New tank cycling questions

[junyor]

Hi There:
I need light in this matter with my aquarium, I started a fishless cycle in my 36g tank in Oct. 30, I started with 4.0 PPM Ammonia using Dr. Tim, today I'm still at 4.0 ppm in Ammonia, here's what I have:

1. 36g Tank, with chiller, air stones, 50g filter (aqueon), all the decoration
2. I added Dr. Tim Ammonia to 4.0 ppm to start cycle, since day 1 I'm at 4.0 ppm
3. 2 days ago I added Micro lift nite-out II bacteria to jump start the cycling process
4. Right now my tank water is cloudy (since last friday) and is still at 4.0 ppm (maybe bacterial bloom)
5. Since I live in the Caribbean my chiller was first set up to 76 degrees F, now I have it in 81 degrees to see if bacteria likes it better.

My question is, I did wrong adding Micro lift? I know cycling a tank can take some time, am I in the right path? do I keep adding micro lift?

Thanks

 

[seangee]

Hi and

Are you sure your ammonia is only 4ppm? If it is too high that can stall the cycle process. The additional bacteria additives should not have done any harm but may not be worth using in your case. Bacteria supplements can be killed if they are not correctly shipped or stored (this includes getting too hot). As it was probably shipped from the US mainland I would not be surprised if it is worthless. Not suggesting there is anything wrong with US products , but there is no way of telling how long it was left standing in port or customs or if it was kept refrigerated.

I would change 25% of the water. This should drop you ammonia to 3ppm. If it doesn't keep diluting until it is 3ppm. Cycling can take longer in some tanks than others so at this stage I would say just be patient.

I assume you already found it but just in case here is an easy guide Cycling Your New Fresh Water Tank: Read This First!

 

[junyor]

Hi and

Are you sure your ammonia is only 4ppm? If it is too high that can stall the cycle process. The additional bacteria additives should not have done any harm but may not be worth using in your case. Bacteria supplements can be killed if they are not correctly shipped or stored (this includes getting too hot). As it was probably shipped from the US mainland I would not be surprised if it is worthless. Not suggesting there is anything wrong with US products , but there is no way of telling how long it was left standing in port or customs or if it was kept refrigerated.

I would change 25% of the water. This should drop you ammonia to 3ppm. If it doesn't keep diluting until it is 3ppm. Cycling can take longer in some tanks than others so at this stage I would say just be patient.

I assume you already found it but just in case here is an easy guide Cycling Your New Fresh Water Tank: Read This First!

Thanks for the advise. I was thinking making a water change to drop the ammonia.

 

[junyor]

Hi:
I did the WC last Friday and dropped the Ammonia to 2.0ppm, as of today the ammonia is still at 2.0 with no Nitrite or Nitrate presence, also the cloudiness is still there and is very very cloudy.

Thanks

 

[junyor]

I forgot to mention, I did a 25 WC

 

[excaliber]

4 ppm of ammonia during the fishless cycle is way to high IMHO. We try to start in the 1.25-1.5 ppm range max and it still can take up to 2 weeks for the ammonia levels to drop. The last two tanks we did the fishless cycle on were 75 gal and one took about 2 1/2 weeks to complete the cycle. The other tank with the same conditions but less plants took close to 4 weeks before it was ready for fish.
I see allot of times that people start with excessive Ammonia levels that are too high then try to add bacteria to try to speed it up. I think it's better to start the cycle properly and have patience to let the bacteria do it's thing naturally.

 

[Deanasue]

I agree. 2ppm of ammonia is all you need. Do a big water change again (50 - 75%). If ammonia is above 2ppm then let it ride and see what happens.

 

[essjay]

Have you read the method on here? You can still use it with a bacterial supplement. The idea behind this method is that, if followed to the letter, nitrite can never get high enough to stall the cycle unlike other methods on other websites.

Cycling Your New Fresh Water Tank: Read This First!

Cycling Your First Fresh Water Tank What is Cycling and Why is it Important? Fish waste, and especially fish breathing, plus uneaten food and other organic matter breaking down in a tank all produce Ammonia. This can quickly become toxic to fish if it is allowed to build up to any...

www.fishforums.net

 

[Deanasue]

Have you read the method on here? You can still use it with a bacterial supplement. The idea behind this method is that, if followed to the letter, nitrite can never get high enough to stall the cycle unlike other methods on other websites.

Cycling Your New Fresh Water Tank: Read This First!

Cycling Your First Fresh Water Tank What is Cycling and Why is it Important? Fish waste, and especially fish breathing, plus uneaten food and other organic matter breaking down in a tank all produce Ammonia. This can quickly become toxic to fish if it is allowed to build up to any...

www.fishforums.net

That’s the referral I gave OP above.

 

[essjay]

The method on here says to use 3 ppm ammonia