Fishless Cycle - Ammonia Help !

[logley]

I'm two weeks into my first ever Fishless cycle, and starting to get frustrated.

30L Tank
26 Celius
Internal filter that came with tank.

Ammonia Nitrite Nitrate
29/06/2010 5 0 0
30/06/2010 5 0 5
01/07/2010 4 0 20
02/07/2010 4 0 30
03/07/2010 4 0 30
04/07/2010 4 0 30
05/07/2010 4 0 30
06/07/2010 4 0 30
07/07/2010 4 0 30
08/07/2010 4 0 30
09/07/2010 4 0 30
10/07/2010 4 0 30
11/07/2010 4 0 30
12/07/2010 4 0 30
13/07/2010 4 0 30
14/07/2010 4 0 30

Would really appreciate any ideas

Thanks

Lee.

 

[Harlequins]

You're still in early stages at the moment,and it can be frustrating waiting for the ammonia to drop...

Whats your ph?

Ideally on a fishless cycle,your temperature would be better set around 30 degrees this will help the cycle

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to our forum Lee.
As Harlequins said, you are on the path to a normal looking cycle. It is indeed rare that we see a large drop in ammonia levels in the first couple of weeks. You might try a large water change just to be certain. Since the water supply is the main source of our starter bacterial colony, you might possibly get a bit of a boost from a water change.

 

[logley]

Thanks for the replies.

Have upped the temp. from 26 to 30. and checked my PH.

PH High PH Ammonia Nitrite Nitrate Comments
29/06/2010 5 0 0
30/06/2010 5 0 5
01/07/2010 4 0 20
02/07/2010 4 0 30
03/07/2010 4 0 30
04/07/2010 4 0 30
05/07/2010 4 0 30
06/07/2010 4 0 30
07/07/2010 4 0 30
08/07/2010 4 0 30
09/07/2010 4 0 30
10/07/2010 4 0 30
11/07/2010 4 0 30
12/07/2010 4 0 30
13/07/2010 4 0 30
14/07/2010 4 0 30
15/07/2010 4 0 30
16/07/2010 4 0 30 Upped temp from 26 to 30
17/07/2010 4 0 30
18/07/2010 7.6+ 7.8 4 0 30
19/07/2010
20/07/2010
21/07/2010


Should I continue down this route or try a fish-in cycle??

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

Lee

 

[OldMan47]

A fish-in cycle will be giving the same exact bacterial results except that you will be doing large daily water changes to control ammonia at low levels. There is nothing about having fish in the setting that gives the cycle a boost of any kind. It merely means that you will need to care for the fish and hope for the best with your cycle. If you want to jump start the cycle, find a way to get some of the live bacteria from an existing cycled tank. That will indeed get things moving.

 

[Mo1959]

Logley. Small consolation but mine took exactly 3 weeks to move as well. Now that it has started moving though it seems to be clearing the ammonia completely by the next morning. Just waiting on my nitrites to follow suit now. It can seem frustrating at the start so hope it makes progress soon.

One of the solutions most suggested is to try and beg some used filter media from anyone else you know that has a tank to put in your filter and give it a kick start.

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, often we see the crossover point at about 3 weeks and its often sudden and complete for the ammonia processing. Remember, what this is all about is not exposing your fish' gills to permanent damage from the ammonia or their nerves, brain and blood to permanent nitrite damage, right?

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Mo1959]

Certainly is Waterdrop. It will be worth it in the end.