cycling question

[KBS1664]

I have a 20 gallon tank with a fluval u1 filter. It's half full because I have it setup for crabs and it just has gravel, I haven't setup the habitat. It's been exactly 2 weeks since I've had it running and about a week and a half with ammonia. I'm doing fishless cycle with household ammonia. I started out with 3 to 4 ppm and it hasn't changed it's still the same however there has been a major spike in nitrite. According to articles I found the ammonia level should have dropped by now. Is there anything else I should be doing? I'm using api test kit and it is accurate, I put water and a drop of ammonia in the test tube and the reading was off the scale.

[leeser28]

So you only added ammonia at the very beginning?

[Dr. Awkward]

Sounds like you're doing everything right. The ammonia should start dropping soon. How high does the API ammonia test go? I use a different brand it it only goes to 5ppm. Maybe your ammonia is a lot higher than the test can measure. If that were the case it would seem like the ammonia wasn't budging.

[KBS1664]

the test kit goes up to 8. I monitored the ammonia level everyday and didn't find it neccesary to add more ammonia...or is that what I should be doing?

[Dr. Awkward]

Yes, you're doing it right. Good job! You don't want to add ammonia again until it drops. You'll be done when you add enough ammonia in the morning to get to 5ppm and it and the nitrites drop to 0ppm by then end of the day.

Has the tank turned cloudy yet? When it turns cloudy that's a bacteria bloom. If that's already happened you are getting close.

[leeser28]

the test kit goes up to 8. I monitored the ammonia level everyday and didn't find it neccesary to add more ammonia...or is that what I should be doing?

Hmmm. I find it interesting that you have nitrite reading with no change in ammonia - because (if I remember my chemistry right) it is a 1:1 ratio chemical reaction that the bacteria facilitate. Just out of curiosity, what was your nitrite reading?

Like the Dr. said - you're doing everything just fine. Keep monitoring and when the ammonia does drop add more so that you keep feeding the bacteria.

[KBS1664]

I'm not too sure what the nitrite level is, my test kit goes up to 3.3 and the reading was beyond that but not too much, so I'm guessing 4 ppm. The ammonia changed very slightly since day one maybe 0.25 at the most. No cloudy water yet. Thanks for all the help so far, it gave me reassurance knowing I'm doing it right.

[KarlTh]

It's 1:1 in terms of the amount of nitrogen processed, but a nitrite ion has about three times the weight of an ammonia molecule, so the number of ppm (which is by weight) increases threefold as ammonia turns to nitrite.

[KBS1664]

I figured out why it's taking so long...I added the ammonia too fast, not gradual like I should of done. My filter is rated at 65gph, kind of low compared to most filters out there. Could this contribute to slowing down the cycle? The water is getting cycled 6 times per hour as there's 10 gallons in the tank....