Fishless Cycle Not Working

[waterdrop]

Agree that the Ace janitorial is the right stuff. I trust OM if he's used it and I've gone to my local Ace Hardware and confirmed that it doesn't foam when shaken and appears in every way to be just fine.

Three weeks with no sign of a drop is among the longest we see and is definately very frustrating. I agree with OM though that nothing you have indicated would seem to be a problem. You may just happen to have a water system that is unusually clean of the two species we need.

Just to have something to do, I agree with Robby that you may as well go ahead with some bicarb. Just get some common kitchen baking soda (make sure its not baking powder as sometimes that has extra ingredients we may not want.) I'd try 4 teaspoons in your particular tank size and see how much that raises the pH.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[kchung]

Can I immediately begin to test the pH or will I have to wait a while after adding the baking soda?

 

[kchung]

Can I immediately begin to test the pH or will I have to wait a while after adding the baking soda?

edit...I tested the pH prior to adding the baking soda...a reading of 6.0...this decreased by 0.8ppm (started at 6.8 when establishing the tank)

after adding about 4tps of baking soda, I now have a reading of 7.6ppm...hopefully this will start the cycle?

fyi, the tank has been running for a little over 4 weeks now.

 

[waterdrop]

Keep testing pH every day now and if it just sits on 7.6 then put one or two more teaspoons in and see if you can get it higher. The bacteria like 8.0 to 8.4 but the baking soda can't always raise it up that high and you don't want to overdo putting it in.

Raising the pH is no guarantee that you will start to see results, its just another piece of the puzzle and can't hurt.

Let's review now, we're trying to get the pH up toward the ideal 8.0 to 8.4, temperature should be at 84F/29C (its been there, right?), the filter should have good sponges or ceramic gravel or other biomedia and be on all the time with good flow, there should be good surface movement to ensure good oxygen exchange from the air to the water.

Do you happen to have any aquarium plant fertilizer that lists Iron in the ingredients? It can help to put a dose of that in just in case your water is devoid of iron. Normally, tap water has plenty of calcium and iron for the needs of bacteria, but since we're grabbing at straws here, that's another obscure thing to do.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[kchung]

So I picked up a bottle of Cycle this weekend and dumped in about half the bottle. I tested for Nitrites today and can see that there is about 0.25ppm. Dare I say (after over a month and the purchase of bottled "bacteria") that the cycle is starting to work?!

 

[waterdrop]

There are nitrites and nitrates in the bottle. Also, at 20 days, you should be starting to be able to measure some results from A-Bac colony growth (ie. nitrite.) Remember, a lot of fishless cycles finish in the 70 day range, so often you can picture each of the 3 phases take somewhere around 20 days. WD

 

[kchung]

There are nitrites and nitrates in the bottle. Also, at 20 days, you should be starting to be able to measure some results from A-Bac colony growth (ie. nitrite.) Remember, a lot of fishless cycles finish in the 70 day range, so often you can picture each of the 3 phases take somewhere around 20 days. WD

Yesterday's nitrite = 0.25ppm, Today's nitrie = 0.5ppm...is this an indicator that bacteria has started to grow and is beginning to convert some of the ammonia?

How will I know definitively if the cycle has begun?

 

[FishyWishie]

The most obvious indicator is when your ammonia readings start to drop. I also added cycle at the start of my cycling process and i now wish i hadn't as WD correctly states cycle had both nitrites and nitrates in the bottle which makes it hard to tell later if the readings you are getting for both nitrites/nitrates are as a result of your filter processing ammonia or merely traces left over from the cycle.

When your ammonia starts to drop this means the bacteria in your filter are converting it firstly into nitrites (poisonous to fishies) and then on into nitrates.

 

[kchung]

I'm at a loss, what should i do next?

 

[Tolak]

If you are starting to see nitrite you are converting ammonia, which means your nitrifying bacteria are starting to grow. Keep an eye on the ammonia level, and add as needed.