Ammonia levels aren't dropping

[Darter217]

I am on day 12 of my fishless cycle and my ammonia levels don't appear to be dropping? I have had a steady ammonia reading of 4ppm on the API freshwater kit since I started the cycle. I'm wondering if my tank is just slow because nitrites appeared for the first time day at 0.50 ppm. it was my 4th test today.

 

[hansgruber7]

It can take a while I think; sometimes several weeks. I think you can add a little bit of food to speed up the bacteria production. Or you can try to seed it with filter media from a cycled tank to speed it up. I have a terrible time being patient while cycling a tank.

 

[Darter217]

It can take a while I think; sometimes several weeks. I think you can add a little bit of food to speed up the bacteria production. Or you can try to seed it with filter media from a cycled tank to speed it up. I have a terrible time being patient while cycling a tank.

I'm happy to wait and be patient, although I don't want to add any fish food as I've already had a bit of an issue with planaria worms in the tank and don't want to end up with detritus worms too from fish food debris.

As long as there's nothing wrong and that it's just a bit slow then I'm okay with that.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Glad to hear you are not using the fish food method as a source for ammonia, messy and inaccurate tbh.

You can get a small bottle of Dr Tims ammonium chloride online, try the Amazon website, they sell these.

Planeria and detritus worms are not too bad, a bit unsightly but when you stock the tank after the succeeefuly cycle hopefully the fish will make a nice snack out of these worms, or you can treatathe tank with worm treatment to kill them off and a large water change will sort that.

 

[Darter217]

Glad to hear you are not using the fish food method as a source for ammonia, messy and inaccurate tbh.

You can get a small bottle of Dr Tims ammonium chloride online, try the Amazon website, they sell these.

Planeria and detritus worms are not too bad, a bit unsightly but when you stock the tank after the succeeefuly cycle hopefully the fish will make a nice snack out of these worms, or you can treatathe tank with worm treatment to kill them off and a large water change will sort that.

It's Doctor Tim's that in using. I have zero live plants or old filter media in my tank as there is my first ever tank. So the cycle will naturally be a bit slower I'm guessing.

I have a bit of a suspicion that the worms may be in the filter, there were only about 5 or 6 of them in the tank (from what I could see) first they were on the glass, then floating about in the water and now they've just vanished. Saw what in guessing are new baby worms now as they're extremely tiny and buzzing around the place.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Excellent that you already have Dr Tims, good one.

Planeria or detritus worms are annoying tbh, wondering how did they get into your filter, is this a second have tank and/or filter?

Without live plants or a bottle of Tetra Safe start or Dr Tims One and Only Nitrfying Bacteria can mean it will take a little while for bacteria to build up their numbers.

What sized tank is this and what is your planned stocking?

I only ask as this as you are dosing 4ppm ammonia, this is a little on the high side, would suggest changing 25% of the water to reduce ammonia to 3ppm.

If you add too much ammonia every time you dose, the nitrite will then start to build up, and if you build up too much nitrite after giving too high doses of ammonia then there may be a danger of stalling the cycle if nitrite reaches around 16 ppm.

This is why the fishless cycing article state to dose no more than 3ppm ammonia and snack doses while waiting or nitrite bacteria to build up.

 

[Darter217]

Excellent that you already have Dr Tims, good one.

Planeria or detritus worms are annoying tbh, wondering how did they get into your filter, is this a second have tank and/or filter?

Without live plants or a bottle of Tetra Safe start or Dr Tims One and Only Nitrfying Bacteria can mean it will take a little while for bacteria to build up their numbers.

What sized tank is this and what is your planned stocking?

I only ask as this as you are dosing 4ppm ammonia, this is a little on the high side, would suggest changing 25% of the water to reduce ammonia to 3ppm.

If you add too much ammonia every time you dose, the nitrite will then start to build up, and if you build up too much nitrite after giving too high doses of ammonia then there may be a danger of stalling the cycle if nitrite reaches around 16 ppm.

This is why the fishless cycing article state to dose no more than 3ppm ammonia and snack doses while waiting or nitrite bacteria to build up.

No this is a new tank and a new filter. I think they may have come in on the bogwood or floating plants that I originally had in the tank but then removed as they were causing problems.

The tank is 125 litres and I plan on stocking either Chery barbs or Harlequin Rasboras, a trio of honey Gouramis and a group of about 6 albino Corry cats. PH is about 6.8 and the water temp is about 26.5 degrees. The Rasboras or barbs would be the first fish in the tank (still trying to pick between them)

Well I did dose the right amount to get me to 3ppm, the problem is that the API test kit doesn't have 3ppm on the colour chart. It just goes from 2 to 4.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Thats all good.

Nice planning in advance there, glad to see you're taking your time and doing research first. Good.

Makes sense the worms may have originated from bogwood or floating plants as there may have been eggs on it before you put it into the tank, not sure, but unlucky I think.

pH of 6.8 is fine for cycling, do keep an eye on that to make sure it does not drop any further, pH of 6.5 is probably as low as it goes to keep the cycle going nicely.

A good pH is nywhere between 6.5 to 8.0, the nerer to 8.0 the quicker the cycle goes really. If it drops below 6.5, the cycle slows dramatically and if it drops further to 6.0, the cycle will likely stop altogether!

So its worth keeping an eye on, test maybe once a week during the cycle process just to be sure.

Well I did dose the right amount to get me to 3ppm, the problem is that the API test kit doesn't have 3ppm on the colour chart. It just goes from 2 to 4.

I know what you mean, yeah, its a bit of guesswork to try and reach a colour that is between the two numbers, not an exact science but as long as it not darker but lighter than the 4ppm colour, should be ok.

 

[hansgruber7]

I vote for Harlequin Rasbora. I had those for a while and they are beautiful and wonderful fish.

 

[Ch4rlie]

I vote for Harlequin Rasbora. I had those for a while and they are beautiful and wonderful fish.

I like Harlequins as well, Trigonostigma heteromorpha, but I actually prefer Trigonostigma espei, similar looking to harelequins but with a deeper copper colour and smaller black tail marking, also they are a smaller specie as well, so you could have a slightly larger school of those in a 125.

Cherry barbs are nice too, sometimes barbs can be a bit nippy, depending on numbers and tank set up etc but these cherry barbs are the more gentler of the usual barb species though.

Thats just me though

 

[Darter217]

Thats all good.

Nice planning in advance there, glad to see you're taking your time and doing research first. Good.

Makes sense the worms may have originated from bogwood or floating plants as there may have been eggs on it before you put it into the tank, not sure, but unlucky I think.

pH of 6.8 is fine for cycling, do keep an eye on that to make sure it does not drop any further, pH of 6.5 is probably as low as it goes to keep the cycle going nicely.

A good pH is nywhere between 6.5 to 8.0, the nerer to 8.0 the quicker the cycle goes really. If it drops below 6.5, the cycle slows dramatically and if it drops further to 6.0, the cycle will likely stop altogether!

So its worth keeping an eye on, test maybe once a week during the cycle process just to be sure.



I know what you mean, yeah, its a bit of guesswork to try and reach a colour that is between the two numbers, not an exact science but as long as it not darker but lighter than the 4ppm colour, should be ok.

I've tested the PH twice, once before I added the ammonia and again 3 days ago as I was just over a week into the cycle. It seems to have remained exactly the same so that's a good sign. The water is naturally soft where I live.

For the first group of fish I'm just trying to pick out a hardy fish that doesn't really need an established tank (I went against neon tetras for that reason) I'm leaning towards the Rasbora as I think that their calm style goes better with the honey gourami. The pace of the cherry barbs might spook the honeys a bit but correct me if I'm wrong.

I had to do most of the research myself as I got quite a bad impression from my local fish store. They said I could keep a trio of discus in my 125 litre tank! Really didn't sound right to me as I've read that discus aren't a good fish for a beginner as well as needing a tank quite a bit bigger than mine.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Sounds good.

That IS bad advice from LFS recommending you to get discus for a 125 litre tank! Even experienced keepers like me would think twice about getting discus as these need really clean waters and specific set ups.

Even harder to breed them!

Anyway, good on you doing your research, and not just taking the word of LFS staff.

 

[Darter217]

Sounds good.

That IS bad advice from LFS recommending you to get discus for a 125 litre tank! Even experienced keepers like me would think twice about getting discus as these need really clean waters and specific set ups.

Even harder to breed them!

Anyway, good on you doing your research, and not just taking the word of LFS staff.

I did think it was bad advice, my water has quite a nasty biofilm on the surface so definitely not any good for discus! I'm much happier having groups of smaller and easier to care for fish which are still interesting to watch to start with.

 

[Colin_T]

I am on day 12 of my fishless cycle and my ammonia levels don't appear to be dropping? I have had a steady ammonia reading of 4ppm on the API freshwater kit since I started the cycle. I'm wondering if my tank is just slow because nitrites appeared for the first time day at 0.50 ppm. it was my 4th test today.

It usually takes 4-6 weeks for a tank to cycle, sometimes longer.

The fact you are only on day 12 means you are not even half way through. However, you have nitrite today and that is a good indication the first part of the cycling process is almost done. You will probably find the ammonia levels drop to 0ppm in the next couple of days because the bacteria that convert ammonia into nitrite have just started to grow.

Having lots of oxygen in the water can help get things going, so increase aeration/ surface turbulence if you don't have much.

Have the water temperature on 28C during the cycling process and it will help the beneficial bacteria grow faster, and subsequently the tank will cycle sooner.

Don't let the pH drop too low because that will inhibit the growth of the filter bacteria.

Adding a liquid filter bacterial supplement will usually help. I recommend using a double dose every day for a week and then pouring the remaining supplement into the tank. Try to add the beneficial bacteria supplement near the filter intake so they are drawn into the filter where they belong.

 

[itiwhetu]

It usually takes 4-6 weeks for a tank to cycle, sometimes longer.

The fact you are only on day 12 means you are not even half way through. However, you have nitrite today and that is a good indication the first part of the cycling process is almost done. You will probably find the ammonia levels drop to 0ppm in the next couple of days because the bacteria that convert ammonia into nitrite have just started to grow.

Having lots of oxygen in the water can help get things going, so increase aeration/ surface turbulence if you don't have much.

Have the water temperature on 28C during the cycling process and it will help the beneficial bacteria grow faster, and subsequently the tank will cycle sooner.

Don't let the pH drop too low because that will inhibit the growth of the filter bacteria.

Adding a liquid filter bacterial supplement will usually help. I recommend using a double dose every day for a week and then pouring the remaining supplement into the tank. Try to add the beneficial bacteria supplement near the filter intake so they are drawn into the filter where they belong.

Are these fishless cycles done with plants in the tanks?