Zia

Ugh. I have been fishless cycling since 2/5. I am breaking down 2 PPM of ammonia in about 24 hours now, but my nitrite was 1 ppm a week ago, and has been stuck at .5 since Monday. Gah! It doesn't even do me the dignity of turning the light purple in my API (liquid test) very long -- by the end of 5 minutes, what started as light purple is nearly a gray. Shouldn't it have dropped to 0 by now? (Test is not faulty, as tap water turns a lovely aqua color.)

I admit I am starting to lose patience with this process. My tank looks like the town dump -- algae EVERYWHERE. I have random traces of chlorine (very small amounts) on my paper test strips, which I know I shouldn't trust, but puzzle me anyway. I give a little Testa AquaSafe (edited) for that. This is a used tank, and I did use a tiny timy amount of bleach to clean it and rinsed very well, but the chlorine is only showing up this past week. (All water I add is treated.)

Is there something I need to do to push this over the edge? I'm tempted to change all the water and see how my test results look then. It just looks so horrid. Or, change water, and just go ahead get fish and treat with AmQuel+ (Prime, when this bottle is done) as needed since my filter is so close anyway... even though that's not the right thing to do. :/

Looking for suggestions and/or encouragement. Trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong, and starting not to enjoy this much anymore.

Shawnie

im not sure why you are frustrated with the chlorine readings when you may not have ANY at all...the testing strips could be leading you to frustration, thats just not needed..especially if you used a water conditioner for that , there would be none in there..this hobby for sure is something we all loose our patience on...took me 9 weeks to cycle my tank and it wasnt fun with daily water changes as I had fish in it...so great job going fishless....but without a proper kit, i wouldnt get so upset unless you know for sure whats going on

Morgan111

not sure what the exact problem is.... what size is your tank? lighting? filtering? water changes? gravel? old gravel or new?

gzarr

I had trouble cycling my 10g and 37g. Both never proceeded past the ammonia stage. I tried for 2 months. I did one with fish and the other fishless. I was extremely frustrated and I ended up buying Tetra SafeStart over the internet and poured the biggest bottle into my 37g. It almost cycled immediately! No lie! I gave it a week just in case and it still had the same readings. I put one of my 10g filter media in the 37g filter for a week and, boom!, my 10g was cycled! If you can afford it, I would invest in TSS. It should help bump your cycle past the stuck stage. I know everyone keeps saying 'patience' but I can relate with the frustrations! It sure is hard when all you want is a nice, normal cycle (if there is one), and happy fish.

Zia

My aquarium info tab has my tanks specs. I have only been adding water occasionally. Gravel bought back in December, used in a failed Molly tank, and has been well rinsed.

Note that with a sweet but sad 4 year old hovering in the background, a month feels like ETERNITY.

Considering going the TSS route. My odds of success should be good since I'm already nearly there... right? Hmmmm...

jdhef

Did you mean to write Tetra Aqua Safe instead of SafeStart. SafeStart is a bacteria suppliment not a water conditioner and will not remove chlorine.

I know it's frustrating, but actually I think you are moving along fine with your cycle. It took me 6 weeks to cycle my 36 gallon tank. Just try to be patient and you'll be cycled soon.

Also, I don't see any reason why you can't clean up the algae in your tank. While it is true that the bacteria grows on all the hard surfaces in your tank, the vast majority lives in the filter, so I don't think giving a light cleaning will set you back any.

Zia

Doh -- yes -- AquaSafe! Can you tell I'm weary?

Someone on this forum had earlier suggested that cleaning algae might kill some good bacteria living there. I have an Ariel statue that looks so sad. A good cleaning would certainly make me feel better. Looking at that messy tank just makes me feel depressed. But you're right -- it is all in the filter. I think, with a clean tank, I could go on a little longer!

mhboge

Zia-

Im slightly confused with your initial post....NO3 is nitrate which would be the final byproduct of the nitrogen cycle. You say in your post that you want the NO3 reading to be aqua blue(zero)....With the API test kit the NITRITE(NO2) scale is in shades of blue to purple not the NITRATES(NO3)....The nitrate scale starts yellow and goes to darker shades of red.........In saying that test your NH3,NO2,N03 readings before you add any ammonia. Test them again 24hrs after adding ammonia....If your ammonia is close to 0 and your Nitrates are 5-10ppm higher your really close to cycled. Is the algae in your tank brown?? If so that could be a good indication of high nitrate levels which means your cycle is pretty close to being done. Also test your tap water for nitrates and compare that to your tank water test...If the tank water has a significantly higher nitrate level that means jump up and click your heels toto.....Hope this helps you.

Zia

Thanks for the catch -- my error. I've edited the post to fix. It's my nitrITe (purple) that's stuck at .5, though Ammonia is dropping to 0 after 24 hours. My algae is so very brown and so ugly. Even days ago, my nitrATe (red test) levels were significantly higher than my tap -- around 20 ppm, or so.

Testing and will post back numbers shortly... I will click my heels when that nitrIte number drops.

Zia

And here we are...

8 am today
Added 4 ml Ammonia, after which...

Ammonia 2.0
NitrIte .5

NitrAte reading on 3/8 was 20

9:30 pm readings

Ammonia 1
NitrIte .5 (though this is so hard to tell, because the color matches after 3 minutes, but fades to gray by 5)
NitrAte 60ish -- hello, brown algae

I think I just need to be more patient. I will clean off Ariel and buy an algae magnet for my daughter to entertain herself with. Thanks for walking me through this... still better than waking up to dead fish.

Lucy

Hang in there, it looks like you're heading in the right direction.
Your future fish thank you!!!

Zia

Well, I am still waiting for my nitrItes to drop "seemingly overnight" moment! Ha!

I removed some of the brown algae from my tank decor. t came off in thick, brown sheets. Ick. I know good bacteria live on those chunks, but it was disrupting my sanity, and I figure they'll just get right to work in the filter anyway. Added a little water -- it had dropped ~6" below the top.

Another night, another reading.

AlyeskaGirl

You are doing great! Hang in there!

Morgan111

How long since your last water addition? 6" seems like a lot of water lost do you have a canopy of some sort? what temp. is your water? My nitrITes always seem to go to zero rapidly when they do start to move and my normal nitrATes are between 10 and 15 PPM.... my cichlid tank gets close to 20ppm sometimes but those guys are hogs and about at MAX occupancy for their tank lol

PS it will all work out in the end part of the problem is prob. that whole "watched pot never boils" thing lol... hang in there you will have fishies soon and they will thank you for this!!!

aquarist48

Hello Zia,

Many of us have been where you are now with frustration. Keep in mind once the cycle is complete you can have many years of enjoyment with your tanks.

When I started up some tanks 10 years ago and before any knowledge of the nitrogen cycle, I lost so many fish, Discus, every type of Gold Fish I can think of and many more. Congrats on going fishless!

Hang in there!
Ken

jdhef

With your tap water having a reading of 20ppm, you are really going to need to be diligent with water changes. Most people on this forum recommend keeping nitrates at 20 or below. The API booklet recommends nitrates below 40ppm.

I can tell you from personal experiance (learned the hard way) that it is really easy to experiance "nitrate creep" when you have nitrates in your tap water. The reason being, say that your nitrates are at 30ppm and you did a 50% water change with tap water that contains 0ppm nitrates, your tank water would drop to a nitrate reading of 15ppm. But when you do a 50% water change with tap water that contains 20ppm nitrates, your tank water will probably have a nitrate reading of 25ppm.

It is for that reason I switched to Amquel+ as my water conditioner. Amquel+ has the ability to neutrilize nitrates in water. I believe Prime can do that also, but I think Amquel+ can handle higher levels of nitrate.

Zia

jdhef -- thankfully, my city tap water nitrates are at 0, my tank is at 60.

Morgan111 -- I read somewhere that you should let your water get low when cycling, so I I added water for the first time last night. My temp is between 76 and 78. I have my old 50 W heater in there and just ordered a 100 W so I could crank it up to over 80 degrees to speed things up a bit.

Tested again (watched pot, yes, ha!) and nothing has moved. Seems things are slowing down. This weekend I was going from 4 ppm to 0 in 24 hours, and, at this rate, I'm on track to bring down 2 pmm in twice the time (48 hours).

Still tempted to dump some Tetra SS in there and add ammonia to simulate "fish" without any actual fish. I feel like just one little nudge, and I'd be there.

Sigh.

jdhef

Patience Zia, patience...you are almost there. Don't do anything now that could set you back. You are soooo close!

Morgan111

I was just making sure you were not REALLY hot and evaporating that much often I keep mine covered even when cycling just to keep the water confined some.... not sure what the rule on that is but.... well thats my own lil rule lol

Zia

Well, in the spirit of patience, I'm going to change nothing, check water levels just once a day, cease all "fishless cycling" google searches, and report back here in exactly a week. Wish me luck!

Over and out, and thanks for your help!

jdhef

Good luck, but you won't need it!

Morgan111

all will be good soon

Zia

Well, I'm breaking my promise but just to add that it appears my nitItes are actually through the roof -- not at .5. I was reading a post about how when the drops turn bright purple the moment they hit the water (me), and the color is almost a gray/green (me), that the test can't even measure the volume of nitrItes. Me.

I think I have further to go than I suspect.

click

If your nitrites are off the scale I suggest a water change to bring them to readable levels. Too much nitrites can stall your cycle. Keep us posted!

flyin-lowe

I read on one of the fishless cycle threads on this site (i've read thousands so I don't remember where) that the nitrite phase of the cycle takes about twice as long on average as the ammonia stage. So if it took your tank 2 weeks to start breaking down ammonia it should take about 4 more weeks to finish cycling. Anyone else heard this?

Zia

Wow, what a catch about misreading the nitrItes. What a lesson for me -- thank goodness that didn't happen with fish. After a 75% water change, I'm...

NH3 1.5
NitrIte 1
NitrAte 80+

pH is unmeasurably high, but I'm ignoring that for now. Kissing my pretty, clean water goodnight, and hopefully will have to give it an Ammonia breakfast in the morning!

Zia

Well, it has been over a week, and nothing has changed, really. I did a second water change, and am eternally stuck at...

0, 1, 80+

Keep having weird chlorine readings which coincide with a kH drop (and then a massive pH drop), so I have been buffering every few days using baking soda.

But: to no avail. Nothing changes.

I did buy a $4 bottle of Nite-Out (Ingredients: Nitrosomonas sp., Nitrospira sp. and Nitrobacter sp -- go ahead, scold me!) and dumped the whole thing on my filters 24 hours ago.

No change.

I've been cycling for 43 days now. I ordered a bottle of Tetra SafeStart. If my tank cycles before it arrives, bravo! If not, it's a fresh start for me. I figure my odds are good with TSS, as I already have a large colony of the bacteria growing, I'm only getting 6 danios, and I'll be monitoring levels closely

I love the idea of fishless cycling, but I have found the experience pretty frustrating with a very elusive goal. Blah!

History of entire cycle is here.

jdhef

Since you are doing water changes, but your nitrites and nitrates are staying the same, are you sure your test kit is working properly. Are you sure you're not color blind (I am and believe me it makes reading the color chart challenging to say the least!)

Zia

Definitely not color blind! The water changes bring the reading from off the charts to something readable. Honestly, I find the API liquid NitrIte test the most difficult thing to read. There's three ranges, as far as I'm concerned: blue, "on the charts," and "off the charts." All those "on the charts" pinks look alike to me, especially in different light.

So, I've been saying 1, but that's just my best guess. I really want to see some blue!

Zia

Well, suddenly my ammonia is VERY slow coming down -- it was around 1.5 ppm yesterday, and is just now (24 hours later) dropping to .25 -- twice the time it normally takes!

My nitItes enjoyed a brief foray to the .5 mark last night, but must not have liked it, as they're back to 1 this morning.

Could it be the plants I added? The goldfish tank gravel? Ack. Tetra SafeStart arrives on Tuesday, but I harbor a secret fantasy of my tank cycling before then. I must admit I'd really like this to work...

Hrm...

History is here.