Beginning To Think My Tank Will Never Cycle =[

[xamy_valox]

Hi there,
I have posted a few times on here about my tank which is causing my endless stress and anxiety!!
I have had it running for just over 2 months now doing a fish-in cycle (had I known I could do it without fish, I would have =[) and ever since I have had the tank running my ammonia levels have been ridiculous. I tested today and they are currently at 4, I am doing water changes of around 30% every other day at the moment to try and cut them down. With ammonia this high (and not seeming to be coming down no matter what I do) will it take forever for my tank to finally cycle itself?
Thanks, Amy.

 

[Fantail_John]

I know how you are feeling as it's hard to keep on top of things, but only a learner myself and did a fish in cycle i was changing water up to 50 - 80 % a day for a month and just last week the levels are down with 0 ammonia 10 nitrates and Nitrite 0. so done a big 80 % change today. Even i still get confused about it.

Hope someone will give you a guided hand soon what sort of fish do you have and size, and hope your putting declorinator in every water change if not it will kill off the beneficial bacteria. And don't wash out your filter media with tap water use old water from tank or over clean your tank (gravel as some bacteria lives in that too), but you might of read this before.

John

 

[waterdrop]

Hi Amy,

I did not realize your levels had stayed so bad! Any time the level of either nitrite or ammonia is found to have gone up beyond 0.25ppm, particular if you discover 0.50 or higher, you need to take immediate emergency action and have the water change be as large as you can make it, still giving the fish an inch or two to move around in above the substrate. Usually this makes the water change be in the range of 75 to 80% or so. It needs to be done with good technique, adding conditioner and roughly temperature-matching the return water.

Looking back at each of your previous threads in the freshwater beginners section here, I believe I have tried to describe this basic fish-in cycling technique in each thread. If there is something too technical or that seems wrong just let me know and I can try to break it down further. Perhaps there's something missing that you've not been able to carry out these kinds of water changes?

~~waterdrop~~

 

[xamy_valox]

Hiya,
Sorry Waterdrop I know I am a nightmare!!
I have read over those posts more than you can imagine and as far as I can see I am doing everything right! I am using Stress Coat when I do a water change to get rid of the chlorine in the fresh water that I am adding.
I phoned my local fish shop today as when I fed my fish this morning, my fighter seemed a bit under the weather and wasnt moving hardly at all, which is out of character for him, however, he does seem to be back to normal now, so what that was I dont know. However, when I described my problems to him, he advised me to NOT clean my tank at all whilst it is cycling?! He said all I should do is take the algae off the tank and not actually do any water changes...howewever I don't think I will stick with this advice as I don't feel it will help get my levels down!
Today I had to get some of the food out that I had given the fish as they didnt seem to bothered about eating, so I dont know if Im maybe slightly over feeding them and the food is rotting and adding to my ammonia.
I am going to do a very large water change tomorrow I think and start recording my test results so I can get some feedback and see whats happening.
I'm not going to clean my filter media as I think this will make things worse as the tank is still in cycle.
John_Fantail, I have 4 guppies and a Betta in there at the moment, touch wood, other than my fighter this morning, they all seem to be ok, though I am aware the ammonia will be affecting them =[
Thanks again,
Amy.

 

[waterdrop]

I do not understand how anyone with experience can give advice like that.

An ammonia test reading of 4.0ppm is bordering on a death sentence to most tropical fish. In fact, readings of 0.50ppm and higher of either ammonia or nitrite(NO2) are a clear trump card for large water changes over any other aquarium activity regardless of whether it is thought to be some sort of necessary thing for fish or bacteria. We have many, many other experienced aquarists here on TFF who I expect would back me up on that and who have loads more experience than me.

While its true that its better to not disturb a FILTER during the cycling process, its an entirely different thing with the water and substrate. The fish need to be kept healthy and that means YOU are performing the biological filtration function and your main tool is getting the nitrites(NO2) and nitrates(NO3) that tend to hang in the gravel... OUT, and the ammonia which is in the water column... OUT, by gravel-cleaning-siphoning water out. The fresh replacement water that you've treated to remove chlorine/chloramines and temperature matched will have fresh oxygen for the bacteria and will quickly have fresh tiny amounts of ammonia for them because ammonia comes off the fish gills as they respire! The cycle will continue beautifully! This is what a fish-in cycle is all about.

Now I will have a minor say about Stress Coat. This was my "conditioner of choice" for many of my former years in the hobby and I was always happy with it and started out using it again in my second hobby beginning here on TFF. Part way through my cycle a number of the experienced members recommended that I give Prime a try because they had found it particularly helpful during cycles. I did switch and it did seem to make an immediate improvement in my cycle and ever since then I've been recommending it for the beginner period and other TFF members have joined me in this. I feel Prime (its very concentrated so when you consider its cost in a comparative manner you have to calculate both breands out on a per gallon basis) is really the best thing for beginners to use for the first year and a half. (After that they can compare with various concentrated pond dechlor products if they want to continue searching for something cheaper, but many find Prime just continues to work for them.)

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Gilli]

I know it seems like forever but it will come good eventually! I had a similar problem a while ago whereby my external filter died and even though I transferred all my old filter media over to the new filter it went into a mini cycle which took 7 weeks to cycle properly - and thats with mature media in the filter and a mature tank!

I think your main problem was that you were not doing enough water changes to bring the ammonia right down so its kept rising. While your ammonia levels are that high you need to do an 80% water change every single day, and cut right back on your feeding - dont feed for a week while they are that high. Dont touch your filter at all but give your gravel a really good vac and take everything out (ornaments etc) to get any poo or uneaten food out, then give a light vac every day you do the water change. Plenty of live plants will also help speed up the process.