Do I have a stalled cycle?

I am currently finishing week 4 of my 50 gallon FISHLESS tank cycle. This is intended to be a goldfish tank so it is bare bottom but I have a few fake plants and a java fern which is growing well in the tank. I am using a Hydor canister filter plus I have an air stone.

I started out just putting pellet food in as an ammonia source to start a cycle. At week 2 I started adding Seachem Stability according to the bottle. After a couple of days of finishing the dosage my readings were ammonia: 0.25, nitrite: 2 or 5.0 and nitrate: 80. Nitrite is hard to determine whether it is 2 or 5 since the colour is so close.

Those readings have stayed the same for an entire week even though I have been adding ammonia source. I just did a 30% water change to see if my readings would change but they are still exactly the same: ammonia 0.25, nitrite 2 or 5 and nitrate is 80.

is it possible the high nitrate and nitrite levels have stalled my tank? I have 3 betta fish tanks that I did all fish in cycles and they turned out just fine. Is it possible no substrate is why I have these stalled readings as well? I am intending to add sand to the tank.

 

I am currently finishing week 4 of my 50 gallon FISHLESS tank cycle. This is intended to be a goldfish tank so it is bare bottom but I have a few fake plants and a java fern which is growing well in the tank. I am using a Hydor canister filter plus I have an air stone.

I started out just putting pellet food in as an ammonia source to start a cycle. At week 2 I started adding Seachem Stability according to the bottle. After a couple of days of finishing the dosage my readings were ammonia: 0.25, nitrite: 2 or 5.0 and nitrate: 80. Nitrite is hard to determine whether it is 2 or 5 since the colour is so close.

Those readings have stayed the same for an entire week even though I have been adding ammonia source. I just did a 30% water change to see if my readings would change but they are still exactly the same: ammonia 0.25, nitrite 2 or 5 and nitrate is 80.

is it possible the high nitrate and nitrite levels have stalled my tank? I have 3 betta fish tanks that I did all fish in cycles and they turned out just fine. Is it possible no substrate is why I have these stalled readings as well? I am intending to add sand to the tank.

What is your tank pH? It's possible for a cycle to stall and high nitrates may lower the pH of your tank enough to do that. I'd suggest doing a 50% water change to get your nitrates down by half. Check your tap water pH and nitrate level as well. You'd probably cycle faster using ammonia rather than waiting for fish food to decompose to produce ammonia every time you have to do a water change though.
Most of the beneficial bacteria grows on surfaces that get the most water flow so it's unlikely the absence of substrate would affect the process. What media do you have in your filter?

 

My pH is 8 for tank and tap and everything else is 0 for tap water. So should I try and get Pristine then for ammonia? I haven’t been able to find anything else as ammonia supplement. The 30% water change was the only one I’ve done since starting the cycle. For filter media I have the floss layer, carbon layer and I put in double the amount of bio rings for the beneficial bacteria.

 

Get rid of the carbon it isn’t needed except to help remove medicine. Can’t you find pure ammonia at a hardware store ? Using food for an ammonia source isn’t very accurate .

 

My pH is 8 for tank and tap and everything else is 0 for tap water. So should I try and get Pristine then for ammonia? I haven’t been able to find anything else as ammonia supplement. The 30% water change was the only one I’ve done since starting the cycle. For filter media I have the floss layer, carbon layer and I put in double the amount of bio rings for the beneficial bacteria.

Where do you live? You can order Dr. TIMS Pure ammonia online. You can try Pristine. It's supposed to break down solid waste. It would probably speed the ammonia production up. Your pH is great for cycling and that media is good. So just get your nitrates down with a big water change. Your cycle is actually progressing faster than average, probably because of the Stability but you still probably have at least 2 weeks to go.