Tank ammonia levels haven't changed

[Joanne]

I've been cycling my tank with 2 guppies (plus fry that I didn't know I was gonna get!) for a week now & the ammonia levels haven't changed. Is this normal? Ammonia is currently 0.5ppm & nitrite 0, I've been doing a 20% water change daily for the last 4 days but ammonia levels don't seem to be dropping. Is this correct? I've read that I should keep ammonia lower than 0.25ppm but apart from water changes don't really understand how else to get it down. All help will be greatly appreciated

 

[Shizeric]

Are you using filtration?

 

[carsona246]

Do you happen to know your gh/kh? Someone might need to correct me, but I'm pretty sure if you have really soft water it takes longer for your tank to cycle. I'm not 100% sure if this is correct though.

 

[blackdog]

A week is not long enough to cycle a tank, it can take 4-6 weeks 9depending on lots of factors as carson pointed out)

I'd expect you to see some nitrite readings in 2 -3 weeks, and your ammonia wont go down on its own until you get nitrites

Have patience, it is a really slow process

Just keep changing the water for as long as it takes, there are no short cuts (i tried a short cut - one of the "seeding" products) waste of money - it shortened my cycle to about 4 weeks as opposed to 6, but big deal! For what it cost it was pointless, and i am only guessing that it saved me anytime at all

Just let it happen however long it takes

Bren

 

[Joanne]

Thanks for the help guys, I'm relatively new to all this & don't want to screw it up

Shizeric - I have a fluval U2 internal filter for my tank which is 55L, don't know wha that is in gallons sorry!

Carson - I don't understand what gh/kh means, water can sometimes be a little on the hard side I think for memory when it was last checked

Bren - thanks for the reassurance, I'll just keep doing daily water changes until I notice the nitrites. I understand it takes weeks to complete - have short patience sometimes but happy to know I'm on the right track to a healthy tank environment

 

[morphyrichards]

You have dechlorinated your water? You probably have done but if you didn't you should know the chloramine that's an additive to almost all tap water everywhere will kill the good bacteria you need to cycle your tank.

 

[Shizeric]

Shizeric - I have a fluval U2 internal filter for my tank which is 55L, don't know wha that is in gallons sorry!

If you ever want to do a conversion, whether it be temperature, or volume or length, just go to google and type in

"55L to gallons" or "12cm to inches" or 18C to F" and it will give you the results.

55 L = 14.5294629 US gallons