fishless cycling question

[chel]

I think everything is going as it should but I am new at this and want to make sure I'm doing this right. I started doing a fishless cycle 6 days ago by adding straight ammonia (a little less than 1 tsp) to my 36 gal tank. I got a reading that looked to be about 6 ppm that first day. Thinking I was supposed to add ammonia each day, the next day I added about 2/3 tsp and did another reading. It was at least 8ppm and stayed there for awhile. So, on Thursday I did a partial water change (about 30%) to try to get the ammonia down, which worked. It is now at 4ppm. My nitrates and nitrites are both at 0. My pH is at least 7.6. So, my sense is that the bacteria just hasn't started to grow yet (I did seed it with some gravel from a friend's established tank but it took me 2-3 days before I was able to add the ammonia so I think it died off) and the water change probably further slowed things down. But the pH seems very high to me ... and I'm not sure if that is something that I should be thinking about or if it's just fine for now. Also, I added a plant a couple days ago, lava moss.

Anyway, I know it hasn't even been a week and I know I'm probably just being overly anxious about this but just want to make sure this all looks right to you all that have more experience. Thanks. (blush)

[Heliwyr]

Your pH is going to go all over the place during the cycle. No point in checking it, at this time.

As for ammonia, leave it for now and test everyday until you see it start to go down. Then, try to keep it at 4-5ppm until it's regularly going to 0 and you see nitrites. When your ammonia can go down from 4-5ppm to 0 in just a day, cut back on how much you're adding and only add enough to get the ammonia up to 2-3ppm.

The reason for cutting back is so your nitrites don't end up getting so high they stall the cycle.

[chel]

Thanks -- I love this so far. Not only am I learning a ton it is also helping me to learn patience and delayed gratification. :fish: :fish: :fish:

[Wild Turkey]

Yes the bacteria you used to seed most likely died, so you are in it for the long haul. You are correct, you just havent began growing either type of bacteria quite yet.

4ppm is fine to maintain, they say 4-5ppm. Drop it down to 2-3ppm when you see your first nitrite spike. I recommending testing both parameters daily, but ammonia certainly needs to be testing daily until the finish, otherwise theres no way to know how much ammonia is in the water.

The waterchange didnt slow you down any, but having too much ammonia can, so it helped rather than hurt.