Fishless cycle over a month

Heyo! I’ve been cycling my 53 gallon tank for about 37 days now, and I don’t believe it’s fully cycled quite yet. At the moment it can cycle 1 ppm ammonia to nitrates in 2 days. I’m not sure if I’m doing something wrong? Anyone have any tips to move it along faster? I’ll attach a photo of my last week of cycling (I lost the other sheet someone misplaced it). Idk what’s going on with the nitrates, but I do have plants in my tank: Amazon sword, dwarf lily, Christmas moss, anubius, water sprite, wendii, and some other things I forgot the name of. (On day 32 and 34 I added 2 ml (1 ppm) ammonia after the test)

 

Nope it will be done when its done. There is no certain time frame. You do sound close though so keep it up. Once the Nitrites are gone you will be super close. I know its really hard to wait so long to get fish. Fishless cycles test everyone's patience.

 

Nope it will be done when its done. There is no certain time frame. You do sound close though so keep it up. Once the Nitrites are gone you will be super close. I know its really hard to wait so long to get fish. Fishless cycles test everyone's patience.

I’m so impatient ahaha, but I’ll wait!!

 

I’m so impatient

We didn’t notice.

 

I think there is something you can do. If you are measuring ammonia correctly, then in the most recent case ammonia decreased by 1.25ppm in a day. If you still see 0.25ppm constantly then it is a false reading. Because it is nonsense that ammonia would drop and then 'stall' at a certain point like that.

What you should do is dose 2ppm ammonia now and see if it drops significantly and then get 'stuck' at 0.25ppm again. If so you should consider your 0.25ppm reading to be a 0 reading for all intents and purposes.

 

I will offer this. But because of the grief I have been subjected to in the past by those that can not except this I will stay out of this thread.
best wishes.

Fast Fishless Cycle. | Aquarium Nitrogen Cycle Forum | 330546

 

I will offer this. But because of the grief I have been subjected to in the past by those that can not except this I will stay out of this thread.
best wishes.

Fast Fishless Cycle. | Aquarium Nitrogen Cycle Forum | 330546

For whatever it’s worth, I don’t understand why you’d stay out of this thread (although you really didn’t ). Even if your suggestion doesn’t work for others, making the attempt based on your suggestion isn’t going to harm anything (important distinction for me) . . It’s a fishless cycle.

The only thing for certain is that there will be varying opinions and experiences no matter the subject in this hobby. Learn how to tune out the skeptics and critics. . . They are likely folks who never attempted what you suggested.

And they’re likely convinced that “their way” is the only way because they’ve never attempted another way. All that really matters is that it worked for you.

 

For whatever it’s worth, I don’t understand why you’d stay out of this thread (although you really didn’t ). Even if your suggestion doesn’t work for others, making the attempt based on your suggestion isn’t going to harm anything (important distinction for me) . . It’s a fishless cycle.

The only thing for certain is that there will be varying opinions and experiences no matter the subject in this hobby. Learn how to tune out the skeptics and critics. . . They are likely folks who never attempted what you suggested.

And they’re likely convinced that “their way” is the only way because they’ve never attempted another way. All that really matters is that it worked for you.

When I and the others (long gone now) that use this method suggest its use things got nasty. The Mods had to do a of work to clean things up. I just did not want to ignite it all over again.

But the method does work. There was one member that did it in I think 4 days. The best I got was 7 days (generally 12 days). But with all the aquariums we have now I just double filter an established aquarium for a couple of weeks and transfer the filter to the new aquarium.

 

I think there is something you can do. If you are measuring ammonia correctly, then in the most recent case ammonia decreased by 1.25ppm in a day. If you still see 0.25ppm constantly then it is a false reading. Because it is nonsense that ammonia would drop and then 'stall' at a certain point like that.

What you should do is dose 2ppm ammonia now and see if it drops significantly and then get 'stuck' at 0.25ppm again. If so you should consider your 0.25ppm reading to be a 0 reading for all intents and purposes.

I don't disagree that the 0.25 ppm ammonia level could be a false reading.

But according to the OP, nitrites were at 1.0 ppm according to the last test posted. So even if the ammonia reading is false, the tank still needs some time to get fully cycled.

When I and the others (long gone now) that use this method suggest its use things got nasty. The Mods had to do a of work to clean things up. I just did not want to ignite it all over again.

But the method does work. There was one member that did it in I think 4 days. The best I got was 7 days (generally 12 days). But with all the aquariums we have now I just double filter an established aquarium for a couple of weeks and transfer the filter to the new aquarium.

I get it. Do your best to ignore it. If that doesn't work, use the "block" function.

Thanks for posting your experience! Maybe I’ll give it a go with my next tank.

 

When I and the others (long gone now) that use this method suggest its use things got nasty. The Mods had to do a of work to clean things up. I just did not want to ignite it all over again.

But the method does work. There was one member that did it in I think 4 days. The best I got was 7 days (generally 12 days). But with all the aquariums we have now I just double filter an established aquarium for a couple of weeks and transfer the filter to the new aquarium.

I red your post and I second that, for what its worth. To speed up cycling, I used to increase temp around 84-85 fahrenheit and added additional filters to increase water flow (Hob filters along the full length of the tank). And I simply threw in organic matter I found in the fridge, not all the fancy liquids that are offered for cycling. I can't recall I counted days (wasn't participating in a contest), but I'm sure cycling was done within 2 weeks.

This was 20 years ago.