Am i doing this right? Cycle not starting?

I'm new to this and never had fish or an aquarium before, only learnt about cycling the tank and all recently. I have a tank 30L it's only a small one but I'm having trouble starting my fishless cycle. For 5 days i had 1 small fish in there while testing the water (api test kit) every day incase of ammonia so i could remove it but thankfully in this period no ammonia was detected in tank. I removed the fish to another established tank at a friends house and i added dr tims ammonia chloride and had levels of 4ppm, the next day i added dr tims one and only nitrifying bacteria. It's been 5 days now and ammonia is still the same and nitrite and nitrate still reading zero. Am i on the right track or has my cycle stalled? I've been seeing people add dr tims one and only and adding fish right away but my cycle won't seem to start.
I've also added ph stabilizer and Conditioner while i was filling the tank. Ph is at 7.2 and my filter was in another tank (it had no water in it when i got it off a friend so guessing the good bacteria wasn't alive inside) the filter has a sponge and ceramic beads inside aswell.
Also in my tank i have 2 live plants, pebbles and a rock cave.

 

You have a friend with an established fish tank, which means you can start your tank really fast - ask your friend to rinse their filter sponge in a small amount of water and give it to you - it's the best cycle starter you can get, way better than any bacteria starter you can buy commercially. Chances are that you'll have instant cycle as soon as you add the mulm - just make sure you add it as fast as you can, so don't get the mulm water in the morning if you only gonna add it in the evening or something like that.

I cannot comment on ammonia dosage as I'm from a different continent with entirely different products.

 

You have a friend with an established fish tank, which means you can start your tank really fast - ask your friend to rinse their filter sponge in a small amount of water and give it to you - it's the best cycle starter you can get, way better than any bacteria starter you can buy commercially. Chances are that you'll have instant cycle as soon as you add the mulm - just make sure you add it as fast as you can, so don't get the mulm water in the morning if you only gonna add it in the evening or something like that.

I cannot comment on ammonia dosage as I'm from a different continent with entirely different products.

Thank you for your reply. I think this would be my only option if my cycle won't start. I'll give that a go and see. Fingers crossed!

 

Fishkeeping requires patience. Cycling can take 4-6 weeks even though some are able to complete it sooner. Every tank is different. Also, bottled bacteria work sometimes. Often they do not.

Why are you adding pH stabilizer?

Are you following Dr. Tim's instructions? He has specific day-by-day instruction on how to use his products.

 

Fishkeeping requires patience. Cycling can take 4-6 weeks even though some are able to complete it sooner. Every tank is different. Also, bottled bacteria work sometimes. Often they do not.

Why are you adding pH stabilizer?

Are you following Dr. Tim's instructions? He has specific day-by-day instruction on how to use his products.

Definitely alot of patience, at first my ph levels tested very high after testing at lfs so they recommended a ph stabilizer. Yes I've been following instructions, it does say around day 9 it should be ok to add fish after testing water ofcourse. I've seen people have nitrite appear sooner so kind of got me wondering if I've done something wrong.
After alot of research i understand now that each tank is different

 

bottled bacteria will still take a few weeks to cycle.

 

bottled bacteria will still take a few weeks to cycle.

Thank you i had the idea it would work in a few days.

 

Some fish prefer high pH, so whether to use the stabilizer or not depends on what fish you plan to keep. Most fish are adaptable over a range of pH and it's more important to maintain stable pH rather than chase an "Ideal" pH.

 

Some fish prefer high pH, so whether to use the stabilizer or not depends on what fish you plan to keep. Most fish are adaptable over a range of pH and it's more important to maintain stable pH rather than chase an "Ideal" pH.

Thank you for letting me know this

 

I'm new to this and never had fish or an aquarium before, only learnt about cycling the tank and all recently. I have a tank 30L it's only a small one but I'm having trouble starting my fishless cycle. For 5 days i had 1 small fish in there while testing the water (api test kit) every day incase of ammonia so i could remove it but thankfully in this period no ammonia was detected in tank. I removed the fish to another established tank at a friends house and i added dr tims ammonia chloride and had levels of 4ppm, the next day i added dr tims one and only nitrifying bacteria. It's been 5 days now and ammonia is still the same and nitrite and nitrate still reading zero. Am i on the right track or has my cycle stalled? I've been seeing people add dr tims one and only and adding fish right away but my cycle won't seem to start.
I've also added ph stabilizer and Conditioner while i was filling the tank. Ph is at 7.2 and my filter was in another tank (it had no water in it when i got it off a friend so guessing the good bacteria wasn't alive inside) the filter has a sponge and ceramic beads inside aswell.
Also in my tank i have 2 live plants, pebbles and a rock cave.

Hi, microbiologist here.

So while I am a proponent of bottled bacteria, I will say at the same time that certainly their efficacy varies significantly between one product to the next - and not all are recommended for cycling either. From what I have seen people report over the last two years, Dr. Tim's One and Only Nitrifying Bacteria does not seem to work, or at least not anymore. In the past it was the 'gold standard', but now even when people have parameters perfect for cycling with such a product, they still report waiting weeks and... nothing.

You can keep waiting and hope for the best, or if you want to try a different product, I'd recommend FritzZyme TurboStart 700. From others' reported experiences, it seems to cycle tanks within a week about 98% of the time. I have personally used FritzZyme TurboStart and it does indeed cycle a tank very quickly. You can also get the less concentrated version, FritzZyme 7, or if not FritzZyme, then I'd recommend Tetra SafeStart(+). These products are very often reported to work, with only very few cases reporting they do not.

I have seen people say they got their cycle work with API QuickStart and Nutrafin Cycle, but I have not had enough datapoints on them (ignoring reports where there can be confounding factors) to say with certainty or not they are likely (or not) to work.

I would not recommend products like Seachem Stability or Brightwell Microbacter 7. These products are not really suitable for cycling.

 

Hi, microbiologist here.

So while I am a proponent of bottled bacteria, I will say at the same time that certainly their efficacy varies significantly between one product to the next - and not all are recommended for cycling either. From what I have seen people report over the last two years, Dr. Tim's One and Only Nitrifying Bacteria does not seem to work, or at least not anymore. In the past it was the 'gold standard', but now even when people have parameters perfect for cycling with such a product, they still report waiting weeks and... nothing.

You can keep waiting and hope for the best, or if you want to try a different product, I'd recommend FritzZyme TurboStart 700. From others' reported experiences, it seems to cycle tanks within a week about 98% of the time. I have personally used FritzZyme TurboStart and it does indeed cycle a tank very quickly. You can also get the less concentrated version, FritzZyme 7, or if not FritzZyme, then I'd recommend Tetra SafeStart(+). These products are very often reported to work, with only very few cases reporting they do not.

I have seen people say they got their cycle work with API QuickStart and Nutrafin Cycle, but I have not had enough datapoints on them (ignoring reports where there can be confounding factors) to say with certainty or not they are likely (or not) to work.

I would not recommend products like Seachem Stability or Brightwell Microbacter 7. These products are not really suitable for cycling.

Thank you for the information you've provided. I'll keep these products in mind if needing to start my cycle again