My fishless cycle won't bring Ammoina down to 0

[SirWired]

I'm moving along in a fishless cycle I started on 9/14.

I saw Nitrites for the first time on 10/3. It's now 10/11, and my Ammonia-eating bugs don't seem to be increasing in strength. It looks like they can bring it down from about 3 to 1.5 or so in a day. This has been going on for a week now. I would think by now they could take it from 3 down to zero in 24 hours.

Why can't my Ammonia-eating guys eat all the Ammoina? Heck, I was getting a 1ppm drop per day even without the bacteria.

Another thing that concerns me is that my Nitrites seem stable. They are holding at around, or just above, 2, and have been doing so for five days.

My Nitrates went from zero at the beginning to 5 a couple of days after I first saw Nitrites. They are now holding steady at 5. Oh, and the Nitrate test never seems to change color when I add the second regent. It holds at the color produced by the first regent. And yes, I am shaking the heck out of it.

It is almost as if after producing some Nitrites, my Ammonia-eating bacteria just died off... Neither Nitrites nor Nitrates seem to be increasing.

SirWired

 

[Dangerdoll]

Have patience, Sir. When I was doing my cycle way back when, I had the same concern. But it was like overnight. BOOM, all of a sudden things happened and mine took a full 6 weeks to the day.

 

[cathrynlisa]

I know how frustrating it is. My ammonia was disappearing daily but now doesn't seem to be going away completely and my nitrites got me all excited when they dropped last week but they seem to be stuck at 0.1 now.