Cycling Problems

[BrookeLea]

Hey guys,

I've been cycling my 55 gallon tank for just over three weeks now. I've had some bumps along the way. I just left town for a week and a half, a day or two after my nitrite spike. I put a bunch of fish food into the tank before I left so that there would be ammonia in it. I came home to find that my plants had grown a ton, and there's a good bit of algea in the tank (goofy me forgot the lights on in the tank with live plants!). I tested the water and ammonia is reading around 1ppm and nitrites are still waaaaaay up high somewhere between 8.4 and 8.8. I thought that the nitrites would have dropped by now.

My question is...what do I do now? The cycle seems to be stalling and it's taking forever. Should I add more ammonia to the tank?

I appreciate any help offered, as I'm starting to get really frustrated. I want my fish already! hah

 

[SkiFletch]

Yeah, add some more ammonia to bring things up to 5ppm and see how long it takes to get used up. If its only like a day or so at least your ammonia-eater bacteria survived your trip, thats a good sign. If the ammonia level doesnt come down within a day but is at least coming down you'll also be still in decent shape. Make sure if either is the case though that you keep adding some ammonia daily to keep the bacteria fed.

As for the nitrites, it takes a while usually for them to come down. I know for me in my own cycle that I just completed it took me 10 days to get my ammonia to come down to 0 and 20 for my nitrites to come down to 0 for a total of a month. Patience is a virtue when dealing with fishless cycling, but at least when your done your fish have a MUCH better chance at surviving. Every single fish I bought, even the weaker cardinals and ottos have survived without any stress because i fishless cycled. Its worth the wait

Last bit of info, what is your water temp? Warming it up to 82-84 helps the bacteria grow faster and could be some help to you

 

[BrookeLea]

Thanks! I appreciate your help. I'll add some ammonia now.

Since the weather has been colder, I haven't been able to get my temp higher than 74 with the heater turned all the way up. I think I'm going to go out and buy a second heater and hope that helps.

20 days for the nitrites to fall? Sheesh! haha I'm trying to be patient, but I'm tired of staring at that empty tank..

 

[SkiFletch]

heh, yeah it drove me nuts too

 

[daklinz112588]

if ur impacient why not just take all your water out add new water add cycle to is which they sell u at fish stores but only half as much as they really tell you to so your tank doesnt clould (add that on the fourth day) then add fish slowly to cycle you should drop in fish food to make amoina..to be honest i never test amonia and nitrites unless my fish are sick and my fish have been living with fine for over a year now