Cycle Has Not Completed In 3 Months, Please Help

[Z123Killer]

I have a 29 gallon tank which has not cycled in over 3 months. Here is the run down of what happened, maybe someone could help:

DAY 1: Setup the tank and added water

Day 5: Added TSS+ and ammonia to 1ppm and kept on dosing the ammonia back up to 1ppm whenever it got to .25

Day 60: Ammonia wouldn't get lower than .25, so a member suggested that I get a very small part of my stocking because the ammonia and the bacteria and just not working, and to also get Stability and Prime as well to keep the ammonia from rising too high. (I purchased 3 Platies, Stability, and Prime)

Day 70: Ran through the whole bottle of Stability and still getting the same results and not cycled.
Results:
Ammonia: .25-.5
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5

Day 71: Got 3 guppies to add to the tank.

Day 90 (Current day): Still have been dosing Prime and Stability everyday, results are:
Ammonia: A little more than .25
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10

Note*: Tap water has .25 ammonia

What is happening? I used two different brands of bacteria, followed cycling directions but I am still not cycled. When will I finish cycling?

 

[april_fish]

What filter do you have? Maybe you could try letting the tank run for a little bit without adding any products so the ammonia can convert into nitrite, then nitrate.

 

[Byron]

I would suggest that your tank is cycled. Nitrite at 0 and nitrate now at 10 ppm suggest this to me, since the nitrate is from within the aquarium and not in the tap water (I'm assuming you would have mentioned if it was, and it has gone from 5 to 10 now).

As for the ammonia, it is from the tap water. Using a conditioner that detoxifies ammonia at water changes is OK, though if your pH is below 7 I wouldn't do this. In acidic water ammonia changes to ammonium which is basically harmless, but the bacteria (and live plants) will take up ammonium and ammonia. I would stop the Stability.

As for Prime, do not use this every day; this is a water conditioner that should only be used for the volume of fresh water added during the water change, not at other times. It is only increasing the chemicals and all this gets inside the fish. I know it detoxifies ammonia, by changing it into ammonium; but this reverses after 36-48 hours (unless in acidic water). Also, test kits read ammonia/ammonium as "ammonia," so don't worry about that. And, ammonia at 0.25 is very minimal, and it may not even be that much. Our kits are not exactly scientific.

Byron.

 

[Z123Killer]

I would suggest that your tank is cycled. Nitrite at 0 and nitrate now at 10 ppm suggest this to me, since the nitrate is from within the aquarium and not in the tap water (I'm assuming you would have mentioned if it was, and it has gone from 5 to 10 now).

As for the ammonia, it is from the tap water. Using a conditioner that detoxifies ammonia at water changes is OK, though if your pH is below 7 I wouldn't do this. In acidic water ammonia changes to ammonium which is basically harmless, but the bacteria (and live plants) will take up ammonium and ammonia. I would stop the Stability.

As for Prime, do not use this every day; this is a water conditioner that should only be used for the volume of fresh water added during the water change, not at other times. It is only increasing the chemicals and all this gets inside the fish. I know it detoxifies ammonia, by changing it into ammonium; but this reverses after 36-48 hours (unless in acidic water). Also, test kits read ammonia/ammonium as "ammonia," so don't worry about that. And, ammonia at 0.25 is very minimal, and it may not even be that much. Our kits are not exactly scientific.

Byron.

Sorry forgot to mention but I do have 5 Nitrate in tap, I did a 50% water change the day before yesterday which brought the Nitrate back down to 5, and today it rose back up to 10.
Also, you are right that the ammonia is from the water, but wouldn't it be gone after more than a week, mine is not going below .25 at all?
My pH is 7.6+ just so you know

 

[Z123Killer]

What filter do you have? Maybe you could try letting the tank run for a little bit without adding any products so the ammonia can convert into nitrite, then nitrate.

I have an Aqueon Quietflow 75, but if I let the tank run for a while without adding any chemicals to detoxify the ammonia, wouldn't that be harmful for the fish?

 

[Byron]

I still think the tank has cycled, given the nitrate results. As for the ammonia, we have had other threads like this, where ammonia stays (permanently) at 0.25, with no explanation. So long as it does not increase, I still wouldn't worry. Nitrite is zero (and must remain zero), and nitrate is appearing within the aquarium.

You might consider some live plants;p these take up ammonia/ammonium as their preferred source of nitrogen. Floating plants do this fastest, and are the easiest to cultivate. With floating plants you would never have ammonia problems.l

Which test kit? Has it expired? The colour cards can sometimes be difficult to decipher; read them in daylight but not direct sunlight. Light is composed of colour wavelengths, and all artificial light differs so it will distort some colours. Daylight that is bright but not direct sunlight is the most reliable.

Byron.

 

[Z123Killer]

I still think the tank has cycled, given the nitrate results. As for the ammonia, we have had other threads like this, where ammonia stays (permanently) at 0.25, with no explanation. So long as it does not increase, I still wouldn't worry. Nitrite is zero (and must remain zero), and nitrate is appearing within the aquarium.

You might consider some live plants;p these take up ammonia/ammonium as their preferred source of nitrogen. Floating plants do this fastest, and are the easiest to cultivate. With floating plants you would never have ammonia problems.l

Which test kit? Has it expired? The colour cards can sometimes be difficult to decipher; read them in daylight but not direct sunlight. Light is composed of colour wavelengths, and all artificial light differs so it will distort some colours. Daylight that is bright but not direct sunlight is the most reliable.

Byron.

The test kit is the Api master test kit and the expiry date is in2021.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I think it is cycled as well. The 0.25ppm reading could be a false reading. Have you tested and checked under natural light?

 

[Z123Killer]

I think it is cycled as well. The 0.25ppm reading could be a false reading. Have you tested and checked under natural light?

I did check under different lights and all show a reading of .25.