Im Cycling With Fish But....

[Just_Another_One]

the ph in my tank is 7.2 . if that helps any and ive never added any other products other than dechlorinater

 

[rdd1952]

Is you tank planted? Plants will consume ammonia so it's possible that the plants are removing it before it can be transformed into nitrite and nitrate. Barring that, I can't imagine what is going on. There are 2 other things I can think of. One is possibly something in your filter such as neolite that is removing the ammonia before it can be processed. And 2 is that your pH is very low and the nitrifying process isn't taking place.

 

[Just_Another_One]

Is you tank planted? Plants will consume ammonia so it's possible that the plants are removing it before it can be transformed into nitrite and nitrate. Barring that, I can't imagine what is going on. There are 2 other things I can think of. One is possibly something in your filter such as neolite that is removing the ammonia before it can be processed. And 2 is that your pH is very low and the nitrifying process isn't taking place.

the ph in my tank is 7.2 is that low???. ive never added any other products other than dechlorinater, no plants and only thing in my filter is those clay bio ball things that came with it and the filter pad. i took the black carbon pack out a while ago.

 

[rdd1952]

The pH is fine. 7.0 is neutral and it would have to be in the very low 6s or even 5s before nitrification stops. I honestly can't think of any reason that the tank isn't cycling. Cycling with fish is always slow but it shouldn't take 3 months.

 

[rsands]

hmm it is weird...is the filter ok and the flow of water isn't reduced in any way? a cycled my first tank with fish (before i learnt lol and it took nowere near 3 months and no fish deaths!

i honestly think not enough ammonia is being fed into the cycle on a constant basis to really get it all going at any pace. by increasing water changes all it is doing is reducing the water readings and removing the ammonia

 

[Just_Another_One]

thanks for all the advice guys, i just need to have a long think about what im going to do.