3 Days & No Nitrites

[wolfnature]

Hello everyone.

I finally got my new tank on Friday and am in the process of fishless cycling. I added ammonia on Friday evening and have been checking since then. The ammonia level has dropped slightly a couple time and I've added more to bump it back up to 5ppm, but still no nitrites. Does it normally take a few days for the nitrites to appear? This is my first fishless cycle and I'm not sure how long things take. The water was a little cloudy on Saturday and has cleared, but I'm not sure if that was a bacteria bloom since I'm not sure how cloudy it should be or if that was too quick.

For a bacteria source I added some gravel from an existing tank and the filter material into the media holders of the filters (2 Emperor 400s). I've also added some 'Cycle' brand additive to try to help.

Should I be concerned that I don't have any nitrites yet? Is there something different that I should be doing? Thanks in advance for the assistance.

[Rook Bartley]

How big is the tank?

I would give it some time, it could take days, even weeks sometimes. The hardest part is having patience!:)

[wolfnature]

Sorry, I meant to mention that. It's a 65 gallon tank. I also am currently keeping the temperature at 85 degrees F since I heard that higher temperatures help the bacteria grow.

[NJ Devils Fan]

It could take well over a week for it to grow. I have a 72g with 2 emp 400s. I put some gravel from my old established tank in the media baskets, and an old decoration, and it took a little over a month to fully cycle. It took the longest for the nitrites to go away, about 3 weeks alone.

[wolfnature]

Thanks for the responses so far. As I said before, I wasn't sure how long it might take for the nitrites to show up.

How cloudy does the water get when you have a bacteria bloom? As I mentioned, the water did get a little cloudy, but from the way some people describe the bloom I thought it got pretty cloudy.

[superstein61]

you just need to have some patience - I didn't see Nitrite show up for 10-14 days or so

[mokmu]

Holy cow! Does it take that long? Normally my tank cycles in two weeks time. First three days no nitrites then on the fourth or fifth day.. bam --- nitrites! Next few days the nitrites go off the charts. I do a 50% water change on the 9th day. I lower ammonia during the 2nd week. On the 14th day, 50ppm nitrates. To test I'd do the original load of ammonia, check the next day and still 50ppm nitrates or lower:)

I originally got the nitrates and nitrites all mixed up. I thought that when I got nitrates the tank was still cycling. I found out through this forum that I got everything all mixed up and that I had already cycled.

I don't add anything anymore except for gravel, plants and filter from an established tank. No additional Cycle products. Just plain old ammonia. I've cycled 2x75 gals, a 10gal and a 5 gal. Test Kit is an Tetra.