is my cycle stalled?

[pjaldave]

ok my tank is now cycling and its on its 15th day.

my parameters are:

ammonia - 0
nitrites - 3.3 ++ (way above the chart)
nitrates - 110++ (also way above the chart)

is this ok or is my cycle stalled? it has been like this for about a week now..

i put in 10ml of ammonia everyday to keep feeding my nitrites. should i put in less or what? or should i make a big water change to bring trites and trates down?

thanks!

[Stlouisfish]

Once you add the ammonia, what is the reading you're getting? could be the ammonia level is too high which could stall things- how big is your tank? If the ammonia is too high you might need to do a water change to reduce it - from what I've read here, small tanks need ammonia at 1-2ppm while larger tanks can handle 2-3ppm

However, it sounds like you're almost there - once your nitrites go down to 0 then you do a huge water change to lower your nitrates and you're done!

[genocidex]

sounds like to me its coming along. 3 weeks is what useually will do it. if it was stalled i would think your ammonia would be stalled to. if you keep adding 2ppm ammonia every day and its being used up then you should be fine.

[DougStanley]

+ 1 to above post takes about 3 weeks unless you seed your tank.

[Lady Hobbs]

Not enough time yet but you need to add ammonia each day as long as you have nitrite readings.

[pjaldave]

ok, the weird thing is, i wait for 1 hour after i added ammonia to test the water. but then, i usually ending up not reading any ammonia in the water and sometimes 0.6. does this mean i should add more ammonia? and yea, the ammonia is being used up pretty quickly..

its a 100 gallon andrea.

[Fishlessintx2]

What are you Rosing your ammonia up to?

[pjaldave]

i dose 10ml of ammonia everyday and after an hour, i barely even see a trace of ammonia when i'm testing the water.

today i did put in 20ml of ammonia and see my ammonia level to around 1ppm. is that ok or should i add more?

[genocidex]

2ppm should be your target 3 is ok too. 10 mls of ammonia made my 29 to just over 2ppm. you should need 80ml ish. this raise might stall your cycle but will prevent a mini cycle when you stock

[Fishlessintx2]

I agree. It's important to know the ammonia reading after you dose and not so much how much you dose. You just keep on adding a little more until you get t 2ppm.

[Lady Hobbs]

Agree that you should be giving it a good dose daily. When that nitrite drops, and it will drop all at once, the ammonia you add each day will also be at 0. But with a 100 gallon tank, you want to keep a good supply of bacteria because you'll be having a well stocked tank.

I suspect within a few more days, that tank will be ready for fish after you do a huge water change to get those nitrates way down. Any idea what fish you'll be having?

[Stlouisfish]

I agree. It's important to know the ammonia reading after you dose and not so much how much you dose. You just keep on adding a little more until you get t 2ppm.
+1 - the main thing is the reading you get after you add the ammonia - keeping it higher (like 2-3ppm) and watching it fall will soon lead to a drop in nitrites and then you do what Lady Hobbs said and do a large (like 50-75%) water change to get the nitrates down to 20ppm or less.

Patience is a virtue in this hobby!

[pjaldave]

will try and dose 40mls then as 20ml gets me to 1ppm.

as for LH, i think you already seen my stocking list but here it goes.


12 x Glowlight Tetra
12 x Cherry Barbs
12 x Forktail Rainbows (might be dwarf neons)
12 x Threadfin Rainbows
7 x Upsde-Down Catfish
8 x Zebra Loach(might not get these and 10x julii corys instead)
finally, 6 x Angelfish (small juvies).
optional : SAE and/or Assassin Snail

[genocidex]

keep an eye on that ammonia level. since you have been under dosing im sure you are low on the bio filter. this just means you are going to have a smallish cycle till more nitrifying (?) bb to grow but since there are allready some there then you will just need to wait for a growth :P shouldnt be too slow.

to quote aeonflame's signature (that apparently is quoting cliff) ""Only bad things happen fast in this hobby" - Cliff"

stick in there and you will be done before you know it XD