Cycling

[Connor]

I am currently cycling a tank but my Nitrates and Nitrites are very high (off the scale) and don't seem to be coming down. I keep topping my Ammonia up and it disappears after about 2 days. I preformed a 50% water change to bring there readings down so I could monitor it easier but the readings were very high after a couple of days again.
Is this normal ?

 

[auntiejude]

Yes, in a fishless cycle all the ammonia gets converted to nitrite, then nitrate. You end up with a nitrite spike part way through the process, then nitrites drop and nitrates climb.

If you nitrites are still high then your cycle isn't yet complete, but you don't need to do water changes. What you want to do is feed the bacteria you're trying to grow, so just keep adding ammonia until you read ammonia=0 and nitrite=0 and nitrates= very high 24 hours after adding ammonia. Then do a couple of big water changes until the nitrates come down to less than 40ppm.

 

[Connor]

Thank you!

Dont know what I would do without this forum