Fishless cycle question

[Rush07]

I started a fishless cycle in my 110 gallon last weekend. I have an established 55 gallon tank and I put some gravel from that tank in a media bag and also moved a Fluval 305 that has been running for about 6 months from the 55 to the 110. Both the gravel and the filter should have good established bacteria colonies. I brought the ammonia level up to 3 ppm last weekend and did 40-50% water changes every other day.

So I go to test this morning and the Ammonia is still at 3 ppm and the NO2 and NO3 are still at 0! Any ideas on how long it should take to start cycling or if I am doing anything wrong? Thanks.

 

[Lotus]

It will take a while for the ammonia to drop. Just be patient.

You don't need to do water changes while you're fishless cycling, by the way.

 

[FroggyFox]

I totally agree with Lotus. Plus...if you did water changes every other day and your ammonia is still at 3ppm then that tells me that you probably had way more than 3ppm in there to begin with... (unless you were adding more ammonia?)

 

[Rush07]

No, I have not added more, but it has tested about 3ppm each time. I have not tested since the last one. I thought I needed to do that but obviously not. I will just wait it out. Patience is not my strong suit.............

Thanks for the help.