Cycle Stalled!

[Gruffle]

I've been running a fishless cycle for a couple of weeks (thanks to MW for advice!), i'm currently at the 2nd stage; reduced daily ammonia to 3ppm, did a water change as the nitrite reading was off the chart, and currently waiting eagerly for my nitrite levels to drop.

However, the cycle seems to have stalled, i know why, so i'm not too worried about it, my ph is too low at 6 (dropping from the 6.8 that is in my tapwater to 6) and as far as I understand that will inhibit the growth of bacteria and bring it all to a halt.

My other tank downstairs has a ph of about 6.4, but doesn't have as much driftwood in it as my new tank upstairs (assuming i'm right in thinking its the stuff being released from the wood affecting my water chemistry!).

Presumably to maintain a higher ph in my new tank I would need to be changing the water fairly frequently to keep things moving. In the time that the cycle is stalled, what will happen to the bacteria in the filter?

Another possibility is to empty my downstairs tank and put everything into the bigger one upstairs, filter, driftwood, rocks and fishies, after doing a massive water change obviously to get rid of all the rubbish in it.

Would it be as simple as that, I would then be running a smaller, mature internal filter and the canister that came with the new tank. The only complication I can think of is that my little plec won't have much algea to eat, although I would be moving my old driftwood and rocks, which are covered with it!

I'm leaning towards putting everything in the new tank, although i am quite enjoying the fishless cycle and it is a good learning experience i'm dying to see some fish in my shiny new tank!

any suggestions for kickstarting the old cycle or thoughts / complications i've overlooked regarding moving everything into the new tank?

ps sorry for the waffle

pps thanks in advance

 

[minxfishy]

Just do a large 90+% water change to get the ph back up to start the cycle again, it often happens in fishless cycles, happened to me many times, just changed the water, re-charged with ammonia and the cycle continues as normal.

 

[waterdrop]

Agree.

 

[OldMan47]

If you don't have any fish in the new tank yet, you can use some baking soda, not baking powder, to raise the pH. It may not be something you would do with fish in the tank but it will dramatically raise pH and should get the cycle going again. Do not do this with fish in the tank but it won't hurt anything on a fishless cycle.

 

[drobbyb]

If you don't have any fish in the new tank yet, you can use some baking soda, not baking powder, to raise the pH. It may not be something you would do with fish in the tank but it will dramatically raise pH and should get the cycle going again. Do not do this with fish in the tank but it won't hurt anything on a fishless cycle.

Dependant on the volume to be treated you can dissolve the baking soda in a glass of tank water, then pour directly into the tank. I have to do this to raise my dKH to 4. Ie: My tank is 72 gallons. Two teaspoons are required to raise my dKH 2°.

Here's a link to a calculator for adding baking soda: http/dataguru.org/misc/aquarium/calKH.asp

 

[Gruffle]

Right, i'll get some baking soda on the way home from work!

The cycle stalled about 2 days ago, the level of ammonia has stayed the same, any ideas if the level of bacteria will have died down at all?

 

[Corleone]

Hopefully they won't be nuked out of existence entirely. You might lose some progress, particularly since it's been a couple days since the stall, but my first fishless cycle crashed as well, and I definitely didn't get set all the way back to square one.

 

[waterdrop]

I agree you won't have lost much bacteria. I believe when a cycle stalls down around pH 6, the bacterial division process stops and if the right conditions surrounding the colony return then you have to go through the lag phase again as the cells prepare to divide. Your pH would have to be down around 5.5 or somewhere in that neighborhood to actually lyse the bacterial cell walls.

For any fishless cycle stall I always think it best to do a 90% water change and recharge with (3ppm in your case) ammonia and for your pH I'd put 1 teaspoon per every 10 US gallons and keep the temp up at 84F/29C. I like to think of the water during a fishless cycle as a broth to be optimized for the bacteria, lol.

~~waterdrop~~