Cycling question

[Shrek]

Currently doing a fishless cycle 29 gallon tank have seeded gravel being filtered by two seeded hob filters.
as you see in picture ph fine ph seems to be 7.6 ammonia is between 0.25-0.50 Nitrite 0 ppm
And nitrates are 5.0 night before last night test ammonia was 2.0 and other specs match today’s reading did a 75 Percent water change Last night have bio balls in filters as well as ceramic bio rings. Do I do another large water change ?
Thanks

 

[Stephen Noble]

I am confused. In this post you are doing a fishless cycle and in another post you have two goldfish. If this is a question just about your 29-gallon aquarium then yes, very small water changes, ( definitely not 75%) are okay. You must be adding a source of ammonia if it is fishless. Are you using a dead shrimp or adding pure ammonia? I'm trying to figure out where are you in the overall process of fishless cycling? How many days etc. In my opinion, fishless is always the preferred method for cycling. Much less stressful and certainly more humane.

 

[CometKeith]

Currently doing a fishless cycle 29 gallon tank have seeded gravel being filtered by two seeded hob filters.
as you see in picture ph fine ph seems to be 7.6 ammonia is between 0.25-0.50 Nitrite 0 ppm
And nitrates are 5.0 night before last night test ammonia was 2.0 and other specs match today’s reading did a 75 Percent water change Last night have bio balls in filters as well as ceramic bio rings. Do I do another large water change ?
Thanks

Hi. So I’m confused too. Why are you doing any water changes if there are no fish? When you change the water you are diluting both the bad stuff and also the good stuff so unless you have fish why bother? Your biofilter needs ammonia to start the biofiltration. I would just be patient and let nature takes it’s course as long as there is enough ammonia to get the cycle to work. I guess you can also buy some bacteria to seed your filter if you want to kick start it but that may not help that much. When you do large water changes you are changing the ph, dissolved O2 levels, and adding other unwanted influences. I’m sure you must be treating the water but any chlorine or chrormine in the water will kill the good bacteria in your filter too.