Cycling My First Tank.

[Aliena]

Aliena, the e-mail that you got when you first signed up needs to be used to register you as a full member. It contains a link to follow that lets the forum software know that your address matches the one you used to register. After that you should be able to use personal messaging.

Ok, thanks, I'll have a look for the email.

 

[Aliena]

Well, I haven't been updating the thread daily because there was nothing to tell! I have been stuck at ammonia 2ppm and nitrites 0.5 (possibly a bit higher but not 1) for days.

My temperature is steady at 29*. pH is always around 8. Nitrates always 20 - 40 (haven't tested for a few days as can't see the point if the nitrite isn't moving.

Any idea what I can do (other than mature media which I am still looking for!) to speed things up?

Other half is already getting fed up waiting for fish. He's worse than the kids!

 

[Aliena]

Results for tonight (day 17):

Ammonia 2ppm
Nitrites 0.5ppm
pH 8
Temp 30*

Those have been the results for the last week or so. Nothing is moving

Still asking around for mature media but no luck as yet. I don't mind it taking ages if I just see some movement! I don't want to add amonia until it gets to zero ppm but I'm wondering if I'll still have an empty tank on New Years Eve at this rate!

 

[Aliena]

Results this evening somewhat confusing. For days everything has been stuck at ammoia between 1 and 2 ppm and nitrites 0.5. Haven't tested nitrates for the last few days. Today I got this:

pH 8
Ammonia 1 - 2
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 80.

The only thing I have changed is upping the temp on the heater. The tank is now steady at 31* whereas it was 29* before. Is this too high?

Why is that last bit of ammonia not getting processed and going to zero?
Should I add more ammonia to bring it up to 4ppm again?

Hopefully will have some mature media tomorrow (thanks Kia!) so that should help things along a bit more.

 

[OldMan47]

The temperature seems to be working out just fine for now. the 31 will be too high for most fish but your bacteria seem to like it. The rapid rise in nitrates along with a drop in nitrites is very encouraging. One test result agrees nicely with the other. Do you know the actual temperature of the water or just the setting on the heater? Water at 31 will feel rather warm to the touch but not hot. When you get fish, you will need the water to read closer to 25 rather than 31.

 

[Aliena]

The temperature seems to be working out just fine for now. the 31 will be too high for most fish but your bacteria seem to like it. The rapid rise in nitrates along with a drop in nitrites is very encouraging. One test result agrees nicely with the other. Do you know the actual temperature of the water or just the setting on the heater? Water at 31 will feel rather warm to the touch but not hot. When you get fish, you will need the water to read closer to 25 rather than 31.

31 is the actual temperature. I have one of the glass thermometers in the tank, the stick on one I got with the set up seemed pretty useless so I bought a better one. Think the heater is set to 28 or something but I tend to ignore that as it seems way off.

I'll see what happens to the ammonia today, hopefully that will have dropped too!

 

[waterdrop]

Do you know what day of fishless cycling you are on?

 

[Aliena]

Today, 21 Sept, is day 23.

I haven't updated the test results every day because for well over a week it didn't move. I added some mature media yesterday which justkia kindly brought round for me so I am hoping that things will speed up now. I will update the original post with todays results in a second.

I'm a bit confused about the Nitrate as the 40 and 80 colours are so similar. Really hoping that the ammonia will drop by tomorrow.

 

[waterdrop]

Hope your MM from JustKia begins to help some!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Aliena]

Just added todays results. Must be obsessed, I am off work sick and dragged myself downstairs at my usual time to test the water!

Anyway, it seems wierd to me. The bacteria seemed to be doing well, brought the ammonia down from 4+ to 2ppm. Nitrites started appearing but didn't get very high (I read people saying their nitrites go off the scale before they get the nitrates going up). Nitrites have now dropped to zero and nitrates gone up a little.

Am I worrying unecessarily? Have the ammonia eating bacteria (sorry, can't remember proper name, too ill ) stopped doing whatever they do?

Maybe I'm being too impatient?

 

[waterdrop]

Yeah, the whole reason that all the threads and handholding are good is because every case is a bit different. They all seem a bit out of whack with each other but eventually, if you are patient enough, they mostly all seem to get there in the end! Just keep posting up test results (one line per day in edited into the first post seems to work pretty well.)

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Aliena]

Still the same today.

 

[waterdrop]

Well, hopefully things are just going slow for your tank and there's nothing actually wrong per se. Your pH and other stats look ok. I just looked back through all your threads since you joined and couldn't find any discussion of your filter or the media in it. Perhaps you could detail that to us just because I can't think of anything more intelligent than that to be looking at...

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Aliena]

Ok, didn't update for a few days even though I tested because nothing changed and I was feeling pretty fed up with it. As I said in my amended post at the top I added a little more ammonia (up to 4ppm) the other day just to see if that would kick start it. Was suggested by someone and I couldn't see it doing any harm as it is definitely not as high as 8ppm.

Right, tank is an Elite 60. The filter is Fluval 2 plus. I put in the foam and polyester filter pads but not the carbon as many people on here said carbon is not good. Last Sunday (20/09/09) I added some mature media kindly supplied by Justkia. By that time cycle had already stalled and unfortunately the media doesn't seem to have solved the problem (thanks for the media though Kia, it's still in there and I'm hoping the bacteria are just asleep!)

I am using Aqua One water conditioner - states on the bottle that it removes chlorine, chloramine and heavy metals found in tap water. I did originally use the tiny bottle of conditioner that came with the set up which was a nutrafin one. And early on I put in the tiny bottle of nutrafin cycle because the impression I got on here was that although it probably wouldn't do much good, it wouldn't do any harm.

In the tank is gravel from the LFS designed for aquariums, a couple of ornaments (specifically designed for fish tanks so I can't see that they are causing any problems) some plastic plants again from LFS, heater, filter and a glass thermometer. And my daughters invisible, imaginary fish got to smile about something!

I have kept the tank at around 29 - 30 degrees most of the last 29 days (it did go up to 31 for a couple of days) and the pH has been 7.8 - 8ish al the way through.

I am actually seriously considering giving up and dismantling the tank. I cannot see where I am going wrong at all and it seems like nobody else can either.

If anyone can make any suggestions I would be very appreciative as my kids will be very upset if I give up but at the moment this is just becoming a stress.

 

[yasinullah]

ah it does feel super long the whole cycling process, are u about 2 weeks in now? normally u should have been able to drop right down from 5ppm --> 0ppm ammonia by now. But you have seen some drop so far which is promising, shouldnt be long now for ammonia to be processed much quicker. You have to stick with it, you can't give up now!!!!! Which ammonia are you using also?

also i have the fluval u2 which has some ceramic-like media also, does the 2plus also have this? or is it just the white sponges? I kept my carbon ones in as they are attached to the filter floss pad so couldnt separate it.

the temp and pH are fine, I also kept my tank at 30-31 for a week or so, didnt do any harm in my case.