Did my cycle stagnate?

Cycle seem to have come to a halt..

Hi everyone,

First of all, let me start by saying what a great forum this is! For the last 6 weeks i have been lurking around on a daily basis trying to soak up as much information as possible. And having just started my very own RSM 130D i have found the information here invaluable, and a great helper for a newbie like me ;D

Anyways, now to the 'problem'.

I have been trying to keep track of all my parameters since i started (about 5 weeks ago), and at this point it feels like my cycle have come to a halt. Following is the first 2 weeks or so with testing (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate).

09/06 = 0.5 - * - *
10/06 = 0.5 - >1 - 10
11/06 = 0.25 - 0.5 - *
12/06 = 0.25 - 0.5 - 5
13/06 = 0.25 - 0.2 - 5
14/06 = 0.25 - 0.2 - 5
15/06 = 0.25 - 0.2 - 5
16/06 = 0.25 - 0.1 - 5
17/06 = 0.25 - 0.1 - 5
18/06 = 0.25 - 0.1 - 2.5
19/06 = 0.25 - 0.1 - 2.5
20/06 = 0.25 - 0.1 - 0
21/06 = 0.25 - 0.05 - 0

​

As you can see here it was sort of a spike right at the beginning. The only problem is that i havent seen any change in the parameters since the 21st, and ammonia, nitrite and nitrate is still the same now as it was back then.

Am i just to impatient, or have i done somthing wrong?

Forgot to mention, i have been cycling with about 21,5kg of living stone since day 1, and didnt do anything to start the cycle apart from adding the stone and bacteria. The fact that i test 0 nitrate i belive can have somthing to do with me haveing algea right now.

Rest of my water parameters are perfect. And sorry for any spelling mistakes, as english isnt my native language

Thanks!

 

The cycle is just one those things you have to wait out. You are probably right about the nitrate and the algae. Algae growth is probably masking nitrates right now. Just give it some more time. A good cycle should take about 2 months.

 

Ok, thanks for the input! Im accually fairly patient by nature, but after going to the lfs a few times, only to get 'your tank is still not good?!?' i was starting to wonder if somthing had been done wrong on my part. Or if my cycle had come to a halt.

 

You're cycled imo.

And check your ammonia test kit- there is no way it should still be saying 0.25 at this point. Likely a faulty test kit- or the reading is wrong.

 

I was thinking the same thing.......

What else do you have in the tank? Fish? I was also thinking of an overfeeding issue. That can drive NH4/NO2/NO3 up early in a tank's life, generally affecting just the NO3 as the tank matures.

If you are using API, check the expiration date. It is incorporated into the lot number on the bottles. I was reading NH4 on an expired test kit for awhile before catching that.

 

I did not find any date on my test kit. Im using the red sea test kit that came with the aquarium start package, so if anyone have input on where to find it feel free to give a tell as ive searched before without any luck .

Well, as i said ive had quite a bit of algea that came with the rocks when i bought them. The store had gotten them in just the day before i was there.

Some if it died off initialy just after i got it in my tank, and some have gone away over time now the last week or so as i have lowered the amount of light in my tank to try and control it.

Anyways, i did a test just now, and the ammonia had risen a little bit to about 0.5, nitrite was on 0.05 and nitrate was up to about 2.5 (probably due to alot of the algea being gone i belive, but then again, im a newbie)

I dont have any fish, CuC or corals btw. Waiting for my tank to finish before adding anything at all.. Even tho it is hard, lol

Thanks!