40 Days, Cycle Won't Start, Help!

[daizeUK]

Day 7, no change.
 
Part of me knows that I shouldn't expect to see anything happen for 7-10 days at least.  The bacteria are probably still recovering from chlorine suppression and I haven't even got any substrate in the tank to help them colonise, so I should expect it to take longer.
 
The other half of me sees other people posting here with zero ammonia after 2 or 3 days and I think maybe my tank will never cycle!

 

[daizeUK]

Phil - thanks for posting your cycling log, I've gone back and read it again more carefully.  Your ammonia didn't drop for 17 days, it's helped to remind me that maybe I am not doomed yet!  I must be patient... all over again! 
 
I guess in my head I keep expecting the cycle to fail because it failed before.  It's hard to shake that feeling off.
 
And Dr Tim's is still out of stock, so I'm on my own.

 

[daizeUK]

Ooh I contacted Midland Reefs to see when they would be restocking and they updated the stocking list for me on the spot.  So I've gone ahead and ordered some Dr Tim's One and Only and some ammonium chloride.  I'm curious to see if it's the miracle treatment it claims to be.  I hope so, a little boost would be nice at this point.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I sure hope it works for you!

 

[TwoTankAmin]

daize- please when you get these products, follow the directions exactly. Do not allow either your imagination or contrary advice from posters to convince you to do otherwise. In addition, you can find much more detailed information and directions on DrTim's site. I urge you to read there as well.
 
Finally, Dr. Hovanec is very good about responding to email questions if you need clarification or more information.

 

[snazy]

Oh, great. This will be very interesting.

 

[daizeUK]

Don't worry, I plan to follow the instructions to the letter.  I'll start by draining the BioMature out of the tank and use the ammonium chloride solution instead.  Then I'll make sure I follow instructions and I won't mess it up this time.  I learned the hard way not to mess about so whatever Dr Tim says is what I'll do.
 
If it doesn't work then TTA you owe me £17  

  lol j/k

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Sounds like a fair deal to me!  

 

[daizeUK]

Day 10 - still no drop in ammonia!
I really have no idea how some people can see their whole cycle complete in two weeks.
 
I'm trying to read the instructions for the Dr Tim's stuff but the website isn't working for me.  It's been unavailable for several days so I'm starting to wonder if it's just me that can't see it.  Can anybody follow this link and tell me if the website is up or down?  http/www.drtimsaquatics.com/resources/fishless-cycling

 

[snazy]

The link works fine for me

 

[daizeUK]

Thanks Snazy.  I suspected as much.  The entire drtimsaquatics domain does not respond to me.  I was browsing through articles a few days ago when it stopped working and it's been like that ever since.  I've cleared all my cache and cookies, still it won't respond.
 
Not having much luck am I

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Make sure you did not accidentally do something to make your computer thing its a "bad" site. If need be I can copy and paste the info into an email or PM for you.

 

[daizeUK]

Cheers mate, I've pm'd you.
 
I will double check my computer later to make sure I've not somehow blacklisted the site.  I did use Windows diagnostics to troubleshoot and it tells me everything is fine from my end, they're just not responding, I wonder if they might be them blocking my IP address    I swear I didn't try to DoS attack them or anything!

 

[snazy]

Just reset your Internet Explorer via Tools-Options-Advanced.

 

[daizeUK]

Thanks Snazy, I will look into that.
 
Thanks for the info TTA.  I want to make sure I get the initial dose right
 

Add the ammonia solution to the aquarium so that the ammonia concentration is between 2 and 3 mg/L (but, as mentioned, do not go above 5 mg/L). [...] We make it easy by providing a bottle of reagent grade ammonium chloride that is at a concentration such that adding 1 drop of solution to 1 gallon of aquarium water will result in an ammonia-nitrogen concentration of 2 mg/L (ppm).

 
I've got a 60 litre tank so that's about 16 US gallons, should I add about 20 drops to give me just over 2mg/L NH3-N?
 
 

The procedure is to add the ammonium chloride solution, shake the bottle of nitrifying bacteria well and add it to the aquarium. Measure ammonia and nitrite the next day and record. Add ½ dose and wait 24 hours and measure again. By day 5 to 7, you should be able to add 1 drop per gallon and the next day, ammonia and nitrite will be 0.

 
He seems very confident that ammonia and nitrate will be reduced within one day!  I'm a bit unsure about this.  I would feel apprehensive about adding more ammonia unless the readings were already under 0.5ppm.