fishless cycling amonia ,nitrite and nitrate levels ?

[mid falasco]

question ,fishless cycling with seeds sprouting ,ammonia is zero ,nitrites 1.0 to 2.0 ,nitrates .5 to .10 ,do I still try to keep the ammonia at 5 or so or should I wait for nitrite to turn to nitrate with no ammonia ?I just added more ammonia because I figured the roots of the seedlings needed it .

Thank you again for a response ,this community has been a great help along with Silvia's book ,but that question doesn't seem to be addressed .

[Alex Veidel]

However much ammonia it took to originally bring your levels up to 2-4ppm (or 5 is fine too), continue to add half that amount every day until your ammonia and nitrites are at zero and your nitrates have built up to at least 5-10ppm.

[Harold Sukhbir]

Hi mid,

Just as a precaution, and to ascertain that the system has indeed established an adequate Nitrifying bacterial colony, you can apply a minimal dose of ammonia and check after a 12-24hr period to see if it zeros. A zero reading will confirm the system is fully cycled.

[mid falasco]

thank you both ,I will keep adding half ammonia till nitrite is zeroed out and nitrates are at that level ,then add fish when ammonia is also zero ,that is what I thought ,just wanted to make sure .

[Leslie]

I am also in the fishless cycling process. Last night the ammonia and nitrite levels were at zero. I still have to order my fish. Should I add ammonia in small amounts until the fish arrive? I have measurable Nitrate levels. I'm right at week four in the process, and I was expecting it to take a few more weeks. Thank you!

[Harold Sukhbir]

Hi Leslie,

Your bacteria needs food(ammonia) to stay alive. So feed them with ammonia until the fish arrive.

[Harold Sukhbir]

Hi Mid,

Adding ammonia to get a reading of 1-2ppm and getting an ammonia/nitrite zero reading in the 12/24hr period is a good target until fish arrive. The Nitrates aren't such an important player to keep track of. The main importance is that they(nitrates) are registering a value.

mid falasco said:

thank you both ,I will keep adding half ammonia till nitrite is zeroed out and nitrates are at that level ,then add fish when ammonia is also zero ,that is what I thought ,just wanted to make sure .

[Alex Veidel]

Good point Harold! I completely forgot to mention that :/

Harold Sukhbir said:

Hi Leslie,

Your bacteria needs food(ammonia) to stay alive. So feed them with ammonia until the fish arrive.