fishless cycle done?

[djcampers]

Can the fishless cycle be completed so quickly?

Five days ago my ammonia was going down and nitrites going up, I added a small amount of ammonia and tested it two days ago, it showed less ammonia and less nitrites.

Today it seems that nitrites and ammonia are close to zero each.

Can I go through the cycle in such a short time?

Before five days I was doing ammonia and waiting for nitrites for almost two weeks. So the whole thing has been 2 weeks and now five days.

Thanks!

[bignellm]

I'm not sure is 2-2.5 weeks is the norm, but is seems as if it is.

[Honey Badger 1]

When done properly a fish-less cycle can be done in 2.5 weeks. I think it would be wise to add some ammonia to 1ppm and test your tank in the morning to be sure. If you test 0ppm ammonia and nitrites and some nitrates in 12ish hours after adding more ammonia then I would say the tank is cycled.

[Lady Hobbs]

To me, that's been the norm. It doesn't take forever to cycle fishless and yours will be done when you have 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites. But I agree with mommy1 to give it one more shot of ammonia and see if it drops back to 0 within a few hours. Then you will know for sure.

[djcampers]

done, how exciting, thank you!

[djcampers]

Ok, I put some more ammonia. Now more than 12 hours later it's still at 1-2ppm (more like 1), nitrites are zero though, still, nitrates are still around 20.

What's going on, should I wait for nitrites to go up again? Or will the ammonia slowly go back down to zero?

Thanks!