Fishless Cycle Just Not Happening...

[philak]

Bought a Fluval 125 tank two weeks ago. Added gravel and plants and left it with filter on , lit for 10 hours a day. Added bogwood and more plants after the first week. First tested for Ammonia with an API master kit at the same time and the level was roughly 0.25. PH was 8.

Up to this point i hadn't been adding any Ammonia so anything present was either tapwater or one of the plants that decayed, now removed. On day 7 i bought some Boots household Ammonia and added a first dose of 6cc at @9.5%, giving 5ppm at a estimated volume of 110 litres . The next day an aquarium shop owner also donated some supposedly mature media which i added to the filter so i expected the ammonia to clear within 48 hours max.

4 days later and its still reading 4-8 ppm ammonia. There has been no visible change to the colouration of the test sample. I've added dechlorinator from the start.

From all the cycles i've read about on here the ammonia starts to reduce around day 7 or 8, even without donated media.

Any thoughts ?Should i just sit back , wait and keep testing? I'm now into day 11 with no sign of any bacteria developing.

Cheers

 

[waterdrop]

No, what you're experiencing is quite common. It often takes two or 3 weeks for the ammonia to drop to zero from your first dosing of 5ppm concentration. Even though some people luck into the right conditions to have it happen faster, you should not assume this will happen necessarily in your tank. Its completely random, how many "starter" bacteria have slipped through in your tap water and/or how many bacteria happen to successfully transfer over from a mature media seeding. Don't be discouraged, just hang in there and keep testing and being ready to add ammonia on your "24-hour mark" if the ammonia gets down to zero ppm.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[philak]

Ok , i'll be patient and stick to the regime. Thanks for the encouragement.

Phil