Cycle Is Not Working... Getting Annoyed! :(

[fish nutter]

Hi everyone,

I am having difficulties with my 55 gal / 250 liter Aquarium. I am in mid process of cycling my tank and after 4 weeks of daily testing my nitrites have stayed at 0 ppm. i am doing a fish in cycle (yes i know i should do a fish-less cycle, but i cannot so don't ask ) my tank has 10 rummy-nose tetras atm and my ammonia is being kept under .25 ppm

any help is very much appreciated,
Thanks

 

[shelaghfishface]

is your test kit a good,reliable one?

maybe you could return the fish to the shop and start over fishless ?

i know, not what you wanna hear

 

[Bebobb]

Not sure. How long have you been doing the cycle? Maybe it just needs more time? Remember, patience is the key in fish keeping.

 

[minxfishy]

With the ammonia not getting particularly high, which is good with fish in obviously, it will take longer for the bacteria to grow, hence why no nitrIte reading yet. It will come. Do you know your ph?

 

[waterdrop]

Agree with minx, I saw your other thread and it sounds like you're doing a good job. FHM gave you a lot of good help. In a Fish-In cycle if you are changing a lot of water it can sometimes be very hard to catch a glimpse of the nitrite traces that give you feedback that all is going well, leaving you to stress about whether it will ever get cycled. If you just have patience though it will eventually happen. The key is to test for ammonia and nitrite twice a day with a good test kit and just keep refining your gravel-cleaning-water-change schedule such that you keep both toxins never going above 0.25ppm, if you see them.

The test for the end of a Fish-In cycle is whether you can go for two days without seeing a trace of either ammonia or nitrite(NO2) and you haven't done any water changes. If you pass -that- test then you can go ahead and see if you can repeat that for a week and if you pass -that- then you can have lots of confidence that you are cycled and won't see mini-cycles when you next make a small addition to your stocking. We often see the cycling process take a little over two months for people although it varies wildly among different individual circumstances!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[tom130691]

higher temps speed things up aswell my fish in cycle took 2weeks with 2 praecox rainbows at 27-28 degrees
lots of flow and a cheap small extra foam filter in the tank

 

[fish nutter]

With the ammonia not getting particularly high, which is good with fish in obviously, it will take longer for the bacteria to grow, hence why no nitrIte reading yet. It will come. Do you know your ph?

yes my ph is 7.0

 

[fish nutter]

Agree with minx, I saw your other thread and it sounds like you're doing a good job. FHM gave you a lot of good help. In a Fish-In cycle if you are changing a lot of water it can sometimes be very hard to catch a glimpse of the nitrite traces that give you feedback that all is going well, leaving you to stress about whether it will ever get cycled. If you just have patience though it will eventually happen. The key is to test for ammonia and nitrite twice a day with a good test kit and just keep refining your gravel-cleaning-water-change schedule such that you keep both toxins never going above 0.25ppm, if you see them.

The test for the end of a Fish-In cycle is whether you can go for two days without seeing a trace of either ammonia or nitrite(NO2) and you haven't done any water changes. If you pass -that- test then you can go ahead and see if you can repeat that for a week and if you pass -that- then you can have lots of confidence that you are cycled and won't see mini-cycles when you next make a small addition to your stocking. We often see the cycling process take a little over two months for people although it varies wildly among different individual circumstances!

~~waterdrop~~

Yes the only problem is that with the 4 weeks i have been doing my water changes i have only done 3 because ammonia is the only one that has been showing, i test the water once a day for ammonia and nitrites... I am using an API test kit

Not sure. How long have you been doing the cycle? Maybe it just needs more time? Remember, patience is the key in fish keeping.

4 weeks

is your test kit a good,reliable one?

maybe you could return the fish to the shop and start over fishless ?

i know, not what you wanna hear

i can't return the fish they said no

 

[fish nutter]

I do have plants.... is that why i have been seeing no nitrites?

 

[fatheadminnow]

I do have plants.... is that why i have been seeing no nitrites?

Plants will use ammonia as a source of nutrients, and with such a small stocking in such a large tank, ammonia is not going to build up as fast; hence the reason why you have only done 3 water changes in 4 weeks. If you add more fish (no recommended) your ammonia would un doubtfully go up a lot faster, but that would mean more frequent, larger water changes.

I will almost venture to guess that you may never really see a nitrite spike in your tank with your current stocking. If ammonia goes up as slow as you say it does, then nitrite will go up probably even slower due to all the water changes, and such a large amount of time given to the bacteria (the ones that process nitrite) to process nitrite into nitrate.

Give it time, hang in there and keep on the water changes it will come around.

What kind of filter do you have? (Some people try to fishless cycle without a filter, and wonder months later why they are still having ammonia problems).

-FHM

 

[fish nutter]

I do have plants.... is that why i have been seeing no nitrites?

Plants will use ammonia as a source of nutrients, and with such a small stocking in such a large tank, ammonia is not going to build up as fast; hence the reason why you have only done 3 water changes in 4 weeks. If you add more fish (no recommended) your ammonia would un doubtfully go up a lot faster, but that would mean more frequent, larger water changes.

I will almost venture to guess that you may never really see a nitrite spike in your tank with your current stocking. If ammonia goes up as slow as you say it does, then nitrite will go up probably even slower due to all the water changes, and such a large amount of time given to the bacteria (the ones that process nitrite) to process nitrite into nitrate.

Give it time, hang in there and keep on the water changes it will come around.

What kind of filter do you have? (Some people try to fishless cycle without a filter, and wonder months later why they are still having ammonia problems).

-FHM

Well that summed it up cheers... about the filter, apparently i bought the best it is an Eheim pro 3 2073 (i did a lot of research believe me

oh and should i get some more fish? and all this brown algae is growing on my plant leaves... is it because of less frequent water changes? or long exposure to light?

thanks

 

[fatheadminnow]

The algae is most likely due to the fluctuations in ammonia. When your tank is cycled, and your ammonia stabilized, the algae should go away.

-FHM

 

[fish nutter]

The algae is most likely due to the fluctuations in ammonia. When your tank is cycled, and your ammonia stabilized, the algae should go away.

-FHM

oh well i guess all i have to do is wait and not do anything (apart from water changes )

 

[fatheadminnow]

Yup, water changes...

-FHM

 

[fish nutter]

I have read on some other posts that you need oxygen for the bacteria? i have 2 air stones but have been to lazy to turn on because thought it is just for look...

Thoughts?