Serious Fishless Cycle Help Please

[baz2126]

Hi people if joined this forum to try and find some guidance I'm on another forum but no one seems to help. My problem is this I've recently set up my 130 litre tank added R/O water, set the temperature at around 28 degree's for bacteria to grow quicker etc. I'm using jeyes kleen off multi-purpose ammonia as my ammonia source. I've used an ammonia calculator to find how much I needed to add and for 3ppm it stated I should add 4ml I did this tested the water and according to my test kit(jbl testlab) it's still <0,05 and a yellow colour I'm aiming for a blueish/greenish colour for 3ppm I've added 20ml so far and still not getting any change in the colour and I can't understand why all help is very much appreciated. Thanks

 

[Mamashack]

Sorry no-one's answered before now, but it's a glorious day here in the UK and I guess everyone's making the most of it while they can!
Have never used JBL ones, but check they're in date. They may need a good shake in the bottle to get them mixed properly. 
What is the tank size and did you check the strength of ammonia on the calculator is correct? Kleenoff is 9.5% which I believe is the default setting on the calc, but just as well to check.
Other than that I'm not sure what to suggest.
I hope someone else with more cycling experience can offer more suggestions!

 

[TwoTankAmin]

You can not cycle a tank using ro water. It has no KH. KH in a tank refers to carbonates and these are essential for the bacteria. They also hold pH steady. Using ro water you would crash your pH if you get any nirtification going at all. You need to remineralize 100% ro water.
 
Why can you not use your tap?

 

[baz2126]

I think you have found my problem I've just wasted £30 on R/O water and I tested my tap water and it already has between 20-30 nitrates ppm not sure if this is good enough???

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Unless we are adding stuff from an established tank or a commercial bacterial product, we don't give much thought about from where the initial bacteria in our tank comes. The starter bacteria for a tank basically has to come in with the water. In almost any tap water some small amount of bacteria and bits of bio-film can find its way into a tank. With ro water this is not likely.
 
While the bacteria can survive in mildly damp conditions, some which may seem dry to us, it doesn't float around in the air. It also doesn't form spores rather it reproduces by dividing. So there are no spores floating around in the air either.

 

[baz2126]

Ok so 2moro when I change my water to tap water should I write down all the parameters of that water such as ph,KH,Gh,is this it???

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Fill a glass with tap water. test it for pH and KH in 24 hours. You can test for whatever else you want right away.

 

[baz2126]

Ok thank you I will post results 2moro and if you don't mind giving me advice on the results it would be really appreciated you have been a massive help.

 

[baz2126]

Hi ppl here's my results of my tap water nh4-0 No2-0 No3-15-30 my ph is around 7.5 and when I do the KH test it should go from blue to yellow but ends up going like a iron-bru colour help please
And yet again I've put it 9ml of ammonia even though the calculator said 4.5ml for my tank and it's still yellow reading <0,05 I don't understand this.

 

[baz2126]

JUST AN UPDATE MANAGED TO SORT OUT KH TEST AND ITS COMING OUT AT 7 IF THIS SOUNDS RIGHT I HAD TO PUT IN 7 DROPS TO TURN WATER FROM BLUE TO YELLOW BUT MY AMMONIA TEST STILL YELLOW

 

[daizeUK]

If your Kleenoff is in date then I would trust the calculator and not your test kit.  It's a really bad idea to keep adding more ammonia in the hope of getting a reading; too much ammonia will kill your bacteria and stall your cycle before it starts.  According to the calculator you've added 6ppm which is likely to cause you problems.
 
Which fish are you planning to keep?  It's normal to have some nitrates in your tap water, they can fluctuate seasonally according to fertiliser run-off etc.

 

[baz2126]

Hi thank you for replying I added the right amount on the first day and going off my chart for testing it was saying it was really low I mean the colours on the chart range from yellow then through greens until u get to blue which I'm aiming for it doesn't seem to be changing from the first colour. How can I be certain to trust the calculator when I haven't seen the ammonia rise at all. And I plan on keeping guppies, corys, glowlights and a fighter but it's really depressing me because that's looking a long way away with how this is going

 

[Mamashack]

It may be that your tests are failing for whatever reason. Double check them with another source. I'd be tempted to take a sample to your local fish shop for them to test to see what they get.

 

[baz2126]

It may be that your tests are failing for whatever reason. Double check them with another source. I'd be tempted to take a sample to your local fish shop for them to test to see what they get.

I will do this first thing in the morning it's either the test kits or the ammonia I'm using but I've read jeyes kleen off has good results. Can I ask when I first put in the tap water I added prime to dechlorinate my water would this have an effect and I also have a bottle of easy life profito (not added to tank yet) for my plants will this effect the cycle when I finally add it?

 

[Mamashack]

I've never used Prime but I have a feeling it may be one of those that removes ammonia which may be where it's disappearing to.
Just checked and it does removes chlorine chloramine and ammonia!!
http/www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/Prime.html
Looks like you'll have to get a dechlorinator that doesn't do that - I use Tetra AquaSafe which doesn't claim to remove ammonia so it probably doesn't.

On the upside at least you know that Prime does what it says on the tin!! lol