How Far along in the process?

[drab911]

Hey everyone.. Well I have been fishless cycleing my tank for a month now.. my ammonia has been steady at about 3-4 but the last couple of days I have noticed it staying about 2.4 My nitrie is basically zero and I have got 10 ppm of nitrates now showing up..
How far along in the process am I if I am now reading about 10 ppm of nitrate.. why am I still getting ammonia readings though?? If anyone has any idea of about how much longer for my ammonia to drop to zero id love to hear what you have to say..
thanks alot!!

[t_chelle16]

Did you use seeded media or are you cycling from scratch? Your nitrIte did spike then go down, right?

-Chelle

[drab911]

I put one small handful or media in.. about 2-3 weeks ago...
yes my nitrite went up and then back down to zero.. but my ammonia has never gone to zero yet.. though I Have been adding it every second day or so..

[t_chelle16]

That's odd.

How big is the tank? What filter do you have? And how much ammonia have you been adding?

-Chelle

[drab911]

it is a 16 gallon tank.. I have a hang on back filter for up to a 20 gallon tank.. and ive been adding about 3-4 ppm of ammonia once every 2 or 3 days.. well I have been keeping it steady at 3 ppm..
This saturday will have been one complete month..
I am just wondering.. would I be safe to just stop adding ammonia and once the bacteria has used up what is left then add the fish.. or do you keep it steady at 3 and one morning I should wake up and it should be 0?? I am just curious when you stop adding ammonia
Thanks

[t_chelle16]

When the cycle is done, you should be able to add the ammonia and take a readings24 hours later and have it be 0. I'm really not sure why you're still getting an ammonia readings.

I suppose you could stop adding the ammonia, wait for it to get to 0 then add fish. You'd just have to really closely watch your levels.

-Chelle