Questions About A Fish-in-cycle

So currently I have been doing a fish-in-cycle for the past 4 days, and I have a couple of questions. And before you judge me - the fish have been given to be as a gift I could not refuse. Ive been dosing Seachem Stability daily and Prime every 2 days, as well as using the API Master Test Kit. I read to speed up the cycle, I bought 3 plants from my LFS. However, its already day 5 and there seems to be "close" to 0.25ppm ammonia (idk because the color is yellow but not SUPER bright yellow) and 0 nitrites, 0 nitrates. So what do I do right now? Ive done a water change yesterday, and I don't think ill do one today as I want ammonia to build up. I have 2 copies, and 1 goldfish in my tank right now.

 

So currently I have been doing a fish-in-cycle for the past 4 days, and I have a couple of questions. And before you judge me - the fish have been given to be as a gift I could not refuse. Ive been dosing Seachem Stability daily and Prime every 2 days, as well as using the API Master Test Kit. I read to speed up the cycle, I bought 3 plants from my LFS. However, its already day 5 and there seems to be "close" to 0.25ppm ammonia (idk because the color is yellow but not SUPER bright yellow) and 0 nitrites, 0 nitrates. So what do I do right now? Ive done a water change yesterday, and I don't think ill do one today as I want ammonia to build up. I have 2 copies, and 1 goldfish in my tank right now.

dose prime daily, and let your ammonia get to .50ppm-1ppm then do water changes. itll take probably a month or longer before you start seeing nitrites. then once you do see nitrites you want to do a water change once the ammonia and nitrites combined equals 1ppm

dose prime daily, and let your ammonia get to .50ppm-1ppm then do water changes. itll take probably a month or longer before you start seeing nitrites. then once you do see nitrites you want to do a water change once the ammonia and nitrites combined equals 1ppm

also, when you do a water change, add enough prime to dose the whole tank to the new water when you do a water change

 

How long will the cycle take in total?

 

How long will the cycle take in total?

can take anywhere from a month to two months. I'm not sure, I'm not that experience

 

Okay thanks, one more thing, will getting an old sponge filter or gravel from established tank help at all with the cycling process in this case?

 

Okay thanks, one more thing, will getting an old sponge filter or gravel from established tank help at all with the cycling process in this case?

yes very much so, can speed up the process to where the cycle will only take 1-2 weeks.

 

I think using Stability is suppose to cycle a tank pretty quickly. I never used it so I’m not sure how long. I’ve only used Tetra Safe Start Plus, and that cycles a tank in 2 weeks if done properly.

 

Okay thanks, one more thing, will getting an old sponge filter or gravel from established tank help at all with the cycling process in this case?

also sponge filter, not gravel. all the beneficial bacteria will be in the filter, not much in the gravel

 

Just to mention, my pH is about 8.0, and I've used stability (supposedly brings BB), so will the high pH kill bacteria? Is that why I have seen no movement in nitrites?

 

Just to mention, my pH is about 8.0, and I've used stability (supposedly brings BB), so will the high pH kill bacteria? Is that why I have seen no movement in nitrites?

that pH is pretty high, you can use driftwood, and peat moss to lower it

 

High pH shouldn’t kill bacteria. Low pH can cause a cycle crash though.

 

Ok, thank you so much for your help!

Sry one last thing - can I just dump the entire bottle of 100ml Stability as Ive heard it works for TSS, has anyone tried this before

 

No you should follow the directions on the bottle of Stability. While Stability and TSS are both bacteria additives, they work totally differently.

 

I posted a thread a few days ago, so currently I have been doing a fish-in-cycle for the past 4 days, and I have a couple of questions. And before you judge me - the fish have been given to be as a gift I could not refuse. Ive been dosing Seachem daily and every 2 days, as well as using the API Master . I read to speed up the cycle, I bought 3 plants from my LFS. Stability says after 7 days, the tank will be cycled, its already day 5 and 0.25ppm ammonia (after not changing water for 4 days), 0ppm nitrite, and 5ppm nitrate (from the tap water cause tap has 5ppm nitrate). It seems that ammonia is not building up even after not cleaning. So should I just continue to do what I am doing right now and let ammonia build up, or try another product like TSS or Dr. Tim's One and Only and stop using Stability?? Thanks.

 

Keep going. It takes a while. Even if you don't add any bottled bacteria it will eventually cycle.
I would do a water change whenever ammonia or nitrite get near 1ppm.
I would also try to dose prime daily as it only detoxifies ammonia and nitrite for up to 24 hours.

Do you have any other tanks you could take some cycled media from?

 

No...although I could try to go to my LFS and buy some stuff then ask if they will give me a used filter cartridge??

 

You could try. Just make sure the tanks are healthy. You don't want to be bringing diseases into the tank.