Cycling

jrhorn44 · Mar 4, 2026

Doing a fishless cycle 40 gallon tank

Products I’m using- dr tim’s ammonia chloride and microbacter tank starter.

Day 1 (hour after adding ammonia & bacteria): ammonia tested .5ppm

Day 2: ammonia 1ppm

Today Day 3 ammonia .5ppm
0 nitrite & nitrate.

I have added everything according to the instructions but nitrites and nitrates are still 0. I’m sure I’m being impatient but I was wondering if this sounds like I’m on the right track. Was considering adding more ammonia chloride but I’m unsure about that.
Thanks for any help!

Fish Fan · Mar 4, 2026

I'd suggest adding enough of the ammonia product to bring the concentration to near 2.0 ppm, and then wait for it to go down to nearly zero, and then proceed to slowly stock with some hardy livestock. No need to wait for nitrite to come down, it's non toxic. Make sure you are using reliable test kits, ammonia should not go up, down, up over three days like you've reported

Good luck!

Mebbid · Mar 4, 2026

Waay too early to worry about it. What test kits are you using?

In general, without anything actively consuming them 1ppm of ammonia will turn into 2.7ppm nitrite, which turns into 3.6 nitrate. Assuming the 1ppm of ammonia decreased by half you could expect to see ~1.8ppm of nitrate if it was indeed converted. This is all assuming the tests are spot on accurate.

Just be patient.