fishless cycle

[gersheff]

?

 

[JSchmidt]

Hard to say why it happened so fast... however, if you add ammonia to take the tank to 4-5 ppm (allowing time for the ammonia to disperse before testing) and then have zero ammonia and zero nitrites within 24 hours, your tank is cycled.

You'd want to be sure your test kits are working correctly, of course, if you're getting unusual readings, but if everything checks out, and you're not showing ammonia/nitrite after dosing the tank, you're done.

Jim

 

[anonapersona]

Originally posted by gersheff
thank you. No that's not the case my nitrites are throught the roof

You still need to have the nitrites go to zero. It may take twice as long as the time the ammonia portion of the cycle took. Keep adding the ammonia daily. Don't worry about the few days gone, just get back to it when you return. You could try just adding a few pinchesof fish food, it will turn ot ammonia but I dont' know how fast, that might keep the bacteria fed, but I'd guess that a few days of nothing will only set it back, not kill the bacteria off. Heck, if the bacteria die off, might they make ammonia??