ok we are new to fishless cycling and the directions are very broad. we started the cycle on our 90gal last sunday(a week ago) we only used a declorinator to condition the water then we added our ammonia...which we needed alot more drops then the formula said to get it to 5ppm. anyways we havent had to add any more ammonia to the tank and it stayed at 5ppm for a few days and then we saw it drop alittle to 2-3ppm and then we tested for nirites and nitrates. we had both and as of last night we had 2ppm of ammonia, about 3ppm nitrite, and about 20ppm of nitrate. does this seem to be where we should be?
fishless cycling new tank
- Thread starter cichlidtanks
- Start date
now we are at 0 nitrites and pretty much 0 at nitrates yet we still have ammonia. after 24 hrs each day we check and add more ammonia to keep it at 2ppm. it does drop to .50ppm but it hasent zeroed outr yet? please can someone let me know if we are ok and if this is normal????
Any ammonia at all is not good. It needs to "spike" and then drop off to >0<. .5 is not very much though and it sounds like it is on the downward drop so it sounds like you are on the right path. If the downward trend keeps dropping your ammonia from 2ppm to .5, stopp the ammonia dosing and see if the NH3 dropps to >0<. I think it will.