The continuing saga........

[betta_by_far]

I have been cyclying my lil 2 1/2 gallon tank for what seems like forever now. I think the cycle may have stalled out at one point and re-started. Anywayyyyy......For the past few days all ammonia has been processed within a 24 hour period. Every day I add ammonia to bring it back to 5ppm, the next day it's on 0ppm. Great, right????. While I am very happy to see this happening, the nitrite hasn't budged, it's on 5ppm, and has been for quite a while. Can anyone tell me when I can expect to see this drop? I seem to remember reading that the nitrites usually drop before the ammonia, so I'm a bit confused. Nitrate reading it at 10ppm, and has been for a while.

Another question while I'm here, please .....Because the cycle has been going for a while my filter sponges have become quite dirty. I seem to remember being told years ago that I should not remove the old filter sponges when adding new ones, and that I should add new ones and let them sit in there with the old ones for about a week before removing the old ones so the bacteria colony can fully establish ( phewwww that was a mouthful ). Is this still common practice, or have there been new advances since then? Thank you again for your replies

 

[punkrockfish]

what is the exact time you have been cycling? It usually takes 3-4 weeks to do. The ammonia is the first to drop, and the nitrite cycle takes the longest out of all of them. You don't have to remove the filter sponges at all actually. If they get really junked up, simply rinse them out in used tank water (like after you do a water change). If you really want to replace them, then yes, I'd let the new one soak for a generous amount of time in the tank to gather bacteria.

 

[betta_by_far]

Thanks for the reply, punkrockfish .......I have been cycling this lil tank for over 8 weeks now, as I said in my previous post, I think it stalled out and then re-started again. I think I have some good news this morning though, I just tested the water and it looks like the nitrites have come down slightly *BOUNCINGS . The ammonia is definitely being processed every day, so hopefully ( fingers, toes, and everything else crossed ) I'm in the home stretch now *thumbsups. I'll follow your advice about just rinsing the filter media out, I certainly don't wanna upset the balance after waiting all this time, lol. I have a 6 gallon tank fishless cycling too, and thats almost at the same point as the 2 1/2 after just 19 days, so I really do think the lil tank must have stalled out at some point and kicked back in again.

 

[punkrockfish]

yeah, i'd say 8 weeks is a bit long, but just keep testing the water, and the nitrites going down is a good sign. If the 6g finishes somehow before the 2 1/2, you could try adding some gravel or filter media from the 6 to the 2 1/2 to speed up the process there.

 

[betta_by_far]

Will this cycle ever be done??

OK, I'm still here with this lil tank, almost 9 weeks into the cycle, and STILL not done .The ammo was reading 0ppm for 5 days, and I thought "Great", I just have to wait for the nitrite to drop, and I'm done *BOUNCINGS . Not so!! the nitrite did seem to be going down, at one point it was at 1ppm, and all I did was continue to add the ammo daily to keep a steady supply to be converted. Then, all of a sudden, I start seeing ammo readings again, (no more than 2ppm ), and the nitrite goes back up. As of today the readings are Ammo...between 1 & 2ppm, Nitrite 2ppm, Nitrate 10ppm. I am gob smacked, I've done everything according to the book, and still this cycle seems to be on a loop. The only other thing I can add to this is that I have found 4 tiny snails that must have come with the live plant....could they be affecting the readings? I'm really frustrated now, I don't know what else I can do to help this process along

Now on to tank 2, the 6 gallon. Everything seemed to be going according to plan with this one. It's been cycling for 28 days. The strange thing is, for the last 7 days the nitrite has been reading 0ppm, yet the ammo still hasn't dropped. Ammo readings have been around 2ppm, and I've been adding more ammo to bring it up a bit to keep feeding the bacteria. Nitrates are around 10ppm. From everything I've been told the ammo should be the first to drop off. Can anyone tell me why my nitrite readings are zero, yet I'm still getting low ammonia readings? Thanks to anyone who can shed any light on either of my problems

 

[cchase85]

Is there any chance that your testing supplies are expired or inaccurate?

 

[betta_by_far]

All testing supplies are current, I've used 2 different kits, the results are still the same

 

[MissFishy]

At this point, I would highly suggest going to your LFS and getting some cycled gravel or whatnot from one of their tanks. Add that to the tank and see how that works out. The snails wouldn't be affecting anything, so there must be some issue. If you're having so much trouble, I would definitely try and seed it and see if that helps move it along.

 

[punkrockfish]

I agree with MissFishy, and applaud you for sticking with the fishless cycle and not breaking down and buying fish.