Fish less cycle paused?

**Shootemz** · 08-12-2012, 05:27 AM

I have been fish less cycling my tank for about a week now I started off with5 ppm ammonia and everything else 0, I use pure ammonia, a few days ago nitrates and nitrites came then ammonia went down. I continued feeding it, just a little, now amonias back to 3 ish and no nitrites, about 20 nitrates. Normal?

**imma24** · 08-12-2012, 05:37 AM

Originally Posted by Shootemz

I have been fish less cycling my tank for about a week now I started off with5 ppm ammonia and everything else 0, I use pure ammonia, a few days ago nitrates and nitrites came then ammonia went down. I continued feeding it, just a little, now amonias back to 3 ish and no nitrites, about 20 nitrates. Normal?

How large of a tank are we talking?

Normally, if a tank is like 40gal or larger, no more than 5ppm is recommended to begin cycling - if the tank is smaller, than you don't need more than 2-3ppm to start.

If you added too much ammonia, it will either take a very long time before you see nitrites and for ammonia to drop to 0 or you might stall the cycle. Either way, a week is also not a lot of time to see nitrites. Do not add any more ammonia until you are reading 0 - then add enough to go up to 1-2ppm.

**Shootemz** · 08-12-2012, 05:40 AM

A small 5 gal, I should did a water change to get the amonia down.

**imma24** · 08-12-2012, 05:48 AM

Ooh yeah - 5ppm is way too much ammonia - remember, you are looking to grow a small amount of bacteria for a small tank - have you read about the cycling process?

I would add no more than 1-2 ppm to get started - maybe remove all the water and start again.

What are you eventually planning to put into the tank?

**Shootemz** · 08-12-2012, 05:51 AM

Use as a qt/med tank

**imma24** · 08-12-2012, 06:01 AM

There is no need to cycle a quarantine tank and keep it going all the time. Do you have another tank going now with fish in it? What is advised is to run a 2nd filter on your primary tank all the time and transfer it to the quarantine tank when you need it. As long as the filter has been running on the main tank for at least 4 weeks (to cycle it), you can put it right on the 5gal and you have an instantly cycled tank.