No Nitrates seen after 4 weeks

Question
Hi Chris,
I have a small Eclipse system 3 (3 gallon) setup and I'm trying to do a fish cycle with 2 zebra danios. I started the tank on October 4th. I test for total ammonia, nitrites, and pH about every 3 days.

I have seen the ammonia rise from 0 to 4.0ppm, my pH ranges from 6.0 to 6.5 (It tends to drop, so I add pH-UP occasionally to bring it back up to 6.5)

I still see absolutely no traces of Nitrites yet. Is this normal? Should I just be patient? Or could something be preventing the beneficial bacteria from growing?

One note, when the ammonia reaches 4.0, I add one standard dose of AmQuel+ (which is supposed to reduce the NH3 by 1.2ppm) I do this to keep the NH3 from going too high.

My 2 zebra danios seem to be doing fine. They eat well, and are very active.

I understand that ammonia is more toxic if the pH is high. This is why I keep it on the low side.

Any ideas why my little germs are not growing?

Thanks,
Tony


Answer
Hi Tony;

It may have come up and dropped already, or altering the pH has stressed the bacteria colonies or killed them altogether so it can't get going. It is a pretty small tank and sometimes they never really do balance biologically. You might test the water for nitrAte (NO3). It is the end result of the nitrogen cycle. If there is some nitrate then things have actually progressed and you didn't know it. It happens sometimes.

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins