So I'm in the middle of cycling my first tank (pic attached). I'm about 3 weeks in. I'm using Amazonia, which has been my ammonia source, and it's decently planted.
Ammonia has held steady at about 4 ppm for a couple of weeks now, despite water changes every other day or so. I started seeing nitrates about a week ago, but (oddly) no nitrites. There are no nitrates in my tap water.
Today, ammonia hit zero for the first time. Nitrites suddenly appeared, about 5 ppm, and nitrates are sky high - 80 ppm.
So my question is, what now? Do I do a big water change and see if nitrites come back? Or wait for nitrites to hit zero, too? If the latter, do I need to start supplementing with ammonia now that that's at zero? I don't want the ammonia consuming bacteria to die off, but I also suspect the aquasoil is still leaching, they're just consuming it all.
Any advice?
Ammonia has held steady at about 4 ppm for a couple of weeks now, despite water changes every other day or so. I started seeing nitrates about a week ago, but (oddly) no nitrites. There are no nitrates in my tap water.
Today, ammonia hit zero for the first time. Nitrites suddenly appeared, about 5 ppm, and nitrates are sky high - 80 ppm.
So my question is, what now? Do I do a big water change and see if nitrites come back? Or wait for nitrites to hit zero, too? If the latter, do I need to start supplementing with ammonia now that that's at zero? I don't want the ammonia consuming bacteria to die off, but I also suspect the aquasoil is still leaching, they're just consuming it all.
Any advice?
