Cycling Not Happening?

[tom_os]

so im 31 days into my fish in cycle. and i tested my water as usual this morning and got the usual readings of ammonia, 1 nitrite, 0 nitrate, 10

so i do a 60% water change. scince the start of my cycle i have had no readings of nitrite, and nitrate is the same as my tap water.

i have heard it has taken most people about 20-25 days, is mine just being slow?

 

[Truck]

whats your PH?

 

[tom_os]

7.6

 

[tom_os]

anyone help?

 

[OldMan47]

It looks like you are going through an unusually slow cycle. That just means it will take more work on your part to keep the fish alive and healthy until the cycle finally happens. Eventually the cycle will happen but meanwhile the fish's needs come first. Is this a cold water tank? That would tend to make the cycle go a bit slower too.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yeah it just goes this way sometimes unfortunately.

you've not got anything like zeolite in your filter have you?

 

[tom_os]

no, its a heated tank at 26c.

i use nothing on the filter apart from a bottle of sure start by Tetra when i first set up the tank. i use aquasafe dechlorinator.

thanks for your help.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

zeolite is a type of filter media which can inhibit the cycling process, it looks like carbon but it's white, there's not any of that in your filter is there?

 

[tom_os]

there is tetra tec easy crystal C 250/300, which is the main media, then a black spongy type media infront of it.

its a tetra tec internal filter

 

[Miss Wiggle]

thats fine then, most likely just a slow cycle. unfortunately a fish-in cycle often takes much longer than a fishless cycle, especially if you've a fairly heavy load of fish.

 

[waterdrop]

What is TetraTec EasyCrystal MW?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

carbon impregnated sponge/foam stuff (according to google anyway). not the best media perhaps but shouldn't inhibit the cycle like zeolite.

 

[Bit.Fishy]

Sorry to Hijack your post but I didnt realise there were things in the filter that could slow the process of cycling down.
I've taken a picture of my filter diagram,is there anything in the picture that would be best left out of the filter while i cycle it?

thanks

 

[waterdrop]

tom_os,

Yea, I think its just the patience thing. We all like to talk about the average fish-in cycle taking about a month and perhaps that's roughly correct but I'm sometimes suspicious that there's a built-in sort of bias that we all can't help but perpetrate of wishing things to be faster and therefor reporting the "average" as perhaps a little faster than it really might be!

Bit.Fishy,

Usually a short hijack goes ok, and you are on the same topic, but looking over your picture I think it could run into quite a few posts with people talking about it so perhaps you should pop it over into a new topic -- no big deal.

~~waterdrop~~