ray_sj

Hi all,

New to the forum. Loving the features, and helpful community so far!

I recently decided to get back into aquariums (used to have a small goldfish tank as a kid), and am doing my first fishless cycle on a new 29-gal tank. I am 16 days into it now, and I have not seen any ammonia levels drop so far, or any nitrites. I realize this is not unheard of, but I think I've tried most techniques I've read about to speed up the process: temperature in the 80s, aeration, pinch of fish food, bacterial additives, seeding by live plants...

I am testing every evening with API Master test kit. All reagents are fresh, manufactured within the last 6 months. I also have the Jungle 6-in-1 test strips.

Some info on the tank parameters:

Temp: 83F
pH: 8.2 (API)
NH4: 3-4ppm (API)
NO2: 0ppm (API)
NO3: <5ppm (API)

KH: 300ppm (test strips)
GH: 300ppm (test strips)
chlorine: 0 (test strips)

Running 100W heater, Emperor 280 filter, and 6" bubble wand. All water is dechlorinated with Tetra AquaSafe. Lights on about 12 hours/day.

Gravel, plastic plants, resin decorations in-tank. Added 2 live plants (with rock wool) 2 days ago from LFS.

I started by adding Tetra SafeStart, waiting an hour, and then adding the initial dose of ammonia. I am using SunnySelect Clear Ammonia from Super Store Industries. There is no ingredients list, but there is no perfume smell, and no bubbles/foaming when I shake it. I got the concentration up to 4ppm.

I added a small dose of ammonia last week to get it back to 4ppm. (Hard to tell between 2 and 4ppm) But otherwise there have been no other doses, and the ammonia has been at 3-4ppm all this time. There are no nitrites, and a small amount of nitrate (from water source itself). PH appears stable at 8.2. There is some white fuzz growing on the filter intake, some of the plastic plants, and on the bamboo decoration, but that's about it.

I've read quite a few fishless cycle diaries and posts, but I would feel better if I could see something happening. Does it sound like I'm on the right track? Or is there something else I should do?

Thanks for any suggestions (or encouragement) that you might have!

Shawnie

welcome to fishlore!!!!

Well you certainly have added alot LOL but the only thing you really needed was the tetra safestart for an auto cycle....I think with adding all the extra's , its stalling big time...the safestart is designed to add it the same time you add fish, and 7-10 days later you have a cycle completed...at this point, if you cant get anymore safestart to begin again, id keep adding the ammonia drops and follow the ammonia method of cycleing ...

Peterpiper

Hi and welcome,
Great to see your cycling with ammonia, shawnie has given good advice.
Things needed to cycle a tank, bacteria, ammonia, water, heater, filter and air
Not to sure on the PH 8.2 For a fresh water tank, it sounds high?
It can only be 1 of 3 things, the ammonia is locked, the ammonia has something in it or something is in the system killing the bacteria.
Tried doing a search on the ammonia.. found nothing

ray_sj

Thanks for the welcome and advice!

The water straight out of my faucet has a pH of 8.2, so not much I can do about that..

I can get some more SafeStart, so I think I'll start over and see how it goes the second time.

Lucy

Hi Welcome to Fish Lore

I've never used Tetra SafeStart so I'm thinking out loud here. So feel free to poke holes in this theory.

Is it possible that 4ppm of ammonia overwhelmed the amount of bacteria that's in a dose of SafeStart and killed the bacteria?

I came to this thought because what do we use to kill bacteria when we clean.....ammonia.

Good luck on your next try.

Peterpiper

You can stop / slow down the cycle by adding to much ammonia,
We cycle at 5ppm daily in a marine we are setting up and have no issues, dropping from 5 to 1ppm in 24hrs
Ammonia is more toxic in a marine than is fresh.
If you are cycling in the tank, then there is no need to go to 4ppm, 2ppm is heaps. ( never seen a uncycled tank reach 1ppm in 12hrs )
Go to 4-5ppm if you are cycling a filter in a tub that holds 25-50% of the tank volume

ray_sj

Just in case anyone else can benefit from this info.. I was able to use the SunnySelect ammonia to fishless cycle another tank. So, this brand (found in northern CA Lucky's stores) seems to be ok.

As for why the SafeStart didn't help, I suspect that I had more than 4ppm ammonia in the tank(the shades of green in API test are hard to distinguish), stalling the cycle. If I were to try this again, I'd start with 1 or 2ppm, and see if the SafeStart bacteria can process that first.