4+ Weeks Of Fishless Cycling And No Ammonia Drop....

[librarygirl]

There may not be an answer to this, but I'm at my wit's end here.....

I've been fishless cycling this tank (12 gal bowfront) since May 1 (before that I had 3 fish in the tank for 3 weeks before they all died after a large pwc-- I'm guessing PH shock, but I'll never know for sure--...I always kept ammo less than 0.25 and never saw nitrates or nitrites; PetSmart sold me the fish without telling me anything about cycling).

Since then I've:
Turned up the air stone
Turned up the heat to 85 degrees F
Dosed with pure ACE Hardware ammonia
Tried adding a small amount of ground-up fish food (which turned the water cloudy the next day)
[font="verdana][size="3"]My tank PH is usually always dark blue, higher than 7.6, my High PH is usually around 7.4 although it has gone up to about 7.8 a couple of times[/size][/font]
[font="verdana][size="3"]My tap water has no nitrates or nitrites or ammonia[/size][/font]
[font="verdana][size="3"]I don't have live plants in the tank; just fake silk plants, two pieces of aquarium decor and aquarium gravel
[/size][/font]

After about 3 weeks of this there were no drops in ammonia and no nitrates or nitrites. I then purchased a "seeded" sponge filter online (have no local way of getting seeded material) and installed it maybe two Saturdays ago. The next day the ammonia dropped from about 2 to 0.5 and I saw nitrAtes between 0 and 5, but no nitrItes. I was hopeful, so I dosed the ammonia back up to 3-4 and there it has stayed. The other levels stayed the same also except for a slight rise in NitrAtes to 5.

After another week I got discouraged again so last weekend I cut up the sponge filter and put what I could fit next to the tank's current filter, drained most of the water out, and added Tetra Safe Start.

Since adding the SafeStart last Sunday my nitrAtes went up to between 10 and 20 but ammonia is holding at 2 and no nitrItes at all ever.

What should I do, if anything? I'm at a loss here...

Should I buy a new filter and start over? Should I try Ph Down? More fish food? Pack up the tank and give up (I'm soo close to doing this)?

Please help me

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I would check the test kit...


Test your tank with another kit, or take a sample to the LFS and have them test it with their stuff. This makes no sense to me... maybe your getting bad readings from your test kit? When was the last time you dosed ammonia?

 

[librarygirl]

I would check the test kit...


Test your tank with another kit, or take a sample to the LFS and have them test it with their stuff. This makes no sense to me... maybe your getting bad readings from your test kit? When was the last time you dosed ammonia?

Thanks, I'm using the API kit. The first kit I bought thought might have been bad (dated Dec 10) so I bought another one from another Pet Store. Readings are the same from both kits.

I dosed ammonia last time I did almost a full pwc which I think was sometime last weekend, I'd have to check my log for the exact date (figured I'd just try draining everything and starting over but it didn't seem to help). Ammo is at 2, no higher than 3 - I have a devil of a time reading the API test colors lol (had it at 4-5 but then figured maybe it was too high so did some pwc to get it down to 2-3).

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I'm hoping a cycle expert happens by soon... I don't understand this either? You are dechlorinating your water when you do the PWC, right? Are you using it at the proper dosage, double or higher?

 

[Tizer]

i kinda skim read this, but i didnt spot how much you are dosing on a daily basis...or maybe im blind. I do know that fishless cycles can take ages though!

 

[librarygirl]

I'm hoping a cycle expert happens by soon... I don't understand this either? You are dechlorinating your water when you do the PWC, right? Are you using it at the proper dosage, double or higher?

Yes I'm using Prime. I usually just put in enough drops for the water I'm replacing (if I have 3 gals in the bucket I put in 6 drops of Prime, maybe a drop or two extra). I thought maybe I hadn't put enough in so this morning I did dose enough for the whole tank just in case.

 

[librarygirl]

i kinda skim read this, but i didnt spot how much you are dosing on a daily basis...or maybe im blind. I do know that fishless cycles can take ages though!

Well I'm not dosing ammonia daily b/c then it would be off the chart and too high lol I only redosed when I did a pwc and once two weeks ago the day after I added the seeded sponge filter and the ammo dropped on its own to 0.5 then I dosed it back up. But no I don't regularly dose daily, it's holding at 2-3 PPM on it's own, no drops at all.

 

[Tizer]

ah ok sorry, understand now, i think patience is all i can suggest, cant see you doing anything out of the norm

 

[librarygirl]

[font="verdana]Because I'm a glutton for punishment, I checked levels again just now. I THINK ammo dropped from 2 to 1!

The editor keeps messing up the order I want to put the pics in, so there's what's there: The second pic below is the ammonia from today, which looks lighter than the third pic, to me it looks 1. The last pic is the ammonia from the other day, looks a bit darker to me, more like 2 (it was also 2 last night when I tested, I just didn't take a pic last night). NitrItes are still 0. NitrAtes still look 10-20 to me, at least 5 anyway, hard to tell between those oranges (posted a pic of these too, which is first, in case anyone wants to help me interpret to make sure I'm reading correctly).

So, maybe something is happening? Huh? Yes? Please?

I added a small pinch of fish food last night, took the garbage bags off the front today for a while (was blocking the glass to inhibit algae growth) and I propped open the lid on the top of the tank so maybe some air and bacteria can get in there.

I really hope I'm reading these tests right, b/c if ammo is still the same I'm going to kill myself lol[/font]

 

[eaglesaquarium]

You are dosing with fish food? And you had fish before so there is a chance that there is fish waste and fish food in the bottom of the tank. These will produce ammonia continually, not just when you dose. So, its possible that the ammonia keeps topping up after processing. Of course, that would lead to nitrites... and then nitrates...

 

[librarygirl]

You are dosing with fish food? And you had fish before so there is a chance that there is fish waste and fish food in the bottom of the tank. These will produce ammonia continually, not just when you dose. So, its possible that the ammonia keeps topping up after processing. Of course, that would lead to nitrites... and then nitrates...

Well, no, at the start of the fishless cycle a month ago I added a pinch of fish food with the ammonia but all it seemed to do was make the water cloudy. I didn't add fish food again since this morning. SInce the fish have been in the tank I changed out all the substrate (dumb I know, but I wasn't happy with the substrate that was in the tank and I figure the start of a fishless cycle would be a good time to change things I didn't like). I wish I had kept some in a net or something but I didn't, I kept the original filter though, so unless there was something on the filter already from the fish everything else was mostly changed out. So I'm just dosing with the ammonia, I only added the fish food this morning because 1) I heard the phosphates might help feed the bacteria and 2) I'm desperate lol

Thanks.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Sorry. I've got no clue what's going on, then!

 

[Claire121]

Heater definitely working properly ? Do you have a separate thermostat to measure ?

Just a thought.....

 

[librarygirl]

Heater definitely working properly ? Do you have a separate thermostat to measure ?

Just a thought.....

Yes the heater is working. I actually just bought a new Aqueon adjustable heater a month ago b/c I had the Marineland Pro Stealth in there which had been recalled. I have a separate mercury in-tank thermometer and according to that the temp is 84 F.

I checked ammonia this morning: still at 1 PPM, maybe even between 1 and 2 PPM. I double-dosed with Prime yesterday just in case I didn't use enough when I changed the water last and in case there is something in my tap water that might be stalling things.....would the ammonium in the Prime be showing up in the ammonia readings?

I'll test again tonight.

 

[librarygirl]

Been reading a bit and maybe my water is too soft for the cycle? The GH of my tap water is 3 (takes 3 drops to turn faintly yellow, takes about 4-6 drops for brighter yellow/gold, not sure which is more accurate) and my KH is 2 (2 drops to turn color). Could this be the issue?