I have a 10 gallon tank I set up at the end of the summer. I've been doing a fishless cycle, seeding with raw shrimp. I am running a top fin 20 gallon filter with a small amount of peat in stocking inside the pad. I also have some of those biofilter things- high surface area balls that give a good place for bacteria to colonize (I can't remember their name, sorry).
It's been 6 weeks today. My ammonia has been at 0ppm for several weeks, but nitrite is still off the charts. I'm using API test kits, which only read nitrite up to 5ppm. I'm still seeding with ammonia. Also, I added a considerable amount of plants about a week and a half ago if that matters.
Is this how long it's supposed to take? Whenever I read threads here about people setting up tanks it seems like their tank is magically cycled without fish in a couple weeks, even without using someone else's cycled filter media. How many more weeks can I expect to have to wait for it to cycle? Is there anything I can do to speed up the cycle other than using cycled filter media? It's been so long and I'm tired of looking at a fishless tank
It's so hard to be this patient!
It's been 6 weeks today. My ammonia has been at 0ppm for several weeks, but nitrite is still off the charts. I'm using API test kits, which only read nitrite up to 5ppm. I'm still seeding with ammonia. Also, I added a considerable amount of plants about a week and a half ago if that matters.
Is this how long it's supposed to take? Whenever I read threads here about people setting up tanks it seems like their tank is magically cycled without fish in a couple weeks, even without using someone else's cycled filter media. How many more weeks can I expect to have to wait for it to cycle? Is there anything I can do to speed up the cycle other than using cycled filter media? It's been so long and I'm tired of looking at a fishless tank
It's so hard to be this patient!
