20th Day -I think I'm on target -Yes?

**BronxGirl86** · 08-13-2012, 01:50 AM

So I'm into the 20th day of fishless cycling of my 5 gallon tank. The last week the ammonia keeps going down, usually down to .5 or .25 everyday (I dose it back up to 2 everyday). The nitirites have been still 5 everyday. Am I doing allright?

**Goes to 11!** · 08-13-2012, 01:56 AM

To quote the fishless cycling sticky:

As those nitrites level rise, now is the time to reduce the amount of ammonia you are adding each day to perhaps one/half your starting dose. (Not reducing the ammonia at this point may inhibit your cycle from finishing.)

Right on target to reduce your ammonia dose I would say.

**BronxGirl86** · 08-13-2012, 02:04 AM

Thanks. So should I not dose at all if it shows .25 or .5 and just wait till the next day? I was afraid that if it went down to 0 it wouldn't be feeding the bacteria.

**imma24** · 08-13-2012, 02:10 AM

+1 - after letting your current ammonia fall completely to 0, add no more than 1.0ppm ammonia and let it drop completely to 0 before adding it again. Keep doing that - add to 1.0 and let it drop completely to 0. With less ammonia, your nitrites will eventually drop and then you will see nitrates.

Edit: we cross posted - bacteria will only not be fed if they are kept without ammonia for longer than a day or 2 - having 0 ammonia shows you have an adequate amount of bacteria grown to "eat" the ammonia - that's what you SHOULD have in a cycled tank - 0 ammonia - the fish you eventually add will provide the ammonia needed when you are done.

**Goes to 11!** · 08-13-2012, 02:16 AM

Keep dosing every day at half strenth and you may also want to review the fishless cycle sticky to see where you are sitting currently.

A quick review can help avoid some frustration.

http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/aqua...ead.php?t=5640

**BronxGirl86** · 08-13-2012, 02:25 AM

Now tell me if this is weird. The second week is when the nitrites were showing. At that time I was testing also for Nitrates and it was reading about 40-80ppm in the second week. I haven't tested it after that as someone told me I need not be corncerned about the nitrate levels since once the ammonia and nitrites go down to 0, I would be doing a 90% water change anyway. But should I have been seeing nitrates that early into the cycle?

I took a reading right now and the nitrates were still showing about 40-80.

**Goes to 11!** · 08-13-2012, 02:32 AM

It's not typical no but we do see all sorts of weird test results in cycles lol

.

One thing I would do is test your source water for TrAtes to see if that is where they are coming from.

**BronxGirl86** · 08-13-2012, 02:38 AM

Thanks 850R, I reeeeaaaaalllyyy appreciate all the help. So with these nitrates still in my tank, will it make any difference to the cycling right now? With the ammonia dropping everyday I was figuring it is going well even with the nitrates present.

**Honey Badger 1** · 08-13-2012, 02:51 AM

Let your ammonia drop to 0pmm before adding more. Adding more before will only make your tank take longer to completely cycle. Don't worry about the nitrate level now, the only important thing when doing a fishless cycle is that they are there. Once you get fish in the tank you will want to keep them below 20ppm. It is a good idea to test your tap water to know what you are putting into the tank.