Question

[AussieJosh1996]

I am currently cycling a breeding tank and just had a few questions as I haven't had to cycle in a while. The cycle is about 2 weeks in and I have had/having both an ammonia and nitrite spike. My ammonia is dropping back to zero after 24 hours of adding it although my nitrite levels are extremely high and are not dropping much (i am recording some nitrates).

My question is should I still be adding ammonia or should I stop so the nitrite levels start to drop? Can all the bacteria feed off nitrites or does some bacteria need ammonia?

Thanks for any help,
Josh :)

[Lady Hobbs]

You need to keep feeding the bacteria you have now grown. Those nitrites will drop almost all at once and a cycle generally takes about 3 weeks.

You could have just added a small filter to another tank and allowed it to cycle that way for a month.

[Cliff]

+1 to the above. You need to continue to dose ammonia to bring the level back up, but only dose once a day.

Don't forget to cut your ammonia levels in half from what you had it at before the nitrite spike happened.

[imma24]

I am currently cycling a breeding tank and just had a few questions as I haven't had to cycle in a while. The cycle is about 2 weeks in and I have had/having both an ammonia and nitrite spike. My ammonia is dropping back to zero after 24 hours of adding it although my nitrite levels are extremely high and are not dropping much (i am recording some nitrates).

My question is should I still be adding ammonia or should I stop so the nitrite levels start to drop? Can all the bacteria feed off nitrites or does some bacteria need ammonia?

Thanks for any help,
Josh :)

The role of ammonia is to feed bacteria so they multiply - filter bacteria need ammonia in some form at all times to "eat" - whether it's ammonia you add yourself or from fish.