Cycling Going Sloooooooooow

[doubledee]

Hi all,

I added enough 9.5% ammonia to make 6ppm to my 180l aquarium 10 days ago, it only started to drop significantly yesterday and it's now at a steady 2ppm. Is this normal? The tank is at 27deg C and has several plants inc some fast growers, which have been in for about 5 days. Before putting the plants in it was at 29-30 deg C. Obviously there's nothing I can do to speed this up but I've read others have dropped to 0 after less than 7 days, so I'm puzzled. Nitrites are still at 0.

 

[Puffdaddy]

The nitrogen cycle has no set time period on how long it takes. It varies greatly from person to person. The cycle can reasonably take between 3-4 days up to a few weeks (I recently cycled a tank that took 15 days). You can do 25% water change today and then it must run its course (don't forget your "new water" treatment). Don't fret your on the right track it should'nt be to much longer now. When the ammonia and nitrite both reach 0, then you can ad fish.

Good Luck

By the way what are thinking of putting in the tank? Just curious.

 

[bobross]

Sometimes patience is the only thing that help. Just hang in there. It took my 20g like almost a month for my nitrites to spike. Other than adding ammonia daily, I tried forgetting that I had that aquarium just so I wouldn't mess with it anymore than I had to during that time. You'll be happy once the wait is over

 

[edgun88]

how big is your tank? My 55 gallon took 3 months to completely cycle. Just keep adding ammonia, lots of it. And be patient, youll be fine.

 

[celaeno]

how big is your tank? My 55 gallon took 3 months to completely cycle.

 

[doubledee]

.......By the way what are thinking of putting in the tank? Just curious.

shoal of small tetras as first fish (probably black neons)
shoal of rummy nosed tetras
pair (or trio) of appistogrammas sp. (not decided which ones yet)
small plec (looking for suggestions for an active fish that doesn't always hide!?)
6-8 Corys (sterbai or adolfoi)

 

[doubledee]

how big is your tank? My 55 gallon took 3 months to completely cycle. Just keep adding ammonia, lots of it. And be patient, youll be fine.

It's 180l which is 47.5 us gallons/39.5 imperial gallons. OMG, 3 months!

 

[mark.w.jones]

Having plants in there actually slows things down a bit as they absorb nitrates and other nutrients from you water. I would say keep testing your water on a daily basis. If your ammonia doesn't drop within a week consider raising the level back up to 5ppm again and seeing what happens then. The temperature is also a little low. Ideally you should be at about 30 degrees celcius for your fishless cycle.

 

[doubledee]

Having plants in there actually slows things down a bit as they absorb nitrates and other nutrients from you water. I would say keep testing your water on a daily basis. If your ammonia doesn't drop within a week consider raising the level back up to 5ppm again and seeing what happens then. The temperature is also a little low. Ideally you should be at about 30 degrees celcius for your fishless cycle.

Thanks for the replies guys. The max temp for the majority of my plants is 28 deg C IIRC, so would turning the temp up to 30 deg C cause any problems for the plants. I don't want them melting on me (I aint very green fingered as it is)!!!!!

 

[edgun88]

how big is your tank? My 55 gallon took 3 months to completely cycle. Just keep adding ammonia, lots of it. And be patient, youll be fine.

It's 180l which is 47.5 us gallons/39.5 imperial gallons. OMG, 3 months!

yea i forgot to add in that i did wrong....I was too busy to take care of it so i didnt get it complete until 3 months dwn the road

 

[doubledee]

Tested this morning and ammonia has dropped to 1.0 and the nitrites are now at 0.8. I will add some more ammonia later! At least it looks like something is actually happening now!!!!! I'm using an API test for the Ammonia and a Tetra test for the nitrites. I stupidly bought a Laborett but didn't check what it contained. It doesn't have ammonia or nitrates, so it's actual usefullness as a complete testing kit is debateable. I presumed that, as a master test kit, it would have everything I needed. That will teach me. Never mind, I'll go for an API test kit (cheaper as well!!!! ) next time.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Having plants in there actually slows things down a bit as they absorb nitrates and other nutrients from you water. I would say keep testing your water on a daily basis. If your ammonia doesn't drop within a week consider raising the level back up to 5ppm again and seeing what happens then. The temperature is also a little low. Ideally you should be at about 30 degrees celcius for your fishless cycle.

yup, plants actually really prefer to absorb ammonia so they do inhibit cycling a bit. it obviously depends how many plants you have weather this will cause a problem.

 

[doubledee]

My ammonia is currently dropping after about 18 hours or so. The nitrites are still sky high. I have been testing for nitrates, the other day they were about 10. I though this was low but attributed it to the large number of plants in the tank. The following day they were back to 0. This didn't concern me as I thought the plants were naturally processing the nitrates too. I visited a nearby aquatic centre and picked up a small bottle of stress zyme. I added a dose (about 25ml) and today the nitrates are at 80! I don't know whether that's down to the stress zyme or if it would have happened anyway. The tank has been at 30 deg since my last post and I am now starting to get some brown algae. Again, I'm not bothered, I will maybe add some more plants and I plan to get some zebra ottos and shrimp once the tank is stable.

The problem is, I've been called away to work next Tuesday so I might not be able to finish this damn cycle and may have to start the whole thing off again. Bearing in mind, the nitrites have been steady for more or less 9 days or so now and that's the nitrates now appearing. Any idea how close I am to finishing this cycle as I would hate to have to go through this waiting game all over again?! !

 

[rdd1952]

How long will you be gone? You could always use fish flakes to keep the cycle going. They will decay and create ammonia but it wll be slower than simply pouring ammonia in. If you will be gone for a week or so, you could get an automatic feeder to keep the flakes in on a daily basis or just get someone to come over and add the ammonia or flakes.

The nitrates definitely shouldn't be dropping, regardless of the plants. When I cycled my 75 gallon, I put an enormous number of plants in as I had read that the best way to start a planted tank was to fill it with tons of stem plants. My nitrate rose continually and my cylce completed in about 3 weeks. The plants did so well, I ended up having to remove a bunch of them and moved to other tanks.

I also noticed that you said you wanted to get neons as your first fish. After your cycle is completed, you should add at least 75% of your fish. If you only add a small number, your bacteria colony will begin to die off and you may experience mini-cycles when you get more.

 

[doubledee]

Thanks for the reply. I'm not sure how long I will be gone for but I know someone with an autofeeder so I'll borrow that. I take it, it's just a case of adding a few flakes per day? Tank is 180l if that helps.

As for the stocking, I've had conflicting information, some folks say you should fully stock after a fishless cycle, others say 75% and some say you should start off with 6 or so fish and build up the stocking slowly. I can see why you would add 75-100% as the ammonia levels that are added during the cycle are artificially high. The trouble is, I'm hoping to add rummy nosed tetras, ottos and dwarf cichlids and I've been told to leave these until the tank is mature. I suppose I could just add some fish I don't want and hand them back but it does seem a strange thing to do!

Cheers.