Fishless Cycling Stalled And Don't Know Why!

[OldMan47]

Make sure you are shaking the test chemicals at least as long as it says in the instructions. When it says 30 seconds, I give it 45 seconds to a minute. If you don't mix the chemicals well enough, the test will definitely give you a bad reading. Poor test chemical mixing is the biggest reason that people think the nitrate tests can be inaccurate.

 

[JALouis]

I believe I am shaking the bottles enough. I've been getting these results except for the nitrates (because I haven't been testing them until yesterday) since mid week last week. My nitrates are now showing about 80ppm and the ammonia is still going to .25 or 0 in 8-12 hours and nitrites at 0. Has my tank cycled?

Jennifer

 

[OldMan47]

The 80 ppm is much more believable than the previous 5 ppm reading. If you find the nitrates are climbing each day while the ammonia and nitrites stay near or at zero, you will have arrived at a safe place to do a large water change and think about getting fish.

 

[JALouis]

That's what i figured but since this is my first time doing a fishless cycle I wanted to confirm.

Thanks very much.

Jennifer

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, agree with OM47. It sounds like your nitrites(NO2) are getting processed too quickly for you to see them on a test. It sounds like you are cycled. If you have a few days before you will do the large water change and get fish then keep testing each day to confirm that you don't see any traces showing up.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[JALouis]

Thanks Waterdrop. I'm still adding ammonia since I probably won't be able to get fish until late this week.

Thanks again for all your help on this. I might have given up without. Fishless cycling is definitely the way to go.

Jennifer

 

[waterdrop]

Its the learning part that's so valuable. Once you've seen with your own filter how definate the thing of cycling is, it just gives you much more confidence in the hobby for years to come I feel. Without that understanding I feel that beginners are often "waffling about" worrying about things that are not key.

Will be interested to hear if it now gives you "double-zeros" each day from here on out!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[JALouis]

HI Waterdrop.

So far so good. It's been giving me zeros for both ammonia and nitrites every morning and every night.

I had another question for you. Kind of off the topic but you've been so helpful. Like I said originally the tank is a 55 gallon tank. I was thinking of putting in the following fish. Do you think they will be ok together?

1 blue Knight Lobster (I know this fish might go after the others)
7 Bosemani Rainbow Fish
7 tiger Barbs

It works out (based on the 1 gallon per inch of fish formula) to about 54 gallons. Of course they won't be full size when I get them.

I figured the Rainbow fish and tiger barbs would be too fast for the blue knight. I was also thinking about a redtailed shark (and bringing the barb and rainbow fish each down to 6) but was concerned the shark would spend most of the time on the bottom and would most likely become dinner.

In the past, I've had ghost knifefish and a small saltwater tank with octopus, starfish, etc. so I'm not a true beginner but I would in no way say I was an expert.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks again,
Jennifer

 

[drobbyb]

I can't comment on the first as I have never kept them, however I have had tiger barbs and I breed rainbowfish.

Both the tiger barbs and the rainbowfish will go fine together. It should be said though that rainbows need clean water, at least 50% weekly waterchanges. Since people normally do a weekly waterchange, getting it to 50% isn't too painful. It just takes a few more minutes.

 

[JALouis]

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to provide a final update. My tank is up and running fine. The pH has stabilized and stays at the same level as the tap water. My nitrates have consistently stayed at 10ppm or below. I'm assuming that is pretty good as I've seen they should be below 50ppm.

Thanks again for all your help.

Jennifer

 

[waterdrop]

Good to hear from you Jennifer. Stocking slowly working up or are you fully stocked now?

Your stats sound great. -wd-

 

[JALouis]

Hi,

I'm fully stocked, maybe even a little overstocked but I'm watching the nitrates carefully and they have not gone over 10ppm yet. I'm doing a weekly water change so so far so good.

Thanks,
Jennifer

 

[waterdrop]

Being able to roll along for years with stats of 0-0-10 I feel is great water for fish. Keeping up with the gravel-clean-water-changes and filter-cleans seems to really maintain this nicely.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[JALouis]

It's only been about a month but I'm hoping the weekly water changes keep everything where it is now. I ended up getting some tiger barbs, bosemani rainbows, a rainbow shark, 2 vampire shrimp and a black ghost. They all seem to be getting along well so far expect one of the shrimp bullies the other one a little but they seem to get along most of the time. They definitely have personalities.

 

[waterdrop]

Sounds like a nice group of fish. Have you got some orange on the back half of your Bosmani?

Presume you will start out with our usual advice of monthly filter cleaning. That interval can be reduced or expanded depending on what you find when you clean or if you ever see any clogging or excess debris getting back out. I recently went a really long time to test mine and eventually it did indeed start to leak some debris back out. I wouldn't recommend letting it get to that, lol.

~~waterdrop~~