Stalled Cycle?

[kimberly]

I started a fishless cycle using Goldex brand pure ammonia on December 15th (6 weeks ago, tomorrow). I added enough ammonia to maintain a level of 4.9ppm the first week. I tested the ammonia every day after that and it showed a reading of 4.9ppm each time. I have not added ammonia in 5 weeks, yet it has remained at 4.9 ppm. The Nitrite level has shown a reading of 0.3 for 5 weeks as well. Am I doing something wrong? The aquarium is a 10 gallon, running a Fluval 1 plus filter, it has silk plants, driftwood, gravel and a heater set to the mid-high 80s. This setup is for my Betta who is currently housed in a half gallon Marine Betta Pals Aquarium.

 

[backtotropical]

Hi Kimberly and to the forum! Good to have you on board.

It sound like your cycle hasn't even started although you seem to be doing everything correct. What are the ingredients of the ammonia you're using?

Maybe you could have a read of the pinned fishless cycling thread (a link to which is in my signature below) to see if you can maybe identify if you're doing anything wrong?

 

[kimberly]

Hi Kimberly and to the forum! Good to have you on board.

It sound like your cycle hasn't even started although you seem to be doing everything correct. What are the ingredients of the ammonia you're using?

Maybe you could have a read of the pinned fishless cycling thread (a link to which is in my signature below) to see if you can maybe identify if you're doing anything wrong?

Thank you.

There are no ingredients listed. I googled the ammonia brand before using it and I found posts of other people who have used it to cycle their tanks. It is suppose to be pure. No foam when I shake it.

I have been doing the "Add and Wait Method" and according to the article in your signature I have done everything the way I was suppose to.

My ph is 6.8 (which I forgot to mention) and from what I read that should be ok. Any ideas as to what is happening?

 

[rdd1952]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

Sorry to hear you have had no success. I guess I need to add a line in the fishless cycling thread about what to do if nothing has happened after the first week or so. I would do a 100% water change and see if that get ou going again. Also, since this is only going to house a betta, I would only raise the ammonia to about 1 to 2 ppm. A betta won't produce a lot of waste so you don't need a massive bacteria colony. I know you probably did before but make sure to add dechlor.

 

[kimberly]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

Sorry to hear you have had no success. I guess I need to add a line in the fishless cycling thread about what to do if nothing has happened after the first week or so. I would do a 100% water change and see if that get ou going again. Also, since this is only going to house a betta, I would only raise the ammonia to about 1 to 2 ppm. A betta won't produce a lot of waste so you don't need a massive bacteria colony. I know you probably did before but make sure to add dechlor.

Thanks.

Yes I did add conditioner to the water.

The 10 gallon is for the Betta, though I do plan on adding an Apple Snail and possibly some Cory Cats or other compatible tank mates at some point.

If I do a 100% water change does that mean I will have to continue cycling for another 4-6 weeks?!


Edit:

I did a 100% water change. I dechlorinated the water before adding it into the aquarium. I've begun to add ammonia and will test in an hour. I'm about to start pulling my hair out.

On the plus side, I got rid of those unsightly tannins from the water. I boiled that driftwood several times for hours beforing adding it into the aquarium, and I let it soak in a bucket for a week and it's STILL leeching.

 

[Obsidian]

It is possible to have too much ammonia in a tank for the good bacteria to come in. I would try aiming for closer to 3 ppm and see if that helps. Honestly you don't need anymore than 1-2ppm to be successful. I believe using larger doses helps it go a little faster as long as its not too much and stalling things. I don't think your amount would stall, but its the only thing I can think of. Hope that helps.

Also with how stalled it has been I would not be surprised at all if when it goes it goes quick. My first tank took 8 weeks to cycle and it stalled for the first 6.5 of those weeks. When the nitrite finally rose it only spiked for 2 days before it leveled off and then disappeared. So I seriously doubt it will take another 5-6 weeks! This taught me my first most important lesson with fish keeping- patience!

 

[rdd1952]

It definitely shouldn't take 4 to 6 weeks. If you don't see the ammonia dropping and nitrie rising in about 2 or 3 days, then something is wrong.

 

[SUDDS]

I think I may be having the same problem. I have NO idea what to do...

I have a 5.5 gallon tank with a Duetto 50 filter. It has gravel, silk plants and a rock structure I made (all aquarium safe rocks). The heater is a Hydor Theo that is set to 80ºF. The tank is going to house a betta. My pH is unfortunately 8.0. But it's constant. So I don't know how it could really hurt anything.

I started the fishless cycling process on January 9th. My ammonia was labeled Clear Ammonia. It was the only non dyed ammonia I have found that didn't foam/fizz/bubble when I shook it. There was one odd thing about it though, it's from Walgreens and the ingrediants DID say "Dye and Perfume". I found this to be IMPOSSIBLE because:
1) It's CLEAR.... not tinted, not blue, not yellow. It looks like water.
2) It smells like cat urine... if that's what they consider "perfume"... they've got to be out of their mind.
3) Like I said, it did't foam/fizz/bubble... not even a little bit.

I'm hoping this was just a labeling error. I mean, it was Walgreens brand. They had a lemon scented one as well, that DID foam when I shook it. Maybe they just put the same sort of label on both of them.

The only place I didn't think to check until AFTER the whole fact was Ace Hardware. I checked all of our other hardware stores and all they had was lemon scented

Anyways, I initially added about 5ppm of ammonia to the tank. The only big change I have seen in the past almost 4 weeks is the Nitrite has risen to 2ppm and the Ammonia has gone down to 2ppm. Those results have been that way for maybe a week and a half. I'm getting really frustrated. When the Nitrite rose, it wasn't a spike... like it took 2 week or so to get there.

Also, about 2 days after I started the cycle I put Bio-Spira into the tank. I don't think it helped. I may have gotten a dud bag. It was refrigerated when I bought it... but who knows.

People on another forum said to just wait it out, that my tank is indeed cycling. But it's taken so long.

Should I do a water change? Or should I just leave it be still. Should go and find new ammonia?

Sorry.... I sorta of hijacked this topic... but I didn't see the sense in starting a new topic.

 

[kimberly]

It definitely shouldn't take 4 to 6 weeks. If you don't see the ammonia dropping and nitrie rising in about 2 or 3 days, then something is wrong.

My ammonia kit is made by Nutrafin. There are 6 readings which you compare with a color chart. The readings are as follows 0, 0.6, 1.2, 2.4, 4.9 and 7.3. I wanted to get the level up to 2.4ppm.

Here is what I did since the 100% water change. I added 35 drops of ammonia on February 1st. Checked the level sometime later and it was around 1.2ppm. On February 2nd it tested the same, so I added 10 drops. I waited a couple of hours and tested but there appeared to be no change. On February 3rd it was still 1.2ppm, so I added 10 more drops. It seemed to raise the level to somewhere between 2.4-4.9. It's hard to tell because the colors are so close. Now, it has remained at this level for 4 days and the nitrite has risen to 0.1 ppm. Should I start over and add less ammonia? Say 35 drops, and nothing more? or should I continue to wait? The nitrite is barely traceable and it's been 4 days.

 

[rdd1952]

Since you're only cycling for a betta, I would do a water change and cut the amount of ammonia you are adding. There's really no reason to add more than what it takes to raise the level to about 1 ppm. A single betta won't produce that much waste in a day's time. Add the ammonia, and wait until it drops all the way back to near 0 before adding a little more back. Turn the heat up to the upper 80s or low 90s. The higher the better.

 

[kimberly]

I think I may be having the same problem. I have NO idea what to do...

I have a 5.5 gallon tank with a Duetto 50 filter. It has gravel, silk plants and a rock structure I made (all aquarium safe rocks). The heater is a Hydor Theo that is set to 80ºF. The tank is going to house a betta. My pH is unfortunately 8.0. But it's constant. So I don't know how it could really hurt anything.

I started the fishless cycling process on January 9th. My ammonia was labeled Clear Ammonia. It was the only non dyed ammonia I have found that didn't foam/fizz/bubble when I shook it. There was one odd thing about it though, it's from Walgreens and the ingrediants DID say "Dye and Perfume". I found this to be IMPOSSIBLE because:
1) It's CLEAR.... not tinted, not blue, not yellow. It looks like water.
2) It smells like cat urine... if that's what they consider "perfume"... they've got to be out of their mind.
3) Like I said, it did't foam/fizz/bubble... not even a little bit.

I'm hoping this was just a labeling error. I mean, it was Walgreens brand. They had a lemon scented one as well, that DID foam when I shook it. Maybe they just put the same sort of label on both of them.

The only place I didn't think to check until AFTER the whole fact was Ace Hardware. I checked all of our other hardware stores and all they had was lemon scented

Anyways, I initially added about 5ppm of ammonia to the tank. The only big change I have seen in the past almost 4 weeks is the Nitrite has risen to 2ppm and the Ammonia has gone down to 2ppm. Those results have been that way for maybe a week and a half. I'm getting really frustrated. When the Nitrite rose, it wasn't a spike... like it took 2 week or so to get there.

Also, about 2 days after I started the cycle I put Bio-Spira into the tank. I don't think it helped. I may have gotten a dud bag. It was refrigerated when I bought it... but who knows.

People on another forum said to just wait it out, that my tank is indeed cycling. But it's taken so long.

Should I do a water change? Or should I just leave it be still. Should go and find new ammonia?

Sorry.... I sorta of hijacked this topic... but I didn't see the sense in starting a new topic.

The ingredients would not list dyes or perfumes if it was pure ammonia. Also, the foam isn't caused by either of those. Even though it appears clear and doesn't have a pleasant odor, I wouldn't risk it.

Since you're only cycling for a betta, I would do a water change and cut the amount of ammonia you are adding. There's really no reason to add more than what it takes to raise the level to about 1 ppm. A single betta won't produce that much waste in a day's time. Add the ammonia, and wait until it drops all the way back to near 0 before adding a little more back. Turn the heat up to the upper 80s or low 90s. The higher the better.

Thanks. I'll try that and let you all know how it goes.

 

[kimberly]

Here's an update:

I did a water change and added enough ammonia to reach 1.2ppm on February 7th. Which was one week and two days ago. I've been testing almost daily and the ammonia has remained at 1.2ppm. The nitrites appear to be at 0. The ph is 6.8. The temperature is in the high 80s.

I don't understand. I mean, the ammonia should have gone down by now, right?