Cycling Questions

Cycling takes time. Looks like you're almost there if your nitrate readings have been going up. I don't think plants would make that much of a difference in one night, something probably went wrong with the test. If the plants have been there all along then they have been using the nitrates the whole time -> nitrates increase slower, they won't cause a sudden change like that.
Just keep adding ammonia regularly to feed the bacteria. Once the cycle can convert 4 ppm ammonia into 0 ammonia and nitrite in 24 hours, it's ready.
 
If you had an insane number of plants you could have a setup where they were taking everything out of the water. But I think that would more or less look like a tank of plants.

The stresscoat you're adding is turning ammonia to ammonium, which, from what I understand, is more readily taken up by plants than ammonia. I believe this is also more for fish-in than fishless cycling.

Do you know your GH/KH or ph?

The net total of nitrites may not be changing, but that doesn't necessarily mean nothing is happening with them; it could mean that there is a balance between nitrite production and consumption. There could be bacteria there that are eating the ammonia, which then produce nitrite, and if nitrates are going up, that is an indicator that other bacteria there are eating some nitrite and creating nitrate.

If you are concerned about the ammonia levels never going lower than .25, wait, say, 12 hours and test them again (without adding ammonia). The readings might be due to the ammonium, and, if so, will linger for a while. If that's the case, then you have enough bacteria to consume the ammonia you're adding (try going to 4 ppm), and you're just waiting for the second nitrite eating bacteria population to catch up.
 
So today I tested my water and got these results
Ammonia - 0ppm
Nitrite - 5ppm
Nitrate - 160ppm
pH - 7.4
The water is now crystal clear but I see no difference in the nitrite levels at all. The bacteria has to be doing something since my nitrate level is rising but I don't know why my nitrite levels have stalled. Any ideas?
I was really hoping my water parameters would be good enough for me to get my lotls this week but maybe not :(. Does anyone have any suggestions? Also should I still continue to dose ammonia?


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Well, it looks like you are close.

I've seen it recommended that once a tank is cycled, to dose to 1 ppm of ammonia just to keep it fed until you populate the tank.

One thing I would do is take 2.5 ml of tank water and add 2.5 ml of clean water to the api test vial, and see if the nitrites read 2.5; if they don't, and it still seems high, that means the nitrites are higher than you think.

The high nitrates might indicate the need for a partial water change; I don't believe it would hurt anything, and that's what you do once it's cycled before adding animals. Partially to remove the nitrates (nitrobacter waste, which at some level must inhibit reproduction at least?) and partially to add some new nutrients to the water.
 
If I do end up with nitrites at 5ppm when using half tank water and half tap water how much water should I change?


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I did another water test and tested nitrite with straight tank water for a reading of 5ppm and then did half tank water and half tap water and got the same reading. Should I go ahead and do a water change? If so how much?


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If it were me, knowing that a 50% water change wouldn't bring the nitrites down to a readable level, and that a reading of at least 160ppm is high for nitrates (40 is the max you'd ever want in an occupied tank), I'd do a 75% water change, but I'd use plain tap water conditioner vs. anything with bacteria in it. In reality, I'd test first with smaller percentages of tank water vs. conditioned water using a 1 ml syringe to figure out exactly how much of a change would drop the nitrites and nitrates down to something less than their max values on the api test, but that's just me.
 
So I changed about 60% of the water and tested just the nitrite and nitrate readings
Nitrite was 2 or 5ppm because it's really hard to tell on the API tests but I am sure that the water changed color much more slowly than normal
Nitrate was 40ppm
So what should I do now? Should I wait to see if the nitrite levels drop and nitrate levels increase without dosing any ammonia? Or should I does ammonia? Also since the levels are closer to readable levels would it be a better idea to wait to see if the parameters change or to do another water change tomorrow?


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There needs to be ammonia to feed the nitrosomonas, and hopefully the water change brought the nitrites down to something that the nitrobacter will be able to make a dent in. If you had done a 100% water change and added 4ppm of ammonia, after 24 hours you should have seen 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites if the cycling was complete. If you're at 2 nitrites and add 4ppm ammonia, you'd see 0 ammonia and 2 nitrites in 24 hours if the bacterial populations were adequate, and a little more would take up the excess nitrites (or, alternatively, a little less ammonia next time would produce less nitrites).
 
Today I checked the parameters to find
Ammonia - 0ppm
Nitrite - 2ppm
Nitrate - 80ppm
So I'm thinking the nitrite are finally dropping which makes me happy! I did dose some more ammonia to keep that bacteria fed and hopefully in the next few days all traces of nitrite will be gone!


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So my nitrites have stalled at about a .5ppm and I'm not sure what's going on. The ammonia is 0ppm and I just tested the nitrates and saw that they were about 80-160ppm. So should I do a water change? Should I does more ammonia? Or should I wait 24 hours and see if the trace of nitrites goes away?


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I'd do a water change to bring the nitrates down to normal levels. Then dose ammonia to about 4 ppm and test again tomorrow.
 
I agree with keiko.

If the cycle was stopped, either a) your ammonia would never go down, or b) the ammonia would go down, the nitrites would rise quickly, and nitrates would not increase.

I've had those happen. It's no fun. I think we have moon water here. :alien: Although that would probably be an improvement.

Cycling just takes time, and the last part is longer than the first usually. You're just waiting for the nitrite eating/nitrate producing population to catch up with the ammonia eating/nitrite producing population. Your ammonia is being consumed, as well as a good amount of nitrites, which are being converted to the nitrates.
 
My water has finally gotten the right parameters!!! I am going to do a 75% water change to lower the nitrate levels and I should be ready for my axies!


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