My son's 20g tank is starting to show nitrites. It's 3 weeks in. My 46g tank was started a week ago and the nitrites climbed fast and now the nitrates are high. I did a 25% WC and added a couple plants. I'm wondering why my son's 20g is taking so long and my 46g is about done in a week? Could the used stone I put in it be loaded with bacteria? It has been dried out completely since the guy had it in his tank. The bacteria would DEFINATELY be dead.

Every tank is different. Some will cycle faster using the exact same procedures.

I started my tank earlier then I was going to because my son's was taking so long... Lol... Go figure

I'm at the stage where you cut your ammonia in half. My daily dose varied at times to keep it at 4ppm. So basically, I'm dosing for 2 ppm now? I'm sure my dosing will be changed because I added plants, although it may not.

Thriving plants will rapidly consume ammonia directly.

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fw leiden since 1979, fo salt since 1979, mixed reef 55g 2002-2009. Strong emphasis on the tank taking care of itself. Balanced with plant life, no water changes, tap water, no filters in FW. Only dosing calcium, alk, mag in marine reef tanks. http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/my-...ods-26410.html
recent tanks (till 2009) 7 years- 10g FW leiden 7 yrs, 55g mixed reef 7, 2 yrs, 20g FW leiden, 10 g fw leiden , 29g mixed reef, current tank 55g leiden

Should I be doing water changes during the fishless cycle to bring the nitrates down?

If you are doing a fishless cycle, you shouldn't change the water at all. The reason you do water changes when cycling with fish is to keep the levels safe with fishless you don't need to worry about it.

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That's what I thought. You basically do the water change after you finish the cycle. By then, the nitrates will be so high that you'd need to do an 80-90% water change, but that's ok, right?

You will not see any difference in the ammonia dropping by adding the plants. Plants still take some time dealing with high levels of ammonia.

But you're right, do the water change at the end of the cycle.

Glad your tank is almost done and your son's has finally started moving along for you! :D

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20g Heavily Planted http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery...00&ppuser=8981
36g Bow Front Heavily Planted http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery...00&ppuser=8981