Fishless Cycle, Day 32 - Has It Stalled? Help/advice, Pretty Please&#3

[CherrySparkles]

Hi everyone!

So I'm brand new to this forum and totally made an embarassing newbie mistake already. I posted this topic a little while ago in the "Scientific Section" and then realized that was TOTALLY the wrong spot for it! So I'm re-posting here in the hopes that you guys can help me. Sorry about that!

So here's my situation: I'm currently trying to cycle my Marineland Eclipse 5 corner tank for my little betta, and I'm worried that the cycling process has stalled. I've been using the method described on the NippyFish website (because it's specifically for betta tanks):

http/www.nippyfish.net/nitrogencycle.html

Along with the article by James S. Koga, which I understand to be one of the premiere articles on fishless cycling (correct me if I'm wrong!)

http/www.csupomona.edu/~jskoga/Aquariums/Ammonia.html

I set up the aquarium, rinsing all parts well (NEVER using any kind of soap), then filled the tank with water treated with Seachem Prime. I also added Seachem Stability, but haven't added it since as I have little faith in it. Then I dosed it up to 2 PPM of ammonia using household ammonia (ingredients: water, ammonium hydroxide). Initially I tried waiting for the ammonia to come to zero before adding more, but as you will see in the chart of my results attached below, the ammonia seemed to come down to 1 PPM and then not budge. I then spiked it back to 2PPM and started dosing it every few days with a few drops of ammonia to keep it at 2PPM, and then when nitrites showed up on tests, I cut it down to 1 drop of ammonia per day. The tank quickly brought the ammonia down to 0PPM and has held it there ever since, despite constant dosing of ammonia. So this all seemed good to me so far!

Now the part I'm worried about is the nitrites - they've been reading 1PPM for an awfully long time now with no change! Nitrates are showing, and we got a few test readings showing them decreasing at one point () but that could be an inaccuracy in the test (the test's package warns that it's VERY sensitive and we might not have been precise enough with the mixing times for reagents at each stage)

I turned on the heater at the beginning of the cycle, raising the tank's temperature from the ambient reading of 80F to 88F as recommended by Koga to speed up the development of bacteria. We've tested PH every few days throughout the process and have not seen any severe changes. A few days ago, we put a live PH monitor into the tank to make sure we weren't getting any fluctuations.

Please note in the graph of my progress below that any gaps in data are places where we did not test the specific parameters. Also, please note that our PH test kit used in the beginning (up until day 28) did not show PH values higher than 7.6. So where we got a reading of 7.6 it was at least that value, and possibly higher.

So what do you guys think? Is this stalled, or is this typical and I'm just being impatient? Should I do a water change to try to help things along? (and if so how much, and are there any other special considerations?)

Any input is greatly appreciated, I'm so excited to get my fishy into his new, much improved home! Thank you in advance!

 

[drobbyb]

It takes the second species of bacteria longer to develop. Just give it more time and start testing for nitrates. You should see a gradual increase in them soon.

 

[fatheadminnow]

Agreed^

You need to be patient, and it will come around!

-FHM

 

[waterdrop]

I consider both those articles to be good "earlier feeder articles" that fed into the type of fishless cycling that our own RDD wrote up and the kind we do with beginners here in our many case threads. The process of fishless cycling is not all that picky really and these articles will work ok, I just think what we do here typically has taken it a bit farther in some ways.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[OldMan47]

Your test results look fine to me, Sparkles. The ammonia dropped down nicely in 3 weeks which is almost a textbook cycle. Now you have a small input of ammonia so the nitrites are staying where you can measure them while the nitrates have started to rise. I would guess that you have maybe 2 or 3 weeks to go before the nitrites will drop down to a nice clean zero.

 

[CherrySparkles]

Thank you so much for the info everyone! I'm so glad to hear that the method I'm using is correct so far and that the test results I'm getting are typical. For some reason, I had the idea that the nitrites would drop very very soon (read: a few days) after the ammonia did, and I was getting a bit worried since it hasn't budged in quite some time!

I'll work on my patience for now, and if I don't see any changes in a few weeks, I'll probably be back for more advice.

 

[doresy]

I am at the same stage as you and I can assure you that all is well and to be patient.

This is my 5th cycle so I do know but I also know how frustrating the colour purple is (if you are using API liquid testing! )

 

[drobbyb]

It's been 5 days. Any progress yet?

 

[discus_lover]

your ph is too high...
just check it. and read it...
http/discusfishcaresecrets.blogspot.com/...r-aquarium.html

 

[drobbyb]

A pH of 7.6 is not too high. As a matter of fact, when cycling a tank a high pH is preferred as the nitrifying bacteria develop better.

 

[CherrySparkles]

I am at the same stage as you and I can assure you that all is well and to be patient.

This is my 5th cycle so I do know but I also know how frustrating the colour purple is (if you are using API liquid testing! rolleyes.gif )

HAHA yes, I AM using the API liquid kit and I've never hated purple more!! Thanks so much for your input, I'm so glad to know that my tank's progress seems normal... however slow it may be. Wishing you lots of blue in the near future!

A pH of 7.6 is not too high. As a matter of fact, when cycling a tank a high pH is preferred as the nitrifying bacteria develop better.

This is what I'd read in my research on fishless cycles (and believe me, I did a LOT of Googling!) so I hope it's alright! I've never had a PH dip or crash, which I understood to be worse...

It's been 5 days. Any progress yet?

Nothing yet, unfortunately. I think the PH may have risen ever so slightly from 7.5 to 7.6, but other than that, nothing has budged. The updated progress graph is below (showing off my mad Excel skills by making it pink )

 

[waterdrop]

You don't want to add ammonia more than once each 24 hours, no matter when it drops to zero. That way your nitrite and nitrate levels will not get too extreme during the "nitrite spike" phase. Not sure what your "ammonia adding" habits are...

~~waterdrop~~

 

[CherrySparkles]

You don't want to add ammonia more than once each 24 hours, no matter when it drops to zero. That way your nitrite and nitrate levels will not get too extreme during the "nitrite spike" phase. Not sure what your "ammonia adding" habits are...

Oops, thought I mentioned that - I'm currently adding 1 drop of ammonia per day (in the morning, so once every 24 hours)

When beginning my cycle, I initially spiked the ammonia to 2PPM and then was testing for ammonia every 24 hours and adding ammonia each time I saw the level decrease. When I saw nitrites show up, I cut the amount of ammonia I was adding in half (I was adding a set amount of ammonia every few days to maintain 2PPM, but averaged that amount out to give a daily figure, then divided it in half). So that's where my current 1 drop/day dosing came from. I saw that in quite a few fishless cycle methods that I saw online, so I hope that's correct!

 

[OldMan47]

We will typically recommend a daily ammonia dosing level of 2 to 5 ppm during a cycle and closer to the 5 end once nitrites are processing well. In even a 10 gallon tank, a drop per day will give you 1 ppm or less. For my dosing, when I am on a 10 gallon, I use about 1/4 tsp per day but all ammonia is slightly different concentrations so you need to adjust to the particular ammonia that you have.

 

[CherrySparkles]

We will typically recommend a daily ammonia dosing level of 2 to 5 ppm during a cycle and closer to the 5 end once nitrites are processing well. In even a 10 gallon tank, a drop per day will give you 1 ppm or less. For my dosing, when I am on a 10 gallon, I use about 1/4 tsp per day but all ammonia is slightly different concentrations so you need to adjust to the particular ammonia that you have.

Thank you for your input! But I'm sorry, I'm getting a bit confused - it's kind of an info overload for a newcomer like me! The fishless cycle methods I'd found had either said to decrease ammonia dosing or keep it at the same amount when nitrites showed up. So a third approach is to raise the ammonia dosing when nitrites are being processed? My concern at the moment is that they're not processing much, having never come down to zero since they showed up.

Do you have the method you follow written out anywhere so that I could have a look at all the steps to follow it?

Also, I'm cycling this tank for only one fish to live in - my betta - so given that, does it make sense to only spike the ammonia to 2PPM? (less fish in tank = less ammonia produced/lesser bioload = smaller bacterial colony needed for biofilter?)

So (last question, I promise) do you suggest that I spike the ammonia again to get the nitrites processing?