Hi everyone-
I'm fairly new to the hobby and have had an Evo 13.5 for about 9-10months and decided it was time for an upgrade.
My new tank is a Waterbox 50.3 AIO and I started the fishless cycle about 4 weeks ago (CaribSea Dry Sand & LifeRock). I went the route of Dr. Tim's One and Only, First Defense and Ammonium drops and watched his cycling video on YouTube, read all of the blogs, did a ton of research, THEN I made the worse Rookie mistake of overdosing Ammonium (SOOO KICKING MYSELF RIGHT NOW).
1 week ago (week 3) my Ammonia was dropping steady, my Nitrite and Nitrate were off the chart. Knowing my Nitrite/Nitrate were going to continue climbing, I did a 30% water change which brought my Ammonia down to about 1ppm, and after about 24hrs the Ammonia dropped to 0, BUT the Nitrite/Nitrate were still off the chart (as expected).
4 days ago, I did another 30% water change and my Nitrite/Nitrate were still off the chart.
2 days ago, I did a 75% water change this time with Prime and my Nitrite are still very high (dark purple), but my Nitrate dropped to about 25ppm.
The fact that I have Nitrite and Nitrate proves that the nitrifying bacteria present, although the bacteria that converts Nitrite to Nitrate are likely not developed enough to consume all that Nitrite, HOWEVER I've also read that very high Nitrite could stall them from developing (???)
At this point, I don't know what to do, I could do another massive water change or do I just wait it out?? I'm reluctant to add any ammonia as I'm sure that will just compound the Nitrite/Nitrate issue. BUT, with no Ammonia in the tank, won't the Nitrifying bacteria deplete?? Double edge sword...
PS. I have a bottle of FritzZyme 9 Nitrifying Bacteria, but wasn't sure if I should add it because 1) During initial cycle I used Dr. Tim's One and Only and reason number 2) Nitrifying Bacteria need Ammonia first and I really don't want to add any more given the high Nitrite/Nitrate situation.
Any feedback or advise would be GREATLY APPRECIATED.
I'm fairly new to the hobby and have had an Evo 13.5 for about 9-10months and decided it was time for an upgrade.
My new tank is a Waterbox 50.3 AIO and I started the fishless cycle about 4 weeks ago (CaribSea Dry Sand & LifeRock). I went the route of Dr. Tim's One and Only, First Defense and Ammonium drops and watched his cycling video on YouTube, read all of the blogs, did a ton of research, THEN I made the worse Rookie mistake of overdosing Ammonium (SOOO KICKING MYSELF RIGHT NOW).
1 week ago (week 3) my Ammonia was dropping steady, my Nitrite and Nitrate were off the chart. Knowing my Nitrite/Nitrate were going to continue climbing, I did a 30% water change which brought my Ammonia down to about 1ppm, and after about 24hrs the Ammonia dropped to 0, BUT the Nitrite/Nitrate were still off the chart (as expected).
4 days ago, I did another 30% water change and my Nitrite/Nitrate were still off the chart.
2 days ago, I did a 75% water change this time with Prime and my Nitrite are still very high (dark purple), but my Nitrate dropped to about 25ppm.
The fact that I have Nitrite and Nitrate proves that the nitrifying bacteria present, although the bacteria that converts Nitrite to Nitrate are likely not developed enough to consume all that Nitrite, HOWEVER I've also read that very high Nitrite could stall them from developing (???)
At this point, I don't know what to do, I could do another massive water change or do I just wait it out?? I'm reluctant to add any ammonia as I'm sure that will just compound the Nitrite/Nitrate issue. BUT, with no Ammonia in the tank, won't the Nitrifying bacteria deplete?? Double edge sword...
PS. I have a bottle of FritzZyme 9 Nitrifying Bacteria, but wasn't sure if I should add it because 1) During initial cycle I used Dr. Tim's One and Only and reason number 2) Nitrifying Bacteria need Ammonia first and I really don't want to add any more given the high Nitrite/Nitrate situation.
Any feedback or advise would be GREATLY APPRECIATED.