molson622

I've been cycling my tank for a month and a half and have had no success in breeding the bacteria that I need to get the nitrate levels up.

I must admit I am trying to cycle with 4 danios. I understand that is not the preferred method, and I don't think I would do it again.

But after a month and a half, shouldn't I be seeing SOMETHING from my nitrates/nitrites? I do water changes once a week or so, and I feed them twice a day.

I used "Cycle" when I started the tank.. and added some more the other day during a water change.

I am also using some tap water conditioner.. I don't know how much I'm supposed to use so I probably add more than I should to be on the safe side.

Do I need to let the new water sit for a long time before I put it in? Perhaps the conditioner doesn't have time to work if I only give it 30 seconds or so? (I stir... thinking that will help). This is all for a 12 gallon.

tan.b

mine's been going a similar time and i only get very slight amounts of nitrates, so maybe it is cycled. i added more fish when the levels werent doing anything which is when i got the slight nitrate. i dont think it would ever have happened otherwise! i never got the ammonia and nitrite. do you have live plants as just read a thread similar, and considering the possibility that the plants might be using the nitrates etc as fast as they're being produced??
anyway, sorry i'm not much use as i'm still learning myself!! hope someone helps you soon
Tan

molson622

Thanks for the heads up. I don't have any live plants, so I would think that it isn't very likely that that would be the cause of missing nitrates. I thought that if the tank was cycled I should be seeing nitrate levels in the 15ppm range fairly consistently.. at least right before a water change. Hmm... maybe I can add a less hardy fish (was thinking Dwarf Gourami) and see how it goes. I would hate to put the little guy in a situation where he was doomed from the get-go, though.

JMatt1983

when you're cycling with fish, it takes much much longer to cycle, i did this with my 10G and it took 3 months to cycle, patients is everything when it comes to cycling, keep an eye on your ammonia though, if its showing any reading at all, I would be doing daily 50% water changes, which is why it takes longer for the tank to cycle