Tank Won't Cycle

[mantella]

Here is my tank.

Tank: standard 10 gallon
Filter: Aqueon Quietflow 10 (100gph HOB) with a phat chunk of acoustic foam (8x4x3 inches, maybe 30-50 ppi) on the intake
Substrate: Coarse sand mixed with some "natural" aquarium gravel (sand collected from local lake)
Light: Finnex Planted+ LED (impulse buy...)
Plants: 85% Elodea plus other unidentified plants (all collected from a local lake)
Decor: leaf litter and some small stones (collected from local lake)

Water:
Ammonia: 0.25 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 0 ppm
pH: 8.4 (!)
kH: ~ 4 degrees (70 ppm)
gH: 4-5 degrees (70-90 ppm)

Tap water (siting for a few days):
Ammonia: 0.25 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 0 ppm
pH: 8.0
kH: ~2 degrees (35 ppm)
gH: ~3 degrees (55 ppm

The tank has been set up for about a month now and I've seen no progress on the nitrogen cycle. I haven't seen it deviate from 0.25-0.5 ppm NH3 in weeks. The nitrite and nitrate have been 0 ppm. A few days ago I decided that the tank needed more surface area and I went out and bought some acoustic packing foam to stick on the intake. The material that it's made out of should be similar to the stuff sold by swiss tropicals (polyether based). The reason I thought this was it seemed like the HOB filter that came with the tank (a free craigslist find) only had one whimpy cartridge with a bit of filter floss and some activated carbon. Could that have been the reason for the slow-to-nonexistent cycle, and do you think the filter foam will help? The leaf litter (along with some algae tablets and a few plants, unfortunately) have been decaying well, such that there is almost a problem of excess organic detritus in the water column. As such I feel like there should be plenty of ammonia producing waste in the tank, but I haven't seen a rise in the amount of ammonia either. What are your thoughts?

 

[attibones]

Well you need to add an ammonia source first. Some bits of plant matter and an algae water are not going to tart a cycle as that really is not much ammonia production at all.

The foam on the intake is probably unnecessary too. Why did you need to baffle the intake? I would think that adding that into the filter would be the best way. At this point you are risking preventing water to go into your filter.

What do you plan to have in this tank? The amount of ammonia you'll need is rather dependent on your stocking list.

What is the temp, by the way?

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I would not use acoustic foam- why would it be fish safe in terms of any chemicals etc. that may be involved?. And an intake filter should be closer to 10 ppi than what you have. Here foam maker who makes both aquatic and accoustic foams, this is what they say re the ones for fish- http/www.foamconversion.com/mainpages/filtration_foams.asp
 
I use prefilters in a lot of filters and none are anywhere near the size you have. Here is a typical prefilter foam on an Aqualear intake

 
Plants use ammonia as well as bacteria- to cycle a tank one must add a decent source of ammonia and hopefully in a measured controlled manner.
 
Lastly, what precautions did you take to insure the stuff you took from the wild did not introduce wild pathogens to the tank?

 

[mantella]

Sounds like I need to pick up some ammonia from a local hardware store.
 
The foam is not the prefilter, but the entire filter. The HOB is so thin that I would be able to fit only the thinest of foam slices into the filter. My intent with the large piece of foam on the intake is to emulate this http/www.swisstropicals.com/filtration-shop/tower-block-filter-shop/. The foam's purpose is to provide the lion's share of the biological filtration. The foam probably limits the filter's turnover, but sponge filters like this tend to want slower turnover anyway. The foam chunk's volume is exactly 2.5 times smaller than the volume of a mattenfilter fit to a 10 gallon. By that rubric, the filter is 2.5 times undersized, not oversized. To my understanding 30 ppi is ideal for biological filtration. 
 
Because the foam is run with an impeller and not with an airstone is there a higher chance of clogging? Should I change to an airstone or DIY jetlifter?
 
The temp is basically unregulated right now, and the heater is off. My digital thermometer told me it was about 63 degrees F while a stick on thermometer the tank came with told me 82 degrees F. Both are old, and I have trouble trusting either. It's summer here though, and it's been quite hot so I'm not worried it's too cold. After reading this http/www.seriouslyfish.com/whaddaya-mean-too-hot/ I may not have the heater on most of the year, depending on what I stock it with of course.
 
I did nothing more than rinse the things I took from the wild. Fish will be added with caution. Also, I ended up with quite a few snails.
 
I believe the acoustic foam to be molecularly identical to aquarium foams, and it should be inert. It's a bit of a risk, but something doesn't have to be labelled fish safe to be so. The tank will be set up for at least a month with it in it. I believe any negative effects would be noticed before fish are added, and when they are added they will be added slowly and with caution.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Yes change to air power. I use Poret cubes and an about to install the sheets into a sump.
 
One should not reduce flow on the intake side of filters and pumps, this should be done on the outflow side. Using a huge pre-filter sponge combined with internal filter media will really slow a power filter. In your application using air or a small powerhead/pump will work better than using a hang on filter. The filter is intended to hold media and move water through it. A pump/powerhead is intended to move water and hold nothing.
 
The Matten filters use either air power or pump power. However the pump is on the clean side of the foam and returns the clean water to the tank. So there is no need to pre-filter the pump. The blocks and cubes usually rely on air power.
 
Oddly enough I had just exchanged emails with Dr, Tanner re what he advised using in the sump and one of the things he noted, and on which I agree, was that most filters had a flow which was two high for optimal biological filtration. High flow and matten filters do not play nicely together hence the use of air power so often.
 
The key to all the filters on the Swiss Tropicals site is they are big relative to flow. And then the higher the flow through will be, the less the ppi should be but the thicker van then be as well. Higher ppi foam will clog in high flow applications. But you should be able to filter a 10 gal tank with a 3 or 4 in. cubefilter size foam. I am partial to the 20 ppi cubes, but i use more than one filter on most tanks over 10 gallons.

 

[mantella]

I decided to ditch the foam entirely, and add an internal filter I had laying around. This internal filter I'll eventually transfer to another tank to speed the cycle. My problem was probably an inadequate ammonia source in the end. Once I remove the internal filter would it be worth it too put in a sponge filter in the tank to supplement or are run-of-the-mill HOB actually rated appropriately?

 

[TwoTankAmin]

The bacteria will colonize where ever they get the best supply of nutrients and other needed items. This is often inside the filter. But in the end as long as there is surface agitation to get O into the water, they will colonize hard surfaces anywhere in a tank. They do not need to live only in filter media.
 
But because many will usually be in ones filter, one must be careful about removing filters or bio-media as removing to much nitrifying capacity will cause mini- or worse- recycling issues.