Fishless Cycle is stalled. Is this normal?

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beatlesfan317

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My fishless cycle is stalled and I just need to know if this is normal or if I need to do something?

I know patience is the hardest part of cycling a tank. I'm 3 weeks into fishless cycling this tank and since day 4 (17 days ago) the ammonia hasn't budged, while everything else has stayed identical too. Days 4-21 Ammonia 1.5, NitrItes 0, NitrAtes 0, PH 7.6, all identical readings for the last 17 days. 10 gallon tank, steady PH, steady 78 temp, no real plants, using Ace hardware janitoral Ammonia (have not added any since day 2), also added some fish flake food on day 1 to start the cycle, double sponge filter, used API Quickstart at the beginning, and on day 10, been using SeaChem Stability for the past 3 days.

Any advice? Thanks.
 
I am thinking you might need to up the ammonia to around 3, you may not have enough in the tank for the cycle to get a good start.
 
Don't add fish food that just creates a mess. Add some beneficial bacteria or old filter media if you have another aquarium that will speed up the process. If you didn't add any startup bacteria and not using live plants your cycle could take up to 2 months. Since you have no live plants there is nothing to absorb the ammonia, you need to wait for algae growth. But try adding some beneficial bacteria that will jump start the cycle!
 
Don't add fish food that just creates a mess. Add some beneficial bacteria or old filter media if you have another aquarium that will speed up the process. If you didn't add any startup bacteria and not using live plants your cycle could take up to 2 months. Since you have no live plants there is nothing to absorb the ammonia, you need to wait for algae growth. But try adding some beneficial bacteria that will jump start the cycle!
I don't plan on adding fish. I have added API Quickstart the first week and Seachem Stability (both brands of beneficial bacteria) for the past couple days. I just don't know why the ammonia dropped in the first 4 days and hasn't gone down any in the past 17 days. Everything I read about fishless cycling says you should see a drop in ammonia and the first presence of nitrites in 7-14 days but after 3 weeks I haven't seen either yet.
 
If you have another tank and can use some media from it that could help (filter cartridge, gravel, ornaments). Otherwise, I had really great luck with Tetra Safe Start Plus. I was doing fishless cycling with ammonia and 1) lost patience and 2) needed to get the tank cycled and ready for fish as the tank was a birthday present for my daughter. Had it not been for #2 I would have just sucked it up and continued waiting. The Tetra Safe Start had the tank fully cycled in about 4 days. I did a 50% water change once it got ammonia down to 0 and added fish.
 
For what it's worth I've heard that Tetra Safe Start and the product from Dr. Tim's are the only two that have the live bacteria in the bottle. I think the other brands are dormant? I could be fuddling the science or terminology but repeatedly saw the Dr. Tim's and Tetra bacteria in a bottle products recommended. the API Quickstart may not be as effective at kick starting the nitrates- just a thought.
 
It normally takes about 4-6 weeks for a tank to cycle but can take longer.

Drain the tank and refill it with dechlorinated water. Make sure the new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Increase the water temperature to 28-30C (84-86F) while it is cycling. The warmer water will speed up the growth of the bacteria.

Increase aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise oxygen levels in the water.

While 1.5ppm of ammonia won't affect the cycling process, having 3ppm of ammonia will cause more bacteria to develop in the filter and there will be less chance of an ammonia spike when you first added fish. Keep the ammonia level under 5ppm otherwise the cycling process can stall.

You can add a liquid filter bacteria supplement, which usually helps speed things up. I recommend adding a double dose every day for a week and then pouring the rest of the bottle into the tank. Try to add the filter bacteria supplement near the filter intake so the bacteria get drawn into the filter where they belong.
 
3 ppm was chosen for the method on here as it will grow more than enough bacteria to support a sensibly stocked tank of fish. Less than this will grow bacteria but probably not enough to support a tankful of fish.
 

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