Fishless Cycle

Yes, 8 ppm. Higher than I would like. But, if that number is correct, I am not sure why it is that high. I would almost suggest you do a further dilution. The first two bars on the chart have no "purple." they are easy to discern. The bar at .50 is a light purple, after that the bars get harder to tell the difference. I mistrust your seeing 2 ppm. This is because early on you were reporting nitrite between 2 and 5 ppm. That is a wide gap. The bottom three bars on the nitrite test can look pretty similar. I could also be wrong and what you saw was correct. I need to be certain

Using a multiplying factor of 4 also multiplies the effect of a misread. If the actual nitrite level is only .5 ppm different to what you thought the test showed, that translates to a 2 ppm error. Depending if the .5 error was over or under, the result could mean 10 or 6 and not 8. Even the third bar down from the top is nowhere near as dark as the next three.

So, lets try this. 1 ounce of tank water and 7 ounces distilled and see what color you get. This is basically an 8 times factor. If you are reading 2 ppm correctly, this test should be close to the color of the .25 bar. I assume you will do this tonight because, hopefully, by tomorrow morning nitrite will be lower. You should have 122 ounces of distilled left from the gallon. :rolleyes:

Here is the thing about the process you are going through. If nitrite goes over roughly 16.5 ppm on your total ion kit (which stops at 5), it stalls the cycle. That means the ammonia bacteria have problems. And if that is the case, they stop processing ammonia, or at least slow way down. We also know you had, and still have, some amount of nitrite bacteria because of the nitrate present. When you did the big water change to reset thing, you also lowered nitrate levels. They have come back up since then and there is only one way for that to have happened.

Things are moving in the right direction for sure. All we need to know is a real nitrite level and the direction in which it is moving. Somewhere along the way I managed to learn how to do this all for my tanks using only the ammonia kit. But that assumes I know when things started, how much ammonia went in when, and how fast it is testing 0 afterwards. But I also seed tanks/filters with bottled bacteria and/or filter squeezings and other things from my other established tanks.
 
Here is 1 oz tank, 7 oz distilled. To my book it looks lighter than 1. But if I put it against the other picture it is right at 1.

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OK- that means your 2 was correct and the actual level is is 8 ppm. Next comes a drop in that level. When you can peg the ammonia at 0 for three days in a row, add the 1/3 snack dose. I am assuming the nitrite is coming down now not rising.

Hopefully what we will see is the ammonia gets consumed pretty fast and the nitrite keeps dropping. I think there must have been an imbalance between the ammonia and nitrite bacteria. The goal is for them to be there in amounts that compliment each other. That is, as much nitrite the ammonia bacteria can make, the the nitrite ones can convert it as fast as it comes down the pike. So all one can ever gets a test reading for is nitrate. the other two are always 0.
 
I would say do it again whenever you add the snack dose. I just want to confirm Nitrite is dropping.

The tank is cycled when you can add 3 ppm of ammonia and in 24 hours test 0 for both ammonia and nitrite.
 
OK you are now looking to twiddle your thumbs. It is safe to assume that 0 today means 0 tomorrow and then zero on Monday. And on Monday you will do the snack dose. Before you do that snack dose, test for nitrite. If, by chance, it is all the way to zero, then instead of the snack dose, do a full Dose i.e. #4.

Which ever Dose you end up doing Monday morning, you should be back on track to simply follow the article directions.

It is also now time to make your stocking plan. Aside from coming up with fish that will work in your water parameters and with each other, you need to have a plan for how you will add them. You will have the option of doing the full stocking all at once. However, if you decide to spread out the timing of when fish will go in, you need to make a schedule for this.

If you cannot take advantage of full stocking in one go, there is the possibility that you will lose some of the bacteria we have been building up. Remember, the whole things rests on ammonia. If you only add half the bio-load the tank can handle and then you let enough time go by, you cannot add the second half all at once. However, you can allow a few days between additions without it being an issue.

You have one tank and no Q tank. So if you wait too long between when your fish go in, a second addition could bring in something harmful to the fish you already have.
 
Ok I will check Monday morning. May check nitrites Sunday night just for curiosity sake.

My local fish store has everything I want to add so was thinking I would do it over the course of 2 or 3 days if you think that would work.
 
Tonight I would say I was at .25 on my dilution so approx 2ppm on my nitrites. We will see what tomorrow brings
 
If all reported is accurate, you may see nitrite low enough in the morning to do Dose #4. Start by testing with no dilution. If that isn't clear, a 50/50 : tank/distilled should be all you need. Multiply result by 2 :-).
 
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