Mum's tank just isn't cycling!

[FishBearer9845]

Good afternoon
I'm hoping you can advise.
My mums tank just isn't cycling, we are both not really sure what is happening.
I've attached the recordings she's made.
She did add (in addition to) the existing internal filter a Fluval 207 cannister
I have told her to, once the tank is cycled, to move the internal filter material to the Fluval 207 cannister.
Any advice much appreciated
Kind regards
Sarah

 

[hansgruber7]

It seems to me that it's cycling, just very slowly. It can take several weeks in my experience. There are some things you can do to speed up the cycle I understand, though I'm not an expert on that. Maybe someone who knows how to speed up cycles will chime in.

 

[Guyb93]

You can buy bottled bacteria that’s what I did or ask somebody you know for any old filter media you can use , this is probably bad advice but add some real hardy fish but I’m sure that’s faster than a fish less cycle , but same as above I’m no expert at this , I panic about cleaning my filter lol

 

[seangee]

What is the pH of the tank water? Cycling can go very slowly in acidic water - or even not at all.
The pH is too low for bacteria to survive in 3 of my tanks and these are completely uncycled, but knowing this I have a lot of plants so it causes no problems. I still get 0 for ammonia and nitrites.

 

[FishBearer9845]

Thank you all so far for your replies
@seangee PH is 7.6 using low and 8.2 using high as I guess it's too high for the low

 

[Essjay]

The pH is off the top of the scale of the lower range tester; it will read 7.6 no matter how high it is. Go by the high range tester reading.

 

[itiwhetu]

Full the tank with plants, By the way how are the cory eggs

 

[FishBearer9845]

I’ve suggested plants to her and she has a lovely chunk of driftwood in there too and planted it would look amazing

my Cory eggs didn’t make it, nothing want happening and in the light they looked bright white. I touched them with a credit card to try to scrape them but they all disintegrated

 

[itiwhetu]

Better luck next time

 

[Fishiemang]

Get the 207 running. If ya know someone with a tank with similar substrate that is cycled, get a small.cup from them from deep and add that into the substrate. The 207 is going to build on the media in it over a very long time.

If there is no fish (maybe I missed it) get some cheap small fishies and toss 1 or 2 in there. They will kickstart the cycle. The tank should cloud up within a.day or 2. Let the bloom happen. It won't hurt anything. Get some plants. Get a bottle of quick start if ya like. I use it anyways. Even some water conditioners have beneficial bacteria in there. Cleaner bacteria as well.

There are may options.to get this thing going. But ultimately, it takes some time. Longer fishless. With nothing in there producing wastes, there is nothing to feed the bacteria.

I have seen fishless marine setups. Did one many years back in a 55 gallon. Did the 30 day fishless cycle, with live sand, and nothing really happened until we.added 1 single cheap fish. Then it took off. So it seems it's one of them things across the board. Ya need a.waste producer to feed the bacteria.

 

[Essjay]

When I set up my 25 litre quarantine tank last year I used media from my main tank, and added ammonia to check - I ended up having to do a full fishless cycle before I could get fish as there is apparently virtually no bacteria in my filter media. So when I set up the quarantine tank again a couple of weeks ago I didn't bother with media from my main tank. Instead I bought 2 bunches of elodea (anacharis) and moved a couple of large water sprite plants from my main tank. Then added 12 kuhli loaches. I tested the water for several days and have yet to see any sign of ammonia or nitrite. I am using a small filter but only to circulate the water.

Based on my experience I have no hesitation suggesting getting live plants if a cycle is taking a long time!



But I do not recommend adding any fish to an uncycled tank or one without a lot of live plants.

 

[Rhianne]

I bought ammonium chloride from eBay for £5 and added some every other day. My tank cycled in a couple of weeks after waiting 3 weeks with the bacteria in a bottle and nothing happened. Maybe try topping up the ammonia more regularly. Although I’m no expert, this is what worked for me. I did have a few plants in the tank prior to starting the cycle and my ph is around 6.6.

 

[Essjay]

Ammonia (or ammonium chloride) should not be added too often. Each 1 ppm ammonia is turned into 2.7 ppm nitrite. If the ammonia eaters have grown but the nitrite eaters are lagging behind, nitrite will build up and if it reaches 15 to 16 ppm it will stall the cycle. It does not take much ammonia to reach stall point - just 6 ppm ammonia will do this if there are not enough nitrite eaters - which is why the method on here says to add ammonia only when certain targets have been reached, and this prevents nitrite getting high enough to stall the cycle.