audithom

I have a big question, How long does it take for a 10 gal tank to cycle? I have had the 10 gal tank up and running for over a month, and the ammonia lvls are around 4ppm still. I do a 15% water change every other day. What I am confused about is that my 75 gal tank, with only half filled with water, is cycled, i think, and I only have had that up and running for a little over a week.

75 gal reading:

1/17/08: pH 7.6, ammonia: .25ppm, nitrite: 0ppm, nitrate: 0-5 PPM
1/19/08: PH 7.6, ammonia: 0ppm, nitrite: 0ppm, nitrate: 0-5 ppm

10 gal readings:
1/21/08: ph 7.6, ammonia: 4ppm, nitrite: 0ppm, nitrate: 5 ppm

gremlin

Do you have fish in any of the tanks? If so, what fish and how many?

TennThunder

It just depends, it could take as little as 2-3 weeks or take months (see Chase J here). A common theme around here is if you have fish and your ammonia reading is over .25 to do a 50% daily water change until it's less than .25 ppm.

audithom

just confusing on how the bigger tank too less time to cycle compared to the 10 gal.

Lucy

What method are you using?

audithom

my big tank does not have fish. I am using a a product called cycle from nutrafin. the same products are used on all my tanks. The only diffrence is that she has fish in with hers, now 2 fancy guppies. mine has one baby guppy that i just put in there yesterday from my existing tank.

Lucy

That explains a lot.
The product Cycle contains the wrong kind of bacteria. It's not self sustaining and in order to keep that cycle you'll need to add it for the life of your tank. If you stop using it, your tank will probably crash. It'll use up the ammonia and never allow the proper bacteria to develop.

The 10g is cycling and producing the correct bacteria. Once established it will consume the ammonia created by the fish. The only product you'll need to add is a good water conditioner.
The ammonia reading in the 10g is toxic. It would be a good idea to do 50% water changes everyday until the tank is cycled. Use prime or stress coat+ as your water conditioner. That'll detox the ammonia yet make it available to the bacteria. Beaware of products that claim to lock ammonia, they'll starve the bacteria.
It's a lot of work, but necessary for the health of the fish.

audithom

so I should no use the product cycle? i just put that in my tank, 1/20/08 so the reading off the test kit on 1/17, and 1/19 are prior to using cycle. before that i used that last of my reptile safe. I am sorry if i misinformed you.

Shawnie

as long as you use the product cycle, your tank will be fine..but it has to be added daily or the bacteria die off...its not self sustaining ...tetra safestart is the only instant bacteria that gives you the correct kind of cycle...daily water changes and id do 2 50% changes the first few days, one in the morning and one at night, with prime to get that ammonia way lower so the fish dont die..then continue daily 50% changes until the cycle finishes...I wouldnt use the product cycle anymore unless you have enough money to buy it for the life of the tanks goodluck!

TennThunder

Wow, Lucy, I didn't realize you had to keep using Cycle for the life of the tank, that's bad. Those LFS people sure leave that important detail out when they try to get you to buy it.

audithom

the only thing is that my tank said it was cycled before I got the cycle product. I just used it yesterday. All the test that I took were before I put cycle in the tank. I guess I will test my tank again tomorrow and keep doing water changes in my sisters tank.

pinkfloydpuffer

I really don't think your tank has cycled. What I think happened is maybe you took the readings before the ammonia had properly mixed in, so then 2 days later it was an unreadable amount after it was diluted into the water.
What really tips me off to your tank not being cycled is that the nitrates are the same. If your tank was really cycled, the nitrates would be higher.

audithom

That is why I have not put anything but a few of the feeder guppies I have from my turtle tank. The only reason I think it might have cycled is that the ammonia started going up but went back down to zero. I tested the ammonia again last night while writing the last post and the ammonia was still at zero. I plan on doing a full test tomorrow. Like I said i am greatly confused on why there is no ammonia spike, let alone the nitrate or nitrite.

audithom

update: I retested my big tank and the ammonia is up between .25 and .5. The nitrate and nitrite are still both at 0ppm. So is it just now starting to cycle?

pinkfloydpuffer

Yep, that sounds like it.

FL CommunityFans

I agree with the Puffer!

Cycle is such a terrible product, it honestly needs to be pulled from the shelves. Well I take that back. It works GREAT if you use it as directed - use it EVERY water change and never miss it. If you do, the tank is screwed. So in the end, yea Cycle sucks ;p

agabr123

Actually I think you may even need to add it DAILY!!! how ridiculous is that?!?!

FL CommunityFans

I wouldn't argue with that either