Stuck on cycling

[Motoceles]

Hello all. I started cycling a new tank which started on 10-16. It’s been over a week and a half and I’m still not detecting nitrites. The ammonia has been up and down between 1-8 ppm which I’m trying to keep at 2-3ppm. Are there other factors that I am not considering?

20g tank, 78-81 degree heat (just turned it up to 81 yesterday). Just tested 15 minutes ago.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Did you use water conditioner to dechlor your tap water?

 

[Motoceles]

Yes I used water conditioner and applied it according to the directions. .5 ml per gallon

 

[Essjay]

Have you used a bacterial starter or mature media from another tank? Last time i did a fishless cycle using ammonia and nothing else, it took 16 days for a trace of nitrite to show up.

What is your pH? And temperature? The bacteria multiply faster at higher pH and temp slightly over 80 deg F.

 

[Rocky998]

You've been stuck like this for a while... What filter are you using? At this point (I know some people in this forum will not agree but you have been at this for a long time now) I'd use bottled bacteria to try and get something going.

 

[Motoceles]

PH is at 7.4 and 81 degrees F.

I would rather see this through rather than adding bacteria with a bottle or established media so I can learn. I do have a cycled working tank now that I bought off some dude that was moving so I basically got a turn-key tank which means I am not in a big hurry to get this new one stocked. On the established tank I've been testing weekly with ammonia and nitrites consistently at zero with 5-30ppm nitrates depending on when I do a water change.

Maybe I should give it another week. Essjay mentioned his took 16 days.

 

[Motoceles]

I might have found the problem. I bought the wrong ammonia. The label says ingredients Ammonia Nitrate but there was a smartlabel so I went to the link and it says:
Water
Ammonia Hydroxide
Tetrasodium EDTA
Sodium C10-16

Two questions:

Am I right that I got the wrong ammonia?
When I get the right ammonia do I need to empty my tank and start with new water?

 

[Essjay]

When ammonia dissolves in water it produces ammonium hydroxide.
Tetra sodium EDTA is in a lot of water conditioners as it binds metals.

Does it say anything after sodium C10 - 16, for example sodium C10 -16 alkylbenene sulphonate or sodium C10 -16 pareth-2 sulphate? Both of those are surfactants (detergents). If it is something like that, it can't be used for cycling as surfactants will kill any bacteria you need to grow.

Edit - Are you in Renton, Scotland? If you are, I would try to get some Dr Tim's Ammonium Chloride from Amazon or eBay as that is safe to use. Go by their instructions for dosing the tank (they say it will give 2 ppm, but that's using a different scale from our test kits)


Edit again - forgot to say that if it does contain surfactant, I'm afraid you will need to empty and refill the tank.

 

[Motoceles]

When ammonia dissolves in water it produces ammonium hydroxide.
Tetra sodium EDTA is in a lot of water conditioners as it binds metals.

Does it say anything after sodium C10 - 16, for example sodium C10 -16 alkylbenene sulphonate or sodium C10 -16 pareth-2 sulphate? Both of those are surfactants (detergents) and will stop the bacteria growing.

I don't know how I missed it but it says on the second and third line Alkybenzenesulfonate surfactant. You know I did the shake test but I think it didn't show bubbles because the bottle was still full. It wasn't until later when the level was lowered that I could see bubbles after shaking.

 

[Essjay]

Are you in Renton, Scotland?

Dr Tim's ammonium chloride is also good if you are in a Renton which is not in Scotland

 

[Motoceles]

Okay. I am not really bummed out I have to empty the tank because at least I know why this isn't cycling. Another learning experience for this old man.

I'm in Renton, Washington, USA. Probably the same gloomy weather system as Renton, Scotland though.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Okay. I am not really bummed out I have to empty the tank because at least I know why this isn't cycling. Another learning experience for this old man.

I'm in Renton, Washington, USA. Probably the same gloomy weather system as Renton, Scotland though.

Get some pure ammonia from Ace Hardware, and start over.

 

[Essjay]

If SlapHppy says that ammonia is good, then get some of that

 

[Rocky998]

Its what I'm using! Been working just fine!

 

[Motoceles]

Will do. Thanks everyone. I'll keep you all updated.