The Most Confusing Cycle

[Joshwainwright]

I'm starting to get annoyed now...

Why? Well, I started my fishless cycle 14 days ago and following a slight drop in ammonia the cycle has come to a complete stand still. I have no idea why.

The easiest way to explain my cycle to you would be to provide you with my log, which is below.

As you can see, I dosed 5ppm of ammonia at the start, had a slight drop and then dosed it back up to 5ppm. I know I shouldn't have done this and should have waited for it to get to 0ppm however I for some reason decided to re-dose. Unfortunately, after the small drop I am now stuck at 2ppm!

What do you think the problem is?

 

[Carlovel1]

 

[Joshwainwright]

It's really not fair!

 

[Kesaph]

Perhaps up your temperature to 29deg, apparently that's an optimum temperature, might make a difference I don't know.

 

[Squidward]

I have read that a pimch of food into the tank will kick start the cycle again. There are other nutrients in the food, not just the ammonia that will help the bacteria.

 

[Warehouse]

I have read that a pimch of food into the tank will kick start the cycle again. There are other nutrients in the food, not just the ammonia that will help the bacteria.

That's interesting, not seen that advice before. Someone else has a stuck cycle that might be worth trying the food thing.

Josh, what about a big water change? That's supposed to help a stuck cycle too. What about PH as well, you haven't tested that for a few days and a PH crash could also be an issue.

 

[Joshwainwright]

I'll throw a bit of food in today to see what happens, you never know what will happen and it won't hurt anything if I try it.

As for the pH crash, that could be a possibility so I need to test the pH but I can't think of anything which could have possibly caused one.

 

[Warehouse]

As for the pH crash, that could be a possibility so I need to test the pH but I can't think of anything which could have possibly caused one.

High Nitrites are supposed to be a major suspect. If your ammonia has been cycling in the past then Nitrites will be hanging around. I doubt it's dropped but definately worth a PH test for peace of mind.

 

[Joshwainwright]

I'll test the pH later when I get home from school.

I've just tested for ammonia and it's still at 2ppm, I added a bit of food to see what happens.

 

[Joshwainwright]

DAY 16

Ammonia still at 2ppm, even after adding food yesterday!

I'm going to do a large water change tomorrow if it's still 2ppm.

 

[BIG BAD BARRY]

I would wait a bit before doung a water change.
Your ph seems fine and temp has been raised to optimum level.

I think the problem was what you identified as well - dosing ammonia before it dropped to 0ppm. Quite a few people have done this recently for some reason!
Also, you probably started off with ammonia greater than 4-5ppm because your tank is rated at 125L. In reality it is probably less as the volume needs to be based on internal measurements and water volume would be displaced by the addition of substrate and decor (believe you have bogwood).

Keep checking ph as well.

Adjust your testing regime so that it is at 24hrs each time. This can be difficult sometimes with work or study.
It is also ideal if its dring daylight hours so that your results can be read more accurately in daylight.

Luckily i was able to do my testing and dosing around 0900hrs
This also made it easier for the 12hr testing phase which could be done around 2100hrs.

I didnt fancy getting up in the middle of the night like Aqua Tom did!

 

[Joshwainwright]

I'm going to try and get in to the habit of testing at around 9am to make things easier

Hopefully, things should speed up soon and I can one day end up with some fish! 16 days into my cycle without a valid drop in ammonia is killing me.

As for dosing, I shall have to guess the actual amount of water there is in the tank. With the amount of substrate I have and the amount of bogwood I have, I think 115L would be a generous estimate.

 

[Little_Nemo]

If its any consolation mine got stuck at 2ppm for 6 days 14th feb - 19th feb, added 1ml of ammonia on the 6th day, then low and behold 4 days later my ammonia dropped to 1ppm

Did you add any media (cant remember if you did?) cause maybe there wasnt quite enough established bacteria on there to help speed your cycle?

 

[Joshwainwright]

Nope, it's a cycle completely from scratch

I might add a little ammonia like you did...

 

[Joshwainwright]

FINALLY my cycle has made a bit of progression and moved from 2ppm! After 7 days of being stuck at 2ppm, it reduced to 1ppm and now 0.5ppm. The thing is, after dosing before reaching 0ppm before I'm now not sure if I should wait until tomorrow to put it back up to 5ppm or do it today. What do you think?