Fishless to Fishy

I'm not sure, I'm not an expert like some others on here but I would think there would be a higher concentration of ammonia and it might not be safe for the fish, not that any ammonia is safe but you know what I mean. I'm sure some others will come along with more input.
 
If you did change your mind mid-way--which happens I know when you go to the store and impulsively buy a fish--it isn't a good idea, but if you do it, basically you have to change out all the water to get down to 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites, which means you are basically starting over the cycle with a fishy cycle. It will take just as long as a fishy cycle, because you are basically going back to the beginning, and will have to test the water all the time and do dozens of water changes.
 
right, and your water changes will be more frequent than once a week in order to keep a hold on the parameter levels, whereas, the fishless, there are no water changes until the end.
 
I'm just being impatient aren't i? It's just that i whizzed through the first stage due to accelerating the cycle by running my filter in an established tank first, but this second stage, from where the nitrites start showing, which is supposed to take 7-14 days for them to drop and disappear (according to the advice on fishless cycling I got from a link on this forum) has already taken 23 days and I'm still showing loads of nitrites - my ammonia is disappearing daily though. It feels as though they will never come down!
 
Don't hold your breath

My nitrites have been around .30 for over 3 weeks now! My ammonia and nitrites had been down at 0 for a week or so and I thought I was done cycling so I added two more harlequins to the lone survivor I had before I knew about all this stuff and then got a small ammonia spike, which was quickly taken care of by the bacteria, then the nitrites went up to .25-.30 and I can't get them down. I've been doing water changes every 2-4 days to keep the harlequins from dying. Unfortunately, that is probably why it's taking so long to get the nitrites down. My nitrates have been good at anywhere from 8 to 12 ppm. I even added a BioWheel 100 to boost the BioWheel 200 I had but it hasn't done a thing in the last two weeks except run.

So, stick with it, you are probably in a better place than I am. It seems like the nitrites will never get to zero and I feel so sorry for my three little harlequins. I want to get them more family, but not going to risk it at this point.

I'm so frustrated. This is my first attempt and I have learned a lot in the past 2 months. I'll do fishless next time.

29 gallon
Penquin 200
Penquin 100
3 Harlequin Rasboras (Little Guy--tough, tough, tough; Chubby, and Blinky)
 
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