Cycle Is Stuck?

[attibones]

Okay, so I'm in the process of cycling two aquariums. The six gallon is going along smoothly. Ammonia converts to nitrite within ten hours. This started about five days ago, but I've been adding ammonia daily to feed the bacteria.

However, I'm having problems with my cycling ten gallon. I started cycling this tank about two weeks ago, but the ammonia is stuck on about 4 ppm. I don't understand why it is taking so long. Nitrite is at .5 and I have not tested for nitrate. Water from the tap is 7.4 pH, but I think the pH goes up sometimes from ammonia. I haven't tested the pH in this tank though.

The heater is running at 78 (preset). What can I do to boost the process?

 

[cowboy507]

If you just started two weeks ago, then it will take a while. Unless you use mature media there is now much to speed up this process

 

[attibones]

I was just confused, as the six gallon has already started the nitrite processing phase. I was kind of anticipating the slightly larger one to stay on the same schedule. Thanks for the response.

 

[cowboy507]

That is odd that one is cycling faster than the other, but the larger one should catch up soon. I would keep dosing up to the recommended amount, and you will be fine.

 

[Mamashack]

I'm 2 weeks into cycling a 30L tank and I've recently had an increase in pH to 8.8 or higher and didn't really know why. Had put gravel from mature tank in after a week and that seems to have kick-started the process nicely. A huge water change last night brought it back to 7.4 previously had been running at 7.8
Your temperature may be a bit cool - I'm running mine at 29°C which is about 84°F I've also got a bubble bar running full pelt to help increase the oxygen levels. My nitrItes don't seem to be budging altho I have a nitrAte level of 40-80ppm with a starting point of 5ppm, but as cowboy said it's still early days.
Good luck with yours

 

[attibones]

I think I'll put in one of the controllable heaters, check the pH and the nitrates. If either of those last two are too high, it could stall the process. I wish I could put mature gravel in there, but most of my tanks have sand. The only ones with gravel are the two cycling and we're switching those to sand, too.

 

[Mamashack]

I'm sure it was the mature gravel that started it rolling for me. Do you have someone close by you could pinch some from or maybe even beg at your LFS? EDIT: If you want to be able to take it out later you could put it in new hosiery - got mine in cut off stocking feet (unused previously)
The 85% water change I did last night seems to have had an positive effect - nitrItes this morning down to 0.25-0.5ppm from 1-2ppm 12 hours ago without any further intervention from me. Hopefully when I test it again tonight it will be even lower if not 0! I know I need to keep checking for a few days but have my fingers crossed it's on the way to being fully cycled! Woohoo!

 

[attibones]

My LFS is PetsMart and I don't even buy fish from them anymore. None of the fish they have are healthy, so I'm worried the gravel might have something gross in it too. But I just remembered I have a few bags of gravel in the shed which are from mature tanks. That might work. I'll give it a few more days after the gravel and see if there is any change. If not, I'll do a water change.

 

[Mamashack]

The bacteria on the gravel you have may well be dead unless it has been kept wet and not for long. I think it needs to be fresh from a mature tank to work.