Waiting on Nitrites

[BettaQueen124]

Greetings, 

Hope everyone is having a great day! I'm currently cycling my first 20 gallon long. It's been 3 weeks since I started. I tried to jump start the cycle with some frozen shrimp and some fish flakes. I'm still not getting any nitrites. My ammonia reading is at 0.50 ppm. Is this enough ammonia to jumpstart the cycle? Should I be regularly ghost feeding? How long did it take you to get nitrites when you were cycling?

Thank you for your time 😊

[colo3000]

You would usually expect to see nitrates, let alone nitrites by now. Do you have plants in your tank? Are you using filter media from another tank? How are you testing? People usually recommend at least 2ppm of ammonia to cycle a tank, so I would probably recommend that you at some more fish food or shrimp.

[Levi_Aquatics]

I think that should be enough ammonia to start it up but adding a bit more wouldn’t hurt. Semi regularly ghost feeding will help keep the beneficial bacteria alive. 

[Patrick_G]

I add some cycled media from another tank. That combined with plants and low initial stocking really jumpstarts a cycle. If you don’t have access to any cycled media then adding plants helps bring in some bacteria to help. Cory suggests adding the rockwool from potted plants since it’s likely full of bacteria too. 
 

[BettaQueen124]

On 1/29/2022 at 2:07 PM, colo3000 said:

You would usually expect to see nitrates, let alone nitrites by now. Do you have plants in your tank? Are you using filter media from another tank? How are you testing?

I have been seeing nitrates, but my water usually has high nitrates anyway. I'm still seeing ammonia so I'm assuming I'm still at the beginning of the cycle. I have put a tiny bit of media from another tank in the filter. I've used both my API liquid test kit and the Aquarium Co Op test strips. I do have a two tiny clumps of java moss in the tank, could this be why I'm not seeing nitrites?

[colo3000]

Nitrites are usually consumed more by beneficial bacteria than plants. If you do have media from another tank, you could introduce some low stocking and just keep an eye on the ammonia and nitrates and water change accordingly. If I’m understanding you correctly in that your water has nitrates straight out of the tap, that does make it more difficult to determine where you are in the cycle.

[BettaQueen124]

On 1/29/2022 at 4:10 PM, colo3000 said:

If I’m understanding you correctly in that your water has nitrates straight out of the tap, that does make it more difficult to determine where you are in the cycle.

Yeah, my water usually has upwards of 40 ppm nitrates straight out of the tap. It drops way down when I put it in my planted tanks! If my tank was cycled, would I still be seeing ammonia in my readings?

[Patrick_G]

On 1/29/2022 at 1:42 PM, BettaQueen124 said:

I have been seeing nitrates, but my water usually has high nitrates anyway. I'm still seeing ammonia so I'm assuming I'm still at the beginning of the cycle. I have put a tiny bit of media from another tank in the filter. I've used both my API liquid test kit and the Aquarium Co Op test strips. I do have a two tiny clumps of java moss in the tank, could this be why I'm not seeing nitrites?

I’d add some more cycled media if you have it. You should be seeing ammonia drop and nitrites rise very quickly using that method. I have several pieces of coarse sponge sitting in cycled tanks or filters just for that purpose.