Cycle Not Working/happening

fish12 · Feb 10, 2012

same old story as all my other post about cycling my tank 5 days has been ammonia0 nitrite 0 nitrate0. And My theroy is when i changed the water i added Prime and i totally forgot that prime REMOVES AMMONIA that i need to cycle my tank i know it says it makes it non toxic to fish but wont it mislead my readings??

so do i need to do at least half tank water change and then not put prime in it

and use this other stuff i have that removes chlorine and chiloramine but doesnt remove the ammonia?

thanks hopefully i can get this problem solved and post of some pics of my tank!!

N0body Of The Goat · Feb 10, 2012

Prime temporarily locks ammonia for 24 hours into a form far less toxic to fish, but it can still be used by the vital bacteria. You should definitely be adding a dechlorinator of some sort to new tap water, otherwise the chlorine will kill off the bacteria, Prime is a perfect economical choice for the job.

It sounds like you are fishless cycling, but what are you using to dose the tank to 4ppm of ammonia daily? Your initial post sounds like you have simply set the tank up and left it to spontaneously grow a bacteria colony.

fish12 · Feb 10, 2012

i just keep adding a couple pinches of fish flakes (it hasnt got anywhere near 4ppm), As i dont no where to get pure ammonia in brisbane so im doing it the long way, Is there any kind of product that can hurry this up avaible in queensland? ive being told use "cycle" http

/www.epinions....rium_Supplement in my other post people have been saying buy ammonia but what the hell does it look like? is it avaible world wide? but i just wanted to see what everyone else's idea is.

i am going to a family members house tomorrow and he owns fish tanks so could it be possible to get some of his gravel and a couple of his bio balls to speed this up

if i do get some will i be seening my ammonia peak then drop then nitrite ect ect or what will happen?

thank you

Rummynose · Feb 10, 2012

If your family member could give you 1/3 of his filter media (bio balls) you will have an instantly cycled tank and you can right away add 1/3 amount of the amount of fish he has in his tank. In fact it would be crucial to the survival of the bacteria on the bio balls that you add fish right away so the bacteria have a food source since your fish will produce the needed ammonia. :good:

It won't harm his tank to give 1/3 of his media. You don't need his gravel, the bacteria in the gravel is minimal (unless of course you want more gravel, lol). When you bring the media home make sure it is kept wet (some of his tank water would be super, if you guys use tap water make sure it is dechlorinated), if the bio balls are allowed to dry out the bacteria will die!

After that you can add 2-3 fishes to get the stocking you want in your tank. You may see a minicycle after each addtion to your tank so keep an eye on your parameters!

Good luck :hyper: