Fishless Cycle

[kittylover63]

Ok I need some help, I started a 90 gallon tank fishless cycle on Dec. 11th. Everything was going as normal then I added some media from my 55 gallon cycled tank. Now I have 4 ppm Ammonia that I added a week ago and it won't go down, there is no Nitrites a all, but there is 80 to 160 ppm Nitrates. There is also a funny looking debris on the top of the water. Can anybody tell me what might be going on in the tank? Or what I should do to get it going again? I'm running a Fluval 405 and the heat is set at about 80 to 85 degrees.

 

[CezzaXV]

What is your pH like? I found out the hard way that if the pH gets too low it can bring your cycle grinding to a halt. If it's anything below 7, I'd recommend a bit of bicarb to bring it back up again.

 

[fluttermoth]

Very high nitrate can sometimes stall a cycle too; try a large water change and redose with ammonia.

 

[kittylover63]

Thank you for the quick replies, haven't been checking for the ph but will right now, and will also do a 90% water change after that.

 

[kittylover63]

Very high nitrate can sometimes stall a cycle too; try a large water change and redose with ammonia.

Ok just checked the PH and it is down to nothing. So I will do the 90% water change and it will kill two birds with one stone. Also checked the PH of your water and it is 7.2 to 7.4.

 

[CezzaXV]

Sounds like it should do the trick.

It's a good idea to test your pH with your ammonia/nitrite/nitrate every day, as the nitrifying process causes the water to become more acidic. I found that I had to add bicarb every day in the later stages of my cycle.