URGENT! Desperately need help w/ fishless cycling going on 11 weeks!

I have been fishless cycling a new 20 gallon freshwater tank with Dr. Tim's pure ammonia for over 10 weeks now and am beyond baffled by this process! I test the water parameters 2x a day with the API Freshwater Master Test Kit and ammonia levels are processing 1 or 2 ppm within 10 to 12 hrs. I also have about 10 to 20 ppm nitrates. However my nitrites are sky high and WILL NOT DROP for 2 weeks. I know I need to be patient but I'm taking this tank with me when I move to college at the end of this week and need this cycle finished since I'll have to purchase my fish Friday because there are no quality LFS in my college town. I've tried PWC (20%-90%) and am still getting nothing. Should I keep dosing ammonia up to 1 ppm when it drops to zero? Is there anything I can do to speed up this nitrite stall!? This tank will keep a fancy goldfish and they're so delicate I am terrified of sticking them in an uncycled tank. HELP!!!

 

Are you adding any beneficial bacteria supplement?

 

Honeybee92305 said:
Today 10:17 PM
I added a bottle of TSS to tank about 7 weeks ago (I have since learned that may not have been the best decision)but it was what finally got my cycle started processing ammonia after a month of stagnation. Wasn't able to get any filter media from an established tank.

 

That should work. Just put like two fish flakes in the tank so the bacteria have food. If the bacteria die than it was a waste to use start up.

CORRECTION: If it was seven weeks ago, add some bacteria again with one flake and then the cycle should get going and hopefully it will balance before you get the fish

 

That should work. Just put like two fish flakes in the tank so the bacteria have food. If the bacteria die than it was a waste to use start up.

CORRECTION: If it was seven weeks ago, add some bacteria again with one flake and then the cycle should get going and hopefully it will balance before you get the fish

No. The OP is adding ammonia. Ammonia is not the issue. The nitrates are high.

Add another bottle off TSS+ and continue the ammonia dosing as you've been doing.

 

Alright. I will pick up another bottle of TSS in the morning. On the off chance that this tank is still not cycled by Friday and I need to add my fish to an uncycled tank (after a full water change of course) would it be possible to keep the fish alive during the cycle by adding more TSS and doing frequent large water changes until its complete? I probably won't feed him for a few days anyway since he'll be stressed from the move.

 

I see. I didn't read carefully! I'll blame it on the time of day, or should I say night! My bad!

 

HI and lets look at this:
If you are going to be moving to college a distance away, you will be emptying the tank and will lose some/most of your good bacteria.
If it were me, I would buy the bottle, buy the fish (make sure you are adding conditioned water to top off etc.) and when you get to where you are going set the tank up.
Add the conditioned tap water, the filter, and slowly acclimate the fish to temperature and to water-if the water is significantly different. Then, add the bottle of good bacteria I like Tetra Safe Start (make sure you don't buy their water conditioning bottle and add by mistake) or Dr. Tims one and only. This will jump start your tank and make sure that you pack the filter materials from your running filter in a baggy with moisture to keep as much bacteria alive as you can.
You can do several water changes weekly to keep any ammonia or nitrite/nitrate down if you need to and your fish should be safe!
I think

 

Alright. I will pick up another bottle of TSS in the morning. On the off chance that this tank is still not cycled by Friday and I need to add my fish to an uncycled tank (after a full water change of course) would it be possible to keep the fish alive during the cycle by adding more TSS and doing frequent large water changes until its complete? I probably won't feed him for a few days anyway since he'll be stressed from the move.

If that happened I wouldn't add more TSS. I'd add the fish and dose with seachem prime daily. The lower bioload from the fish as opposed to direct ammonia dosing will bring the nitrates down significantly, and the prime daily will keep the nitrites locked up and the fish happy until the bacteria can process it.

 

Same exact situation here (in fact I posted a similar question yesterday morning!) My tank is processing NH3 at a ridiculously high rate, but NO2 skyrockets and just sits there. Things might be changing, however. My NO2 was off the scale last night, and this morning it tested at 2, so there may have been a big breakthrough overnight.

May be the same situation with you - it will just happen all of a sudden and you'll be golden.

 

Hi. If I may jump in.

Since your cycling ammonia with in 10 to 12 hours, you do have the bacteria to convert it. The problem is, with your nitrite so high, your nitrite eating bacteria appears to be not multiplying. Have I read this correctly?

If what I read is correct, there is a solution to help you. The biggest one is you need to drop your nitrite down below 1ppm by a big water change, and do not add more ammonia right after. Add your beneficial bacteria (I personally prefer Stability since it allows hands on), add 1 to 2 flakes of fish food, then wait 24 hours. The reason for the fish food is not for the ammonia it produces, but the phosphate. If your water source lacks phosphate, it can inhibit the nitrite growth. After the 24 hours is up, retest. If your nitrite went back above 1ppm, another water change is needed, add only half your ammonia, and add your seed in again. If it lowered, just add half the dose of ammonia, and retest in 24 hours.

You do not need to at this point to add ammonia daily. You can go every other day at half dose just to feed the established colony. Nitrite is just as toxic to the bacteria as it is for the fish. So a good rule of thumb is, if it reaches above 1ppm, do a water change to get it back down. 2ppm starts to stunt them, and at 5ppm or higher, they are most likely dead.

Hope I've helped.

Drag

 

This is very helpful (to me, and hopefully the OP too). Thanks Drag!!!!!

 

Thanks for all the help guys. I went out and picked up a bottle of Stability this morning I'll do a PWC tonight when I get home and add that in. I'll update this thread with my results for anyone interested. Fingers crossed this works!

 

Update: Last night I added a few flakes of food and dosed the tank with Stability and TSS+. This morning about 12 hrs later my levels were as follows.

Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0.50 ppm (down from 1- 2ppm)
Nitrate: 10-20 ppm

However this afternoon I tested my levels again and I seem to have run into a problem. My ammonia and nitrates are both identical to this mornings readings but my nitrites were back up to 2ppm! I tested again twice about 3 minutes apart. The first test read 0.25 ppm but the 2nd taken only 3 minutes later is reading at 1ppm! I know this test solution is not expired and I followed the directions exactly. I haven't experienced any issues with the consistency of the test previously and was confident in the accuracy up until now. Any ideas what's up!??

 

The fish food will cause the ammonia to go up as it breaks down, which in turn cause a nitrite spike.

Now as for a difference between 2 readings only minutes apart, I'm thinking test tube was not rinsed well enough under hot water, or residue of your tap ammonia could of still been in there from a left over drop of water. My suggestion to test this theory is after you rinse your test tube, rinse it again in bottle water and test again. If you get the exact readings in the second test as your first, then it's your tap water left in the tube. Then you will have to let your test tubes dry completely or always rinse them in bottle water after use. If you get different readings again, then it's either your test kit or human error. Test bottle 2 on the ammonia is very thin, and I've even made mistakes with it, thinking I actually got 8 drops in when I really did 7 or 9 drops. Bottle 1 is thicker, so slower for the drops to come out.

Just my suggestions

Drag

 

Ok. I retested nitrites again before I left for work this afternoon. This time I did three tests at once and made sure to rinse and clean the tubes. All 3 read 0.50 ppm. Thanks to Drag for that help. Anyway, I just got home and test again and this time Ammonia was 0 ppm and Nitrites were 0 ppm FINALLY! Nitrates appear to have dropped slightly from 10-20 ppm to about 5 ppm. Am I correct in assuming that now would be the time to dose Ammonia up again? Maybe just to 1ppm and see if the tank cycles Ammonia and Nitrites back to zero within 24 hrs? If it does should I do a water change immediately or just wait to do that right before I add fish?

 

Yes, half dose with ammonia, watch the cycle, and in 24 hours it's all cycled out and a nitrate slightly increased, your cycled. Then do a large water change to replenish your minerals and remove any nitrates.

Glad I was able to help.