The Puffer Forum

At first cycling my thirty gallon seemed to be going well. i raised the ammonia level to 5ppm everyday. on day four the ammonia level was almost at 5ppm before adding ammonia and there were nitrite readings of around 2ppm. so i only added a couple drops of ammonia. the next day the nitrite levels were off the chart and there were still high ammonia readings so i didn't add any more. the next day the ammonia levels were down to around 3ppm, nitrite still of the chart. yesterday ammonia is at zero but nitrite still off the chart so i added half of the amount of ammonia i was adding before. today the ammonia was back at zero and nitrite still off the charts.
i don't know what happened

what did i do wrong?? and what should i do now??

Unless I missed something, I don't see what's wrong here. It's still in the cycling phase. The ammonia is being converted to nitrite, thus 0 ammonia readings now, but it'll take a little while for it to cycle all the way through the nitrite. Just give it some more time and keep adding the ammonia source.

oh really? goodgood. i thought since my nitrite spike was soso high that i must have messed something up.

also if the nitrite spike isn't generally supposed to be this high, could i do a water change to help things move along quicker?

nope you're on the right track. You have to start watching the Nitrate levels now too. Once it is all cycled your Nitrates will be off the chart also. Then your BIG water change and you should get zeros for ammonia and nitrites within 24 hours and some nitrates. Once that happens you should be good to go

Here's a good link to explain the nitrogen cycle:
http://fins.actwin.com/mirror/begin-cycling.html

Sounds to me like you're right on track!

What did you use to seed the bacteria?

~reefchik~ wrote:Here's a good link to explain the nitrogen cycle:
http://fins.actwin.com/mirror/begin-cycling.html

We've got our own right here :
library/category/water-filtration/
What did you use to seed the bacteria?

Pufferpunk wrote:

~reefchik~ wrote:Here's a good link to explain the nitrogen cycle:
http://fins.actwin.com/mirror/begin-cycling.html

We've got our own right here :
library/category/water-filtration/
What did you use to seed the bacteria?

Thanks, but the links are all broken on that article. I wanted her to see a graph, sometimes visual helps

There is no reason to use 5ppm ammonia past the ammonia spike if at all. 3 ppm ammonia is more than sufficient to provide enough bacteria for a fully stocked tank, and after the first spike are contraindicated - 2 ppm is better.. This is one case where more is definitely not better. Ammonia levels at and above 5 ppm can be or are inhibitory to the nitrite-oxidizing bacteria - which can lengthen the time required to complete the whole cycle. Enough is good, but more can bite you.

Pufferpunk wrote:What did you use to seed the bacteria?

i used a net full of gravel and a fake plant from an already established freshwater tank.
is that enough? or is more needed?

~reefchik~ wrote:

Pufferpunk wrote:

~reefchik~ wrote:Here's a good link to explain the nitrogen cycle:
http://fins.actwin.com/mirror/begin-cycling.html

We've got our own right here :
library/category/water-filtration/
What did you use to seed the bacteria?

Thanks, but the links are all broken on that article. I wanted her to see a graph, sometimes visual helps

thanks:] both were helpful.

RTR wrote:There is no reason to use 5ppm ammonia past the ammonia spike if at all. 3 ppm ammonia is more than sufficient to provide enough bacteria for a fully stocked tank, and after the first spike are contraindicated - 2 ppm is better.. This is one case where more is definitely not better. Ammonia levels at and above 5 ppm can be or are inhibitory to the nitrite-oxidizing bacteria - which can lengthen the time required to complete the whole cycle. Enough is good, but more can bite you.

I missed that--it is recommended to 1/2 the ammonia after you see nitrite, as per the cycling article in our Library.