Fishless Cycling...Nitrites say bye???

[Think]

So I left this weekend to go on a hike with the following...

Ammonia = 5ppm
Nitrite = 5ppm
Nitrate = 15ppm

I added a tad of ammonia to last the weekend and keep the bacteria happy...

I come back to this...

Ammonia = 6ppm
Nitrite = 0ppm
Nitrate = 0ppm

I have a planted 20 gallon tank with no fish and I started my cycling about 1.5 weeks ago. What happened this weekend!!!

[zackish]

DId you change the water or add any more ammonia?

[Think]

No new water and I added a little bit of ammonia before I left.

[atomiknachos]

You said it was still building up nitrifying bacteria. I would think the bacteria would be developed enough by 1.5 weeks, but that kinda depends on what you did. (just tap water, bacteria concentrates, seeding with older developed gravel, etc.)
Did you plant the tank later or when you first set it up?

Ammonia to Nitrite to Nitrate are performed by two different bacteria, and likely happen at different rates. So, I'm thinking that the plants basically absorbed the no3 faster than the bacteria could produce it. The ammonia probably just slowly fell to half, the no2 and no3 fell steadily and rested near 0.

I'm not positive on this, but it seems to be likely to me.


Heres a page with probably more than anyone wanted to know on nitrifying bacteria. [Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

[Lady Hobbs]

How much ammonia have you been adding to your tank? It should register around 5 so you're building up enough bio-load to support the amount of fish you wish to add.

Your tank can easily cycle in a week and a half if you added the proper amounts of ammonia or even a bit more than 5. Cycling with ammonia is much faster than cycling with fish because you're not waiting a week for the fish to give off enough ammonia to get the bacteria going.

Why you now have ammonia and no nitrite I can't explain as I don't know how the ammonia was added or how often or how much. I would add ammonia now up to 3 and see how long it takes to disappear for you. If you are cycled, it will disappear in several hours and you should have some nitrites again.

You did no cleaning nor changed the filter, did you?

There's a chance that you have the bacteria needed to eat the nitrites so that is not registering for you but it still doesn't explain the ammonia unless you added a whole lot.

[Think]

Nitrates have said bye bye now also. I have 0ppm Nitrites and Nitrates and I have 8ppm Ammonia which is dropping very slowly... I added ammonia yesterday, about 1 tsp and it didn't raise the ammonia levels... soo, Im kinda freaked out...

[Willyleigh]

Heres a page with probably more than anyone wanted to know on nitrifying bacteria. [Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

Wow. I feel such a nerd reading that :P