Bloody 10 gallon won't cycle

[StanTheBetta]

I've posted about this before and now I'm posting again. My 10 gallon has been up 2 months and it still hasn't even STARTED to cycle. I test and change the water every 3 days. It usually tests about 3.0 ppm ammonia (super high I know) and I change about 30% of the water. When I do the change I change about 50% of the water in my betta tank yet that betta tank, which has only been up half as long, has nearly finished cycling (nitrItes are on the down swing). What the hell could be wrong with my 10? I use the same water in both so I don't think that could be it. I know the filter in it is super cheap so I'm thinking that must be it. I was told on here though that even the cheapest filters would support biological filtration. Should I go out and get an AC or a Penguin filter?

 

[tstenback]

What is the process you are using to cycle the tank? If fishless then 3ppm for the ammonia is not real high and you do not need to do any water changes. It is very odd that you are not seeing any nitrite at this point. keep us posted

 

[StanTheBetta]

Know I got this tank before I joined this forum and being a newbie I immediate popped some fish in there. Its the 10 gal in my sig btw. I've even added a handful of gravel from a cycled tank. I still have very high ammonia every time I check. I'm almost getting a lot of brown algae now. Argh this is a pain

 

[tstenback]

The brown algae is quite common in new aquaria and generally goes away as the tank cycles. If not you can manually wipe it away and with proper lighting it shouldn't give you any more grief. As for the filter it will be fine i have cycled 20 gal tanks using a corner filter (Yah, the one with the charcoal and floss ) What are your other readings nitrite and nitrate? You have more fish in there than you should have for cycling with fish which would lead me to think that is why the high ammonia but without the other readings it is hard to tell you what to do next except keep up with the water changes and get that ammonia level down below 1 if you can. The black skirts are very dirty fish they eat a ton and have the same amount of waste but they are very hardy so they should pull through. If you could get those other readings we can pursue a solution for you

 

[heresmike]

What type of filter are you using? Some of the cheaper ones do not support the bio-filtering as well as others. For example the the Whisper filters are not as good as the Penguin bio-wheel filters (imo).

 

[tstenback]

Another thing that came to my mind is that oxygen is a major part of the cycle. One time i had to add an airstone to get the thing going properly. I was stuck at a very low nitrite reading and within a day of adding the extra airation the readings started to climb. Something to think about!!

 

[noelberg]

Good point with the oxygen tstenback!

Bacteria need oxygen and oxygen is needed for the two conversions in the nitrogen cycle, otherwise nitrite can't become nitrate and ammonia will be hard-pressed to convert to nitrite. The surface movement from a bubbler can be extremely beneficial IMO. Some fish will love it - like my rubbernose pleco.

 

[StanTheBetta]

Nitrites are about .12 I'm guessing. Its not .25 but theres defintely a change from 0. I don't have a nitrAtes test kit. The petco and lfs near my don't have any. I should have bought one when I see it at petsmart in sterling (2 hours away) but I didn't have money at the time. The temp is 84 F to speed the bacteria colonization and because I believe one of the black skirts had a few ich spots. I know about the black skirts appetite. I'm also concerned they're going to be quite large for a 10 gal. I saw some big ones at the lfs. I'd like to get rid of them but my gf bought them for me and I'm afraid of hurting her feelings if I return them I should be getting that dang 20 gallon I've been talking about any day now so I plan on putting the black skirts in there.

Oh yeah and about the oxygen, I figured since the waterline was about an inch under the filter outflow that would be sufficient. It produces quite a bit of bubbles when the water hits, but if you think it will help I have a spare small air pump (it went to a 1 gallon with an ugf) with an airstone I could plop in the tank. *shrugs*