[mikeosh]

Hi everyone, i am new here and just start 10 days ago fishless cycling in these 10 days i have added ammonia to get up to 4 ppm. i have had no nitrate or nitrite readings whatsoever. my ammonia starts to decline after a few days, but i think its just evaporating my water is at 82degrees. Just wondering why im not seeing any other readings? any ifo is muchly appreciated. thanks!

 

[susankat]

Fishless cycling can take up to 4 to 6 weeks. What is happening is your filter is breaking down the ammonia and when it drops you need to add more ammonia to bring it back up to 4 ppm. Soon you will see nitrites starting to rise. Once the nitrites start dropping the nitrates will start to rise. When ammonia and nitrite both read 0, add ammonia to the tank, and if they both drop to 0 by 24 hours, do a 50% water change and your ready to start slowly adding fish.

 

[mikeosh]

Thank you for your help. so should I wait till it drops to 0 then add more ammonia or just maintain 4 when I notice it dropping.. Thanks again for your help.

 

[susankat]

Just maintain it till you start seeing nitrites.

 

[NursePlaty]

You can keep it at 5ppm if you want. Might be faster. I know some others that maintain 6ppm also. As long as you maintain it there... your tank will evntually cycle no matter what. Just a matter of time.

 

[mikeosh]

Hopefully it will. thanks for the replies.