Help with cycling

[impossible]

I've had my tank running for over 5 weeks now,,,,,getting ammonia readings,,,,but havent had any nitrite readings yet,,,,,lost acouple of fish,,,so ive been doing a 20% water change every second day to keep the ammonia at bay,,,,is this too much water changing,,,,,,what is considered to be a HIGH ammonia reading ie,,,,,,2 ppm ?

 

[Jess7]

If you are doing a fishy cycle I would do a water change everyday until the tank is cycled, or at least if the ammonia or nitrite is reading above .25ppm until the ammonia is down to 0, even if that means back to back 50% water changes.
You want the least amount of stress possible on the little guys

 

[impossible]

Will all this water changing prolong my cycling process?

 

[rich311k]

no and it will keep your fish alive.

 

[sublime1184]

no, it wont.

 

[JSchmidt]

Keeping ammonia and nitrite below .5 pmm is OK, but .25 is better. (Many test kits won't reliably tell the difference between .25 and .5, so don't sweat it.) As long as you have any ammonia/nitrite in excess of what the bacteria can eat (i.e., as long as ammonia/nitrite exceed 0 ppm) the bacterial colony will grow.

Keep up the water changes, and good luck!

Jim