Hi guys


I have been fishless cycling my 55G for 8 days now.....my ammonia has peaked and is now at 0ppm despite adding 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon of ammonia every other day.

My nitrates have been showing for about 4-5 days and have been at 10ppm for 3 days.

What confuses me is why I have had two nitrite spikes? I had a 1ppm, 2ppm, 1-2ppm, 1ppm yesterday and then today I have a 2ppm again????

I think it is normal for that to happen since the ammonia addition to the tank is not continuous. In other words, you are creating ammonia spikes every time you add it to the tank. The spikes will disappear when ammonia is added in a more continuous way, fish excretions.

i think the initial amount of ammonia that you add should be the largest. For my 55 gallon that i cycled fishless, i put in a 1/2 cup of ammonia. i had readings up to 5-7 ppm. then i added a few drops every other day. ammonia hit 0 and nitrites peaked and came down. it took about 3 weeks to fully cycle. I aadded 3 goldies at once and it was able to handle the load. Plus i have 2 filters running, emperor 280 and a penguin 170.

Hi there........

thats what I have been doing.....1 tablespoon first day, then 1 teaspoon every other day then 1/2 every other day then 1/4 every other day...my nitrites peaked and then started to fall despite still having fluctuating ammonia ...but then today they peked again....despite LESS ammonia

I have fishless cycled three other tanks before but have never had my nitrite spike twice.......

So still confused?

This morning I still have nitrites of 2ppm....0ppm NH3 and 10ppm Nitrate.......what is happening....Ive added no more ammonia and they just arent going down?????