3 weeks cycling. High ammonia for 2 weeks, no nitrite and low nitrates

[A Fishkeeper]

Hi

I’m nearing the end of my 3rd week of cycling.
Doing a fishless cycle with flaked food.
I’ve had high ammonia for 2 weeks but never any nitrite. I do have nitrate.

how long until I should start to see nitrite rise and ammonia go down?

 

[Slaphppy7]

By "high" ammonia, what do you mean? How high? Which water test kit do you use?
What is the ph of the tank water?

TBH, fishless cycling with food can be tricky, because rotting food takes a while to produce ammonia, and if you become impatient and keep adding food, ammonia can eventually spike TOO high, preventing a cycle from occurring.

 

[A Fishkeeper]

By "high" ammonia, what do you mean? How high? Which water test kit do you use?
What is the ph of the tank water?

TBH, fishless cycling with food can be tricky, because rotting food takes a while to produce ammonia, and if you become impatient and keep adding food, ammonia can eventually spike TOO high, preventing a cycle from occurring.

2.0ppm ammonia
Ph 7.2

I use api freshwater master test kit and jbl pro aquatest easy strips. Also have a seachem ammonia alert on tank.
This is my second tank, because of a baby boom in my current tank. I did a fishless cycle on first tank but thought it was quicker than this. ???
I have planted this new one with live plants which i didn’t do with the first one and now I have a snail problem. They don’t seem to be fussed by the ammonia ?

 

[Slaphppy7]

What temp is the tank? Do you have a bubbler going?
The 2.0 AMM as measured by the API liquid test? If so, that's not really high.
You DID use a dechlorinator when you began, correct?

 

[A Fishkeeper]

What temp is the tank? Do you have a bubbler going?
The 2.0 AMM as measured by the API liquid test? If so, that's not really high.
You DID use a dechlorinator when you began, correct?

Temp is 25 C
Yes, have two air pumps going.
yes, I use api stress coat.
and yes the 2.0 is from the api master test kit. It’s more accurate, alert system is just there to give me a heads up once it’s cycled if there’s a problem with ammonia. Have one on other tank and sits at 0 all the time since it cycled.
I have added bacteria but none of it has made a difference. I’m just trying to be patient but feels too slow.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Crank up the heat to 28C, beneficial bacteria (BB) grow faster at a higher temp than what you are sitting at now..just keep those bubblers going, warmer water holds less O2, and your BB need oxygen to grow....how long has the other tank been set up?...if it's well established, any chance of stealing a bit of biomedia from it's filter to add to the new one?

 

[A Fishkeeper]

Crank up the heat to 28C, beneficial bacteria (BB) grow faster at a higher temp than what you are sitting at now..just keep those bubblers going, warmer water holds less O2, and your BB need oxygen to grow....how long has the other tank been set up?...if it's well established, any chance of stealing a bit of biomedia from it's filter to add to the new one?

Thanks.
I've turned it up.
I started the other tank in July 2020 (6months ago)
I did rob a little of he filter sponge when setting it up but I assume the lack of ammonia in the beginning meant it died ?
Looking at my original calendar for my first tank set up it looks like I to my shame did a fish in cycle ? I bought zebra danios as recommended by pets at home. I assume this is why it felt quicker because it was only empty for 2 days. They did all survive ?
I could take more of my filter media but I’m a bit scared because my tank is overstocked which is why I have bought the new tank.
my mollies have been breeding and babies have been surviving!

 

[Slaphppy7]

Good, let it go for now, leave your original filter media alone...you'll get there
No need to check ammonia levels every day, every other day will be fine...report back when they begin to drop....no need for WC's during the cycle
And get some of this when you run out of the Stress Coat: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00025694O/?tag=ff0d01-20

 

[A Fishkeeper]

Good, let it go for now, leave your original filter media alone...you'll get there
No need to check ammonia levels every day, every other day will be fine...report back when they begin to drop....no need for WC's during the cycle
And get some of this when you run out of the Stress Coat: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00025694O/?tag=ff0d01-20

Thank you so much for your help.
What makes that water conditioner better?

 

[Slaphppy7]

More than welcome.
It's highly concentrated, a little bit goes a long way (1 ml treats 10G), and it has more beneficial qualities than most conditioners...from the website:

Nearly all pet aquatics companies manufacture a product that removes chlorine. None of those, however, can compare in quality, concentration, or effectiveness to Seachem’s flagship product: Prime®. Prime® is the complete and concentrated conditioner for both fresh and saltwater. Prime® removes chlorine, chloramine and detoxifies ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. It is non-acidic and will not impact pH. A further bonus for the reef hobbyist—Prime® will not over-activate skimmers.


Prime® is up to 5x more concentrated than competing products and is the second most concentrated dechlorinator on the market only after our own aquavitro® alpha™.

Prime® may be used during tank cycling to alleviate ammonia/nitrite toxicity. It contains a binder which renders ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate non-toxic, allowing the biofilter to more efficiently remove them. It will also detoxify any heavy metals found in the tap water at typical concentration levels. Use at start-up and whenever adding or replacing water.

 

[Essjay]

Prime detoxifies ammonia and nitrite for around 24 hours - but it is also a chemical soup and Seachem won't say what's in it. It is useful where chloramine is used to disinfect tap water as it detoxifies the ammonia part of the chloramine until the filter bacteria have had chance to remove it.

I don't have chloramine in my tap water, just chlorine so I prefer to use the most basic water conditioner which contains just two chemicals, one to remove ammonia chlorine and one to bind metals. it does not contain anything to detoxify ammonia. And nothing to "promote the slime coat". it also goes a long way - 1 drop treats 1 gallon.

API® | TAP WATER CONDITIONER™

API TAP WATER CONDITIONER treatment removes toxins from tap water instantly, so you can add fish to your aquarium (or add them back after a water change) immediately.

apifishcare.com

Edited because I used the wrong word

 

[A Fishkeeper]

More than welcome.
It's highly concentrated, a little bit goes a long way (1 ml treats 10G), and it has more beneficial qualities than most conditioners...from the website:

Nearly all pet aquatics companies manufacture a product that removes chlorine. None of those, however, can compare in quality, concentration, or effectiveness to Seachem’s flagship product: Prime®. Prime® is the complete and concentrated conditioner for both fresh and saltwater. Prime® removes chlorine, chloramine and detoxifies ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. It is non-acidic and will not impact pH. A further bonus for the reef hobbyist—Prime® will not over-activate skimmers.


Prime® is up to 5x more concentrated than competing products and is the second most concentrated dechlorinator on the market only after our own aquavitro® alpha™.

Prime® may be used during tank cycling to alleviate ammonia/nitrite toxicity. It contains a binder which renders ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate non-toxic, allowing the biofilter to more efficiently remove them. It will also detoxify any heavy metals found in the tap water at typical concentration levels. Use at start-up and whenever adding or replacing water.

Awesome.
Thank you. I’ll get some before my stress coat runs out and keep that for adding fish. Not that I will need to do that any time soon.

 

[A Fishkeeper]

Prime detoxifies ammonia and nitrite for around 24 hours - but it is also a chemical soup and Seachem won't say what's in it. It is useful where chloramine is used to disinfect tap water as it detoxifies the ammonia part of the chloramine until the filter bacteria have had chance to remove it.

I don't have chloramine in my tap water, just chlorine so I prefer to use the most basic water conditioner which contains just two chemicals, one to remove ammonia and one to bind metals. it does not contain anything to detoxify ammonia. And nothing to "promote the slime coat". it also goes a long way - 1 drop treats 1 gallon.

API® | TAP WATER CONDITIONER™

API TAP WATER CONDITIONER treatment removes toxins from tap water instantly, so you can add fish to your aquarium (or add them back after a water change) immediately.

apifishcare.com

Thanks.
I have tetra aqua safe as basic one.
I like the stress coat for its help with slime coat but the prime sounds perfect for my cycling tank and once fish are added to it when it’s newly cycled just in case I have any spikes.
I assume the api does same as tetra? Our water is full of nastys so the more help the better. Just lost 3 fish over the weekend because after a water change. Phoned fish shop and they said they had been having calls all day with fish dying after water changes and they had lost too. They said something had happed with the mains water that isn’t showing up on test kits.
I’ve got buckets of water standing ready for next water change to try and avoid the same problem. ?

 

[Essjay]

You could try phoning the water company. I was once told by a local shop that a lot of their customers has problems if they did a water change on a Saturday as that was the day the water company "flushed the pipes with lime". That may or may not have been true but it does indicate that water companies do things to the water supply. With the heavy rain and snow we've had over the last few weeks, maybe they are adding extra chlorine/chloramine?

No water conditioner will remove everything. They are all made to remove chlorine. Most of them are made to bind metals. Many are made to detoxify ammonia for 24 hours (useful where the water supplier used chloramine). Many also contain something to 'promote the slime coat' which is not necessary and some of the chemicals used for this are detrimental to fish (eg aloe vera).
Seachem also claims that Prime detoxifies nitrite and nitrate but as they won't say what's in it, we can't tell if that's true or not.
Water conditioners won't remove anything else.

I work on the principle that the less chemicals we add to a tank, the better. Since I don't have chloramine in my tap water I don't need to detoxify ammonia. And my fish can produce their own slime coats.

 

[A Fishkeeper]

You could try phoning the water company. I was once told by a local shop that a lot of their customers has problems if they did a water change on a Saturday as that was the day the water company "flushed the pipes with lime". That may or may not have been true but it does indicate that water companies do things to the water supply. With the heavy rain and snow we've had over the last few weeks, maybe they are adding extra chlorine/chloramine?

No water conditioner will remove everything. They are all made to remove chlorine. Most of them are made to bind metals. Many are made to detoxify ammonia for 24 hours (useful where the water supplier used chloramine). Many also contain something to 'promote the slime coat' which is not necessary and some of the chemicals used for this are detrimental to fish (eg aloe vera).
Seachem also claims that Prime detoxifies nitrite and nitrate but as they won't say what's in it, we can't tell if that's true or not.
Water conditioners won't remove anything else.

I work on the principle that the less chemicals we add to a tank, the better. Since I don't have chloramine in my tap water I don't need to detoxify ammonia. And my fish can produce their own slime coats.

Ok thanks.