Cycling A New Tank

[tommo2]

Hi, im about a week into my fishless cycle. I added enough ammonia to get 4ppm. Nitrite is at 0
A week on and nothing has changed.
Do i really need to get filter media from an established tank??? I live about 1 hours drive from my nearest fs, and am afraid the bacteria will be dead by the time i get home.
Is it necessary to introduce bacteria to get the cycle started, or will it just take longer if i dont use anything???

Thanks

 

[dwarfgourami]

It is not necessary. I cycled my first 2 tanks without adding any; they took 10 days and 14 days respectively. But most cycles seem to take slightly longer than this. Have you checked out the pinned topic on members willing to donate media? Might be someone nearer to you. If not, I'd still go for the lfs stuff. There will still be living bacteria on it after an hour if you keep it nice and wet.

 

[tommo2]

Just checked ammonia and nitrite

Amm 4ppm
Nitrite 0

STILL no bacteria, ill add some stress zyme tomorrow if theres still no change.

8 days now
Tank is 120 gal
Temp 32C 90F