Cycling Not Working!

[emdgz4]

Hi I'm new here and have a female betta whose tank I'm trying to do a fishless cycle.

I am going on my 3rd week of cycling my 3 gallon tank, and so far I STILL don't have any nitrite readings. What gives? I have a stocking full of used gravel in there, a small potted plant, an in-tank whisper filter with added ceramic rings thrown in, and I keep the temperature in the upper 80's using a heating pad (since I don't have a spare aquarium heater).

I use Top Fin dechlorinator to get rid of the chlorine, and I am using pure ammonia. Originally I added enough ammonia to have it read about 5 ppm, but someone told me that was too high (though on the website I read that was how much to add). So I did a few water changes to get the ammonia down to about 2 ppm.

Oh, and in the off chance that it actually helps, I'm adding Stabilty by Seachem for several days.

Why does it seem like there is no bacteria eating anything? I would have thought I'd see at least SOME nitrites by now!! Especially since I added so much seeded material from the gravel and plant. GRRRRRRRR.........can someone please help? thanks

 

[rhostog]

Hi - welcome to the forum and sorry you're having such a difficult time!

Just a suggestion until someone more knowledgeable can help: have you checked your ammonia and nitrate readings (for a drop in the ammonia and an increase in the nitrate)? As you've added some media, it's not impossible to cycle without seeing a nitrite spike.
Also have you checked the pH? It can do weird things during the cycle and if it gets too high or too low, that can make the cycle stall.

Hope things improve for you soon.

 

[emdgz4]

Hi and thanks for the welcome!

I've tested my ammonia/nitrite almost twice a day every day these past few weeks (kinda anxious, I guess!) The ammonia never changes and the nitrites never show up. It shows I don't have any nitrates either, although I accidently messed up nitrate testing the other day. I never shook the bottle for 30 seconds like it says to do before using, and so I wonder if I messed up the whole bottle after that b/c the formula is mixed incorrectly.

The ph of the water is around 7.5.

I just cant figure out why the ammonia stays the same. Shouldn't it be decreasing after all this time?

 

[steve_b21]

When i setup my tank for a fishles cycle... it took a age for the ammonia to start processing..... about 6/7 weeks i recall.

I had added it to 5ppm.

My tank was in a wall though, so dimmensions are different to normal, and it had much less surface area so less air.

 

[backtotropical]

Hi Emdgz4 and to TFF,

Which ammonia are you using? Some bottles have additives in them like surfactants, dyes and soaps. These can mess up the cycle. Does the bottle list the ingredients?

Cheers

BTT

 

[locust267]

Yes the type of ammonia is important, it shouldn't smell soapy or fizz up.

I suggest you do a 100% water change and then recharge the ammonia to 2-3ppm.

It sounds as though your cycle has stalled.

Sometimes adding 5ppm is too much (as it was in my case) for the filter to handle although it remains the reccommended dose. However if you have suffered a stall it is best to do a large water change (use dechlor water) and recharge a smaller dose of ammonia.

You will not be starting from scratch because some bacteria would of already colonised in the filter.

My other points are that very little bacteria are present in gravel and ornaments etc - Your best bet would be to find some biological or sponge media from a mature tank.

Also I wouldn't use the stabilizer if it claims to add bacteria, most are useless containing dead bacteria and this may do more harm than good. The only products you should be putting in the tank at this stage are dechlor and anything to feed the plants etc.

Vicki

 

[emdgz4]

The ammonia bottle doesn't list ingredients, but it says "clear ammonia" and when i shake it it doens't bubble or smell soapy.

I will go ahead and do the 100% water change. I cant figure out why my cycle has stalled like this, but I guess it could be from that bacteria-in-a-bottle stuff....

Thanks for all the great advice!

 

[locust267]

It's more than likely through adding too much ammonia - It's easily done.

It happended to me but the 100% W/C sorted it out but it might take a few days to settle.

Keep us posted

 

[emdgz4]

I did the 100% water change and added enough ammonia to have it read a little over 4 ppm. Do you think that is still too much? I wonder if my small filter cant handle that much ammonia. I am using a Whisper 3i and all it came with was the biobag, but that seemed more for mechanical filtration rather than biological. So I added ceramic rings, but i wonder if I should completely replace the biobag and put foam in there instead so there is more room for bacteria growth.

Wish me luck

I really wanted to get this tank cycled before taking it with me to college, but since I leave in 4 days I doubt it will be ready by then!!!

 

[locust267]

Sounds like you have a good mix of biological and mechanical media in there so I'd just leave it be now.

Let the cycle settle for a few days and you should see the ammonia drop, 4ppm should be fine but if it happens again try less next time etc.

What happens in 4 days when you go away are you moving the tank or someone else looking after it?

Vicki

 

[emdgz4]

So the ceramic rings will provide enough biological filtration? I only put *a few* in there since there is not much room, which is why I was going to replace the whole thing. But i guess if I do that, i will lose any bacteria (however little) that is already in my filter.

I'm going to take the tank with me so it can cycle, but I'm leaving my betta (who is temporarily in a clear storage bin!) at home where my mom will feed her and change the water. When the tank is done cycling, my mom will bring her to my dorm.

I purposely started the cycling 3 weeks ago so that it'd be done by the time I leave and make it a lot easier to move in, but that didn't happen..........

 

[Loony Fish]

just forget fishless... i would say go buy some cheap feeder gold fish and cycle it. the betta probably could too...

 

[Miss Wiggle]

hi there, sorry you're having trouble

sometimes cycles do take a couple of weeks to get off the ground, sometimes they just don't start at all.

there's a bit of debate over where our bacteria actually comes from in the first place, the general theory is that it's present in the water supply in minute quantities and then when you put the water into a tank give it a filter to live in and a food source from the ammonia or fish it will then start to grow and the colony will develop.

now the actual amount of bacteria present in our tap water is unknown and will more than likely fluctuate, it does seem sometimes like someones done everything right for the cycle but no bacteria has grown, it could just be that there wasn't any there in the first place so nothing to start off the colony.

i don't know the correct quantities or ratio's but if you imagine that you have something like 5 bacteria in every 50 gallons of water, you can see how if you took a fairly small sample (like the 3 gallons you took for your tank) that it might not actually contain any bacteria to start off with.

the treatment for this is pretty simple, you do the water change that you're already planning and hope that the next lot of water is better.

now i've no proof that this is what's happened, but it's definately plauisble and over the years there's been a few cases of non-starting cycles and this has been the best explanation we've been able to come up with.

 

[locust267]

So the ceramic rings will provide enough biological filtration? I only put *a few* in there since there is not much room, which is why I was going to replace the whole thing. But i guess if I do that, i will lose any bacteria (however little) that is already in my filter.

I'm going to take the tank with me so it can cycle, but I'm leaving my betta (who is temporarily in a clear storage bin!) at home where my mom will feed her and change the water. When the tank is done cycling, my mom will bring her to my dorm.

I purposely started the cycling 3 weeks ago so that it'd be done by the time I leave and make it a lot easier to move in, but that didn't happen..........

You can try and find a new filter that will hold more but for a 3gallon I'm not sure what the max size would be. As long as you have both sponge and a few ceramic rings in there is should be ok. If you do decide to get a new filter move across all of the current media it will help to colonise the bacteria in the new media and you wont lose much if moved quickly and it doesn't dry out.

just forget fishless... i would say go buy some cheap feeder gold fish and cycle it. the betta probably could too...

I hope you are joking? Noone should actually encourage a fish in cycle - Some people have their reasons to do so but that's personal preference.

Keep going with the cycle it will pay off. If you do a fish in cycle you will be doing loads of water changes. Fish in cycling is much harder and dangerous in a smaller tank as there is less room for error and the ammonia and nitrite build up much quicker as no room to disperse. Also gold fish grow massive so definately not a good idea

 

[tyyrlym]

So the ceramic rings will provide enough biological filtration? I only put *a few* in there since there is not much room, which is why I was going to replace the whole thing. But i guess if I do that, i will lose any bacteria (however little) that is already in my filter.

I'm going to take the tank with me so it can cycle, but I'm leaving my betta (who is temporarily in a clear storage bin!) at home where my mom will feed her and change the water. When the tank is done cycling, my mom will bring her to my dorm.

I purposely started the cycling 3 weeks ago so that it'd be done by the time I leave and make it a lot easier to move in, but that didn't happen..........

The ceramic rings are certainly a spot the bacteria can colonize but they are hardly the only place they will. They'll settle into the sponge in your filter, the gravel on the bottom and even on the plants. The rings provide a good "home base" for the bacteria. Somewhere that you don't fuss with, the fish doesn't fuss with, they can just eat and do their thing. I wouldn't replace anything in the filter because the odds are good its got nothing to do with the tank not cycling.