~ jan JJsPond.us wrote:
On Tue, 18 Jan 2005 08:16:10 -0500, "Richard Holub"
wrote:

How long does it take for ammonia to be broken down to nitrite/nitrate in a
new filter? I have had my new drip filter going for approximately 4 weeks
and so far my tests only read ammonia. Isin't it about time that the tests
show some nitrite buil-up?

160 gal. rubber lined pond, 72 deg. F, four 8" koi...

Rich

Usually a drip system gets going faster than others, and I would expect by
4 weeks you would be seeing improvements. How are you managing the ammonia?
This could be the problem. What is the pH? ~ jan

Agreed, something should be happening with the nitrifying bacteria by 4
weeks. I wonder though, exactly how much ammonia are you reading? People
who have tried fishless cycling in aquariums have found that high levels
of ammonia seem to prolong or even stall the growth of the bacterial
colonies. Usually this happens over 5ppm ammonia from what I've read of
the accounts, but that's also at aquarium temperatures. Might happen at a
lower level at lower temperatures.

It would also be worthwhile to verify that your test kits are still fresh
(most start giving bad readings after several years) by taking a sample of
water to an LFS to test. Nitrite kits I've found to be somewhat more
sensitive to age than ammonia kits. I have a several year master test kit
where the ammonia reagent is still fine, but the nitrite reagent stopped
giving reliable readings a year ago.