days.

The amount of ammonia you dose should have been set on the first day. You add until you get the value you want, remember that amonut and then dose everyday until nitrites and then every 3 days....that method until the end.


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## AFishNamedCP (Oct 7, 2012)

Awesome. that is what I needed . Yeah I've been driving myself crazy. So, I've been dosing 2-3ppm .probably need to be a little more consistent. I've been doing 1ml which puts me just under 3. Just easier to measure... I also know by number of drops about 4 drops to 1ppm. Thanks. I'm back on track.


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## Conrad283 (Nov 2, 2012)

Congrats. I did things wrong and I'm waiting on my (many)fish-in cycle to start working. I imagine I'll be just as excited as you are


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## AFishNamedCP (Oct 7, 2012)

Well my happiness soon changed to frustration. It has nearly been a month and my nitrites went off the charts a minimum of 5 and my nitrates really haven't moved from 10. My ammonia is cycling to zero. Seems like those bacteria are doing okay. But I really don't get much different reading of 5 nitrite and 10 nitrate in almost 4 weeks. I'm not sure what I should do. Water changes don't seem to budge them to much , the nitrate does decline with water change, but nitrite is gleefully always 5. It just loves to taunt me. I really don't know what to do. I read where water changes help with nitrite cycle stalls. I've also increased the ph, it was somewhat low (6.4). I've read where ph low causes stalls as well. I think all the water parameters are good. I just need to say goodbye to nitrites... urgh....

... And yes I want to switch to fish in cycle. But I never do. At some point I'll reach my breaking point... which is well almost here.


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## AFishNamedCP (Oct 7, 2012)

A followup. My tank cycled!

It took me 47 days. It was a little longer because I started with the fish food method that was 7 days before switching to NH3 dosing. I made some misteps and some cycle stall. But overall I learned a lot. Also, the nitrite dropped in a day or two really fast. I've heard this from other people as well and it was true for me. 

I guess we can close my cycling thread


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## lonedove55 (Jan 25, 2012)

Congratulations! When I set up my first tank, it took 58 days to cycle (cycle also stalled)...yours only took *47*..woohoo! 

*chicken dance*chicken dance*chicken dance


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