Trying to fishless cycle

This is my first post but I'm trying to cycle my tank without fish. It's been a month now and not much is going on. PH is 7.6. Ammonia is .25. Nitrite is 5.0 and nitrate is 80. In 24 hours I can convert ammonia from 4.0 to .25. I'm dosing the ace hardware janitorial strength amonia. Within 3 or 4 days my nitrite goes from 5.0 to 0 but my nitrate stays at 80. Never drops or raises. Please help. This is getting old.

I also have a few live plants in the tank which is a 10 gallon and I'm using prime declorinator and have my heater at 80 with a bubble wand in

I plan on this being a betta tank

 

Welcome to Fishlore

Could you also test your ph, ammonia, nitrite and nitrates out of your tap?

It does look like your cycle is moving along though I know the nitrite phase sometimes takes longer. The only way nitrates are removed are via water changes. Since you're only going to have a betta in there, I would just dose to 2ppm ammonia and see what happens. Can you post your water parameters right now?

 

I left for work but I will test everything first thing when I get home. Thank you for responding. A little side note: I had this tank before and had 4 fish in it over the course of a month before I knew about cycling. One fish would die so I would go to petsmart and return it for another one. Another would die and this process continued for a month and I gave up. I emptied 80% of the water and let the tank sit for a couple of months. I realized this is the hobby for me and came back to it. Long story short I didn't clean or empty the tank. I just filled it back up and started over with the fishless cycle. I have no idea what the parameters were in that 20% of water that I added to. Could that be a problem or is everything fine now that the tank is cycling?

 

Water holds very little bacteria so the 20% remaining wouldn't have any impact on the cycle. It's possible some did survive on the substrate and in the media (if you didn't throw it out) and just remained dormant until you started adding the ammonia again.

I think your cycle is progressing. You could also use a bacteria supplement like Seachem Stability or Tetra SafeStart Plus to speed things up.

 

I've been following eco 23s directions in the "almost complete guide to fishless cycling" by the way.

I'm using prime and some crushed coral but that's it. I've been told the less chemicals you use the better.

 

The products mentioned are not chemicals. They contain nitrifying bacteria. Many have used it successfully here with no issues.

Not familiar with the fishless cycle directions you mentioned but if it's working for you then great!

 

Ok just got home and tested my tap water

PH 6.6
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0

Tested my tank water

PH 7.6
Ammonia 0
Nitrite .25
Nitrate 80

On 6/25 I checked tank water

PH 7.6
Ammonia .5
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 80
I dosed ammonia to 4 ppm. So in 2 days ammonia goes from 4 ppm to 0. What now?

 

Try dosing 2ppm today and see what happens in 24 hrs and post your results.

 

Will do. Thanks

 

Ok just tested my water and ammonia is .25 while nitrite is 0 and nitrate is 80.

 

Has it been 24hrs? Possible it's taking a little more than that to process that bit of ammonia.

 

It's been 23 hours

 

Let's wait it out a little bit longer but at least your nitrite's being converted a lot quicker than before. What's the temp of the tank?

 

78

 

Should be fine and I don't know if it would've made much of a difference but I read the temp should be 80-82 to grow the bacteria faster.

 

Show I should just keep waiting and dose to 2 ppm everyday?

 

Check a couple of hours later and see what the ammonia is.

 

Hi, welcome to fishlore

Seems like you could be cycled at 2.0. Your betta will never have an output of 4.0 which is recommended more often than not for stocking a tank full of cichlids etc. There are many people that show a slight ammonia reading for months or longer but I would do a large, almost 100% water change, dose ammonia to 2.0 and re-test in 24 hours and see where you're at then.

 

Thank you for the advice. I will definitely try that. If I could already be cycled at 2.0 why am I not cycled at 4.0? Has it not been long enough yet?

 

Because you would need twice the amount of bacteria to reproduce and grow to handle the higher amount of ammonia and that takes more time.

After the water change and dosing to 2.0, if ammonia and nitrites are 0 within 24 hours then you're cycled.

 

Last night I did a 90% water change and dosed to 2.0 so I'll check the water around 8 tonight. I have crushed coral in that keeps ph at around 7.6. Do I need to leave it in or take it out?

 

Definitely leave it in

 

Permanently?

 

Yes I would. If its in your hob it can serve as your bio-media also.

 

I checked water and ammonia is .25. Nitrite is 0 and nitrate is 80. I did another 90% water change and dosed 2 2ppm. I'm almost at 2 months with this 10 gallon tank.

Checked again after water change. Ammonia 0. Nitrite 0. Nitrate 5.0. Dosed to 2ppm.

 

Hang in there. I know it's frustrating but taking 2 months to cycle is not unheard of.

 

Thanks. I'm trying

 

Looks to me like you're very close to being done. Once the ammonia is gone in 24 hours and nitrites are still 0 after 24 hours you're cycled.

Let us know your reading tonight.

 

I definitely will.

 

Just checked water and after 24 hours I have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and between 10 and 20 ppm of nitrates. Am I done? What next?

 

Congrats! I would do a large water change (80-90%) and get your betta tomorrow.

 

That's very good news. I never thought I'd make it. Whewww. So 90% water change and turn heater back down. Do I dose any ammonia? I won't be getting a betta until this weekend.

 

Yep keep dosing ammonia every day. Do a huge water change the day before your going to get your betta and re-heat the tank. Bettas like a warm tank so 80-82 is their happy place

 

Dose to 1 ppm everyday?

 

Yeah, 1.0-2.0. I don't think a betta would put out more than 1.0 in a day so you could probably just dose to 1.0 daily.