# is my cycle stalled?



## WetWork (Dec 9, 2012)

Alright i posted on here a week and half ago that i was leaving for 5 days and was given advice to just hold fast while i was gone....Before I left 4 ppm ammonia was being processed into nitrite after 24 hours...I got back two days ago and tested it was very low ammonia and above 5 ppm nitrite so i dosed ammonia up to 4 ppm and two days later its only at about 2ppm. Just wondering why my ammonia isnt being processed as fast. my nitrites have been above 5 ppm for about 2 weeks now. I am showing about 40 ppm of nitrates so obviously some of my nitrites are being processed. Any thoughts?


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

low pH or temp can slow the cycle, or low flow (any power outages?). Or, and this one sucks, if either ammonia or nitrite gets too high it can kill both sorts of cycling bacteria, setting you back.


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## WetWork (Dec 9, 2012)

My ph has been 7.0 the whole process and temp has stayed steady at 80 degrees. Hopefully i havent killed my bacteria with too high of nitrite, maybe a water change is necessary?


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## Ice (Sep 25, 2006)

Doesn't hurt to do a water change.


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## MrKrabs (Sep 28, 2012)

I have several 10 and 20 gal guppy tanks. I don't cycle my water and my fish are healthy. I do change the water once maybe twice per week. My tanks are also not crowded. Going for quality not quantity.


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## weedkiller (Nov 18, 2012)

be patient... keep your ammo at about 2ppm now, check ppm in the morning when u wake and about 12 hours later, try an keep to 2ppm (half of what you was now you have nitrites)
you must feed all the bacterias before you feed your fish


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## WetWork (Dec 9, 2012)

I am going to do a 50% water change just to bring some of those nitrites down. I was dosing Seachem Stabililty the whole cycle but had to stop for 5 days since I was out of town. I am wondering if thats what was converting ammo to trite so quickly. Maybe I should just continue without the stability, might have been giving me a false cycle.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

What?
You were dosing ammonia AND using Stability??

Don't do that. Stability has all the bacteria food it needs already in it. It also has de-nitrifying bacteria in it which often confuses people who don't realize that and get results they don't expect. 

Do the water change, dose one more time with Stability, and let it run a few days without doing anything else. Then you should be ready for fish.
If it doesn't work as it should, then finish the stability regimen WITHOUT any ammonia.


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## WetWork (Dec 9, 2012)

OldSalt thanks for the reply... I was dosing with Stability and adding ammonia because it said you can use it during cycle without adding fish so I just figured I needed to do both. Thank you for correcting me though i will just dose with stability and discontinue ammonia and hope for the best.


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