Cycling Ughhhhh

so I have three tanks two 10 gallon one 5g
I have one betta I rescued that is in the 1 gallon he came in and I have been doing daily water changes and his fin rot is going away and he looks amazing but anyway
I left for 9 days so I left someone with instructions on what to do,
adding a few drops of ammonia to each tank and test. he has been adding too little and it only reached like 2ppm and nitrites and nitrates have been 0. so what the heck is going on? it's been almost 11 days since I started,
shouldn't they start showing?

I really want to get my betta into his 5g, so I was thinking of using tss+

but how? i've already read the thread on here about it and I don't understand. how am I supposed to use prime if it kills the bb? but if I don't prime then it kills fish?

could I use tts+ in my other two tanks without fish? i'm so over having empty tanks in my room for months. I would add ammonia daily so there's the source of ammonia. how would I do that?

sorry about all this. i'm so just annoyed

 

You already have a betta right? but its in a 1 gallon? I'd say just put it into the 5 gallon now, and keep up with the water changes every other day. Go ahead and add TSS or any other forms of bacteria into the tank aswell.

As for the other two tanks with the fishless cycle, 2ppm ammonia is fine for the BB to start growing. Go ahead with TSS as well to hasten the process. Prime doesn't kill BB. Fishless cycle takes time, some in weeks, some take months. Just be patient with it, as its worth it.

 

You already have a betta right? but its in a 1 gallon? I'd say just put it into the 5 gallon now, and keep up with the water changes every other day. Go ahead and add TSS or any other forms of bacteria into the tank aswell.

As for the other two tanks with the fishless cycle, 2ppm ammonia is fine for the BB to start growing. Go ahead with TSS as well to hasten the process. Prime doesn't kill BB. Fishless cycle takes time, some in weeks, some take months. Just be patient with it, as its worth it.

I agree. Put the betta in the 5 gallon now and keep up on water maintenance. It will do just fine.

 

it will take time to do a fishless cycle the natural way. it's not unusual to not get any nitrite readings even after almost 2 weeks.

I agree with the others, just put the betta in the bigger tank and continue with a fish-in cycle. it might take a long time too, but you're probably not going to get any crazy ammonia or nitrite spikes with just a betta. my 10 gallon has been up and running for a week and a half and i've consistently had 0 ammonia and nitrites. the only thing i've had is high nitrates, which is probably because i'm dosing ferts. it'll cycle eventually. (I used tss+ when I got the betta, so it's possible it's already cycled but idk)

 

You already have a betta right? but its in a 1 gallon? I'd say just put it into the 5 gallon now, and keep up with the water changes every other day. Go ahead and add TSS or any other forms of bacteria into the tank aswell.

As for the other two tanks with the fishless cycle, 2ppm ammonia is fine for the BB to start growing. Go ahead with TSS as well to hasten the process. Prime doesn't kill BB. Fishless cycle takes time, some in weeks, some take months. Just be patient with it, as its worth it.

really?? I have read all over that it will kill the bacteria. i'm just confused. I'll add the betta in tomorrow, after I do a series of 25% changes to get the ammonia back down, then I'll dose prime, wait how long??? then add the tss? I also have apI quickstart but it hasn't really done anything

 

i'd wait a day after using prime to use the safestart, just to be sure. I don't think it's totally necessary though.

I think prime might mess with either the bottled bacteria itself or the stabilized ammonia in the bottle. it can starve the bb, which eat that ammonia to start out. i'm not sure if it's 100% true or not. i've heard both sides.

 

Prime doesn't kill the safestart. The reason the safestart says to wait 24 hours after filling your new tank is because prime and other water conditioners lock up the ammonia for about 24 hours. So if you put safestart into a new tank right after you fill it with prime, the bacteria starve to death because they can't eat the locked ammonia. However, after 24 hours the ammonia unlocks and the bacteria can eat it.

Once your tank is established, you don't have to let the water for your water change sit to the side for 24 hours because if you do a 20% water change, then only 20% of your ammonia is locked up and inedible so there's still plenty of ammonia for the bacteria to feed on.

I used tss+ to cycle a tank that already had 5 fish and 4 of them are mollies. Just don't use it for 24 hours after filling a new tank or doing a major water change to lower overly high ammonia and make sure your ammonia stays under 3 ppm. BB starts dying at 3 ppm ammonia and completely dies at 4 ppm.

For the new tanks, add 1 fish and the tss+ at the same time or add the tss+ a little after so it has ammonia to eat.

 

here is all my tanks readings. oof. ordered seachem stability, and one bottle of tetra safe start for my fish in cycle. I was reading some post today, and saw someone who cycled their tank in 8 days. HOW?!? anyway. thoughts?

ph, ammonia. nitrite, nitrate
5g
did a 20% water change


ph, ammonia. nitrite, nitrate
didn't do anything
10g



ph, ammonia. nitrite, nitrate
didn't do anything
2nd 10 gallon

added 10ml of apI quickstart to 10g, and 5ml to 5g. idk. maybe it will help. almost gone anyway

is there anything i'm doing wrong? anything I can do to speed up? hellllpppp
also I only tested ph since I haven't in like 2 weeks hah

 

I was told to add an entire bottle of TSS to my 10 gallon while it was fishless cycling and to turn up the temp to above 82. I was barely a week into cycling and after following those instructions my nitrates and nitrites sky rocketed when I got back from my 5 day vacation. From what I hear though, every cycle is different.

 

I was told to add an entire bottle of TSS to my 10 gallon while it was fishless cycling and to turn up the temp to above 82. I was barely a week into cycling and after following those instructions my nitrates and nitrites sky rocketed when I got back from my 5 day vacation. From what I hear though, every cycle is different.

High Nitrates will stall a cycle, in my limited experience. Water changes are your friend. Just be sure to declorinate and/or age your water before adding to your tank. Chlorine could kill your cycle dead in its tracks-speaking from experience...

 

High ammonia will kill tss. Your ammonia level has to be less than 3 or the tss can't work because all the bacteria will die.

You'll have to do a lot of large water changes until the ammonia is under 3 for tss to work right.

 

I couldn't find any info on your filtering. WHat filters are you using in the tanks and how are they set up?

 

All good advice on here but a few things with some detail...
I agree to move the betta to his forever tank. The water will stay cleaner longer with more volume, so even if it’s not cycled it’s still better. I have done a fish in cycle with a betta in a 5 with TSS and it was finished in 12 days. But you MUST follow the instructions. Do a large water change to get the ammonia as low as possible, if you can get it to 0, that’s great. At this point add the fish if he’s not already there. Now, if using prime wait 24 hours before adding TSS. If using another conditioner, you may add it at any time. Once you add the TSS, don’t do anything except lightly feed the fish for at least 7 days, preferably 14. No testing, no water changes. The tss can make your test show ammonia and nitrite, which will make you want to do water changes. Water changes before the cycle is established can remove the TSS BB before it has adhered to the filter media (another hint, when you add tss, turn off your filter and dump it directly on the media. Wait 5 to 10 minutes before turning the filter back on. This helps it stick, IMO). When I did this, I tested on day 12 and was fully cycled. I couldn’t wait any longer. During this time, watch your fish. If you see any signs of ammonia poisoning, do a water change and start again.

For your fishless cycles, they can take 6-8 weeks, sometimes longer. Patience is the key here. The method I like to use for fishless cycles is as follows:

Dose ammonia to 1 ppm. Add BB if using (these products are not going to work immediately. Some don’t work at all. So don’t be surprised if it doesn’t make any changes quickly). Then wait for the ammonia eating bacteria to grow. And wait. And wait.
Test your ammonia daily (or every other day). Don’t bother testing the other things, it doesn’t matter yet and your just wasting testing agents. When your ammonia drops to 0, test your nitrite. At this point it should be elevated. Now wait again. This time you have to get the nitrite eating bacteria to grow. Test your nitrite daily. Don’t bother with nitrate. Doesn’t matter. (I know some people say high nitrate will stall a cycle. You won’t have high nitrate at this point, so it’s a moot point. However, I have not experienced this, and have cycled with insanely high readings of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.)
When your nitrite has dropped to zero, dose ammonia back to 1 ppm. Things will start to move a little more quickly now, since the bacteria is there. Now you are wanting them to remove all ammonia and nitrite in 24 hours. Follow the same procedure. Dose 1 ppm ammonia, test ammonia and nitrite daily, when both are 0, redose to 1 ppm. When the ammonia and nitrite are both 0 after 24 hours, you are officially cycled.
Depending on your planned stock you may want to grow a larger bb colony. If that is the case, when you are cycled to 1 ppm, up your ammonia dose to 2 ppm and follow the same steps. Dose, test daily, redose when both are 0. When 0 in 24 hours, you are cycled to 2. Then you can up to 3 ppm if you want. I have cycled a tank to 6 ppm in the past. Basically for grins; I just couldn’t decide what fish to get.
There are about 1,000,001 ways to cycle a tank, and this is just the way I learned to do it, from a member on this forum. I have had success with it, so I know it works. It does however take time. I use that time to plan my stock, plant the tank, get algae and things under control, etc.
Good luck and if you have any other questions, feel free to ask!
Oh, one more trick. When taking photos of your test result, place the tubes in front of a white surface. It makes it easier to distinguish the colors

 

I couldn't find any info on your filtering. WHat filters are you using in the tanks and how are they set up?

one 10 gallon has hob topfin filter that came in set, another 10 gallon is divided, with two sponge filters, one per a side, and the 5 gallon has a built in filter, it's like topfins version of a fluval spec.

High ammonia will kill tss. Your ammonia level has to be less than 3 or the tss can't work because all the bacteria will die.

You'll have to do a lot of large water changes until the ammonia is under 3 for tss to work right.

ok! I'll get everything down to 1 today.

All good advice on here but a few things with some detail...
I agree to move the betta to his forever tank. The water will stay cleaner longer with more volume, so even if it’s not cycled it’s still better. I have done a fish in cycle with a betta in a 5 with TSS and it was finished in 12 days. But you MUST follow the instructions. Do a large water change to get the ammonia as low as possible, if you can get it to 0, that’s great. At this point add the fish if he’s not already there. Now, if using prime wait 24 hours before adding TSS. If using another conditioner, you may add it at any time. Once you add the TSS, don’t do anything except lightly feed the fish for at least 7 days, preferably 14. No testing, no water changes. The tss can make your test show ammonia and nitrite, which will make you want to do water changes. Water changes before the cycle is established can remove the TSS BB before it has adhered to the filter media (another hint, when you add tss, turn off your filter and dump it directly on the media. Wait 5 to 10 minutes before turning the filter back on. This helps it stick, IMO). When I did this, I tested on day 12 and was fully cycled. I couldn’t wait any longer. During this time, watch your fish. If you see any signs of ammonia poisoning, do a water change and start again.

For your fishless cycles, they can take 6-8 weeks, sometimes longer. Patience is the key here. The method I like to use for fishless cycles is as follows:

Dose ammonia to 1 ppm. Add BB if using (these products are not going to work immediately. Some don’t work at all. So don’t be surprised if it doesn’t make any changes quickly). Then wait for the ammonia eating bacteria to grow. And wait. And wait.
Test your ammonia daily (or every other day). Don’t bother testing the other things, it doesn’t matter yet and your just wasting testing agents. When your ammonia drops to 0, test your nitrite. At this point it should be elevated. Now wait again. This time you have to get the nitrite eating bacteria to grow. Test your nitrite daily. Don’t bother with nitrate. Doesn’t matter. (I know some people say high nitrate will stall a cycle. You won’t have high nitrate at this point, so it’s a moot point. However, I have not experienced this, and have cycled with insanely high readings of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.)
When your nitrite has dropped to zero, dose ammonia back to 1 ppm. Things will start to move a little more quickly now, since the bacteria is there. Now you are wanting them to remove all ammonia and nitrite in 24 hours. Follow the same procedure. Dose 1 ppm ammonia, test ammonia and nitrite daily, when both are 0, redose to 1 ppm. When the ammonia and nitrite are both 0 after 24 hours, you are officially cycled.
Depending on your planned stock you may want to grow a larger bb colony. If that is the case, when you are cycled to 1 ppm, up your ammonia dose to 2 ppm and follow the same steps. Dose, test daily, redose when both are 0. When 0 in 24 hours, you are cycled to 2. Then you can up to 3 ppm if you want. I have cycled a tank to 6 ppm in the past. Basically for grins; I just couldn’t decide what fish to get.
There are about 1,000,001 ways to cycle a tank, and this is just the way I learned to do it, from a member on this forum. I have had success with it, so I know it works. It does however take time. I use that time to plan my stock, plant the tank, get algae and things under control, etc.
Good luck and if you have any other questions, feel free to ask!
Oh, one more trick. When taking photos of your test result, place the tubes in front of a white surface. It makes it easier to distinguish the colors

thank you so much! once my tss comes in I'll do that for the 5g. I bought stability to go along with prime for the other 10gs. I heard it was better for fishless cycles. I was planning on two bettas in be 10g, and a community in the other 10 gallon so I was thinking 2ppm for the betta tank, and 4pom for the community?

 

High Nitrates will stall a cycle, in my limited experience. Water changes are your friend. Just be sure to declorinate and/or age your water before adding to your tank. Chlorine could kill your cycle dead in its tracks-speaking from experience...

Oh yeah, I did multiple water changes after testing the water. I use Prime before adding the water. Was able to get everything down and now using ammonia to keep it "controlled" now that I'm back home.

 

thank you so much! once my tss comes in I'll do that for the 5g. I bought stability to go along with prime for the other 10gs. I heard it was better for fishless cycles. I was planning on two bettas in be 10g, and a community in the other 10 gallon so I was thinking 2ppm for the betta tank, and 4pom for the community?

Those values should be fine, but it is very difficult to do a community in a 10. Not many fish do well in that small a tank. A 20 long would give you many more options.

 

So, day 6, and my two 10 gallon are showing .50 ammonia! it has been 1/2 ppm the past few days. so I added 4 drops in each to get it back up to 1/2ppm, that's what i'm supposed to do right?
first day


a few days ago


today



am I doing everything right? when should I start testing nitrites?

for my 5 gallon betta fish-in cycle, it's day 5. no signs of ammonia poisoning. this fish was a rescue so we like to call him immortal, Lol! I have been lightly feeding him, only foods that I can use the tongs on, so nothing gets to the bottom.

I also finally have a plan for my 10g! I picked up a surrendered set of baby bettas at petco! 5 females and 1 male (he goes into the divided


Mist, Cloudy, Stormy, Sunny, Rainy, and Blizzard!

 

I hope everything is going well. I went on vacation and turned my notifications off.

 

I hope everything is going well. I went on vacation and turned my notifications off.

check it out

 

No matter what, time usually levels it out! Good job!