Need help with cycling please

[Layci]

I’m fairly new to fish keeping. I’ve been cycling a 65 gallon aquarium for 6.5 weeks now. I’m doing it fishless. At the beginning I added enough ammonia to bring the level to 1.5-2.0. I soon starting seeing nitrites, then I began seeing nitrates. That was several weeks ago.
About 3 weeks ago I added some more ammonia to bring it back up to around 2. Here and there I’ve added fish flakes. I did the Seachem Stability recommended dosage, then kept adding it for another week or so.
My water levels never seem to change much. I’ve attached a photo taken last night.
Have I done this correctly? Is there something else I should be doing? It feels like it’s taking longer than it should at the 6.5 week point. I look forward to all replies.
Thanks!

 

[mcordelia]

I have heard that too high nitrites can cause a cycle to stall. You could try doing a water change and then measuring again about an hour after the water change is done. If you measure 0 ammonia, add enough ammonia that you can measure it again (maybe ~1ppm, I'm not sure how much should be added when a cycle stalls like this), and then keep an eye on the values again after a few days.

On the plus side, you are measuring nitrates, so that would indicate that your have all the beneficial bacteria you need, and maybe the system is just stuck because all the levels are too high.

In any event, I would do a water change, measure the parameters, and if you are still measuring nitrites do another water change the next day, and then when you measure 0 or low nitrites add a measurable amount of ammonia again and see if that goes away in a day or so. I would expect that after getting new water into the tank and then adding a little bit of ammonia, the ammonia should be consumed and you should be ready to do another water change and add fish.

There are better experts on this forum about cycles though, so they may completely override my advice which is totally okay one of the beautiful aspects of constantly learning new things in this hobby!

 

[Layci]

I have heard that too high nitrites can cause a cycle to stall. You could try doing a water change and then measuring again about an hour after the water change is done. If you measure 0 ammonia, add enough ammonia that you can measure it again (maybe ~1ppm, I'm not sure how much should be added when a cycle stalls like this), and then keep an eye on the values again after a few days.

On the plus side, you are measuring nitrates, so that would indicate that your have all the beneficial bacteria you need, and maybe the system is just stuck because all the levels are too high.

In any event, I would do a water change, measure the parameters, and if you are still measuring nitrites do another water change the next day, and then when you measure 0 or low nitrites add a measurable amount of ammonia again and see if that goes away in a day or so. I would expect that after getting new water into the tank and then adding a little bit of ammonia, the ammonia should be consumed and you should be ready to do another water change and add fish.

There are better experts on this forum about cycles though, so they may completely override my advice which is totally okay one of the beautiful aspects of constantly learning new things in this hobby!

Thanks! I have not done a water change yet. Maybe that’s what is needed at this point.

 

[Layci]

I’m fairly new to fish keeping. I’ve been cycling a 65 gallon aquarium for 6.5 weeks now. I’m doing it fishless. At the beginning I added enough ammonia to bring the level to 1.5-2.0. I soon starting seeing nitrites, then I began seeing nitrates. That was several weeks ago.
About 3 weeks ago I added some more ammonia to bring it back up to around 2. Here and there I’ve added fish flakes. I did the Seachem Stability recommended dosage, then kept adding it for another week or so.
My water levels never seem to change much. I’ve attached a photo taken last night.
Have I done this correctly? Is there something else I should be doing? It feels like it’s taking longer than it should at the 6.5 week point. I look forward to all replies.
Thanks!

I’ve just checked my Ph level. It is 7.6 or more in my 65 gallon. The same result is shown from my tap water as well as a much smaller tank in which one glofish danio has been thriving in since February.
Still welcoming any input, and thanks in advance!

 

[Layci]

I’m fairly new to fish keeping. I’ve been cycling a 65 gallon aquarium for 6.5 weeks now. I’m doing it fishless. At the beginning I added enough ammonia to bring the level to 1.5-2.0. I soon starting seeing nitrites, then I began seeing nitrates. That was several weeks ago.
About 3 weeks ago I added some more ammonia to bring it back up to around 2. Here and there I’ve added fish flakes. I did the Seachem Stability recommended dosage, then kept adding it for another week or so.
My water levels never seem to change much. I’ve attached a photo taken last night.
Have I done this correctly? Is there something else I should be doing? It feels like it’s taking longer than it should at the 6.5 week point. I look forward to all replies.
Thanks!

Can anyone else offer an opinion? I’d be ever so grateful.

 

[itiwhetu]

What I do to cycle a tank. Is plant it to between 30-50% of its volume, wait for 10 days then add a couple of fish, and away you go. Monitor ammonia levels as long as they are at zero you can add another couple of fish in about 2 weeks and so on.

 

[Essjay]

I have heard that too high nitrites can cause a cycle to stall

Nitrite of 15 to 16 stalls the cycle. The API tester only measures up to 5 ppm so when it's the 5 ppm colour it could be 5 or 10 or even 50 ppm. One way to check this is to mix tank water with tap water 1 part tank and 2 parts tap water. If that reads quite low, it's over 5 but not near stall point; just below below 5, it's under stall point but quite near; if it's still the 5 ppm colour, it's over stall point.


Can you be specific about what you've added and when, please. The method on here involved adding 3 ppm ammonia, waiting until certain targets have been reached then adding more ammonia. The trouble with fish food is that there is no way to know how much ammonia is made from it.



As itiwhetu said, live plants is another option - though in my opinion rather than wait 10 you should really wait until you see signs of active plant growth. And i would monitor both ammonia and nitrite after getting fish. Plants take up ammonia as fertiliser and they don't turn it into nitrite or nitrate, so if there are enough fast growing plants they can remove all the ammonia made by a tankful of fish (though to be safe it is best to add fish a few at a time). if you decide to do this, you would need to either do a water chnage to remove nitrite or wait till bacteria grow enough to remove all the nitrite before getting any fish.

 

[Layci]

Tomorrow will be 7 weeks since I’ve started cycling. I added ammonia at the start, but maybe not enough. It read at 1.5-2. It wasn’t very long at all when I started seeing nitrites, then nitrates. I was also adding Seachem Stability according to the directions and kept adding it for an additional week.
About 3 weeks ago I added more ammonia, but still maybe not enough. Two days ago I added a bigger amount of ammonia. When I tested last night I had ammonia at 3.0 and nitrites at 3.0. My nitrates remain at 5.00. What’s the best thing to do at this point?
Thanks for everyone’s responses.

 

[Essjay]

So it was 4 weeks between adding the first and second doses of ammonia? It's possible that the bacteria you grew after the first dose went dormant as there was no more food. You are now playing a waiting game. Don't add any more ammonia yet. Test every 2 days and wait until the day you have ammonia under 0.75 ppm then add another 3 ppm dose of ammonia.

Full instructions are here

Cycling Your New Fresh Water Tank: Read This First!

Cycling Your First Fresh Water Tank What is Cycling and Why is it Important? Fish waste, and especially fish breathing, plus uneaten food and other organic matter breaking down in a tank all produce Ammonia. This can quickly become toxic to fish if it is allowed to build up to any measurable...

www.fishforums.net

 

[Layci]

So it was 4 weeks between adding the first and second doses of ammonia? It's possible that the bacteria you grew after the first dose went dormant as there was no more food. You are now playing a waiting game. Don't add any more ammonia yet. Test every 2 days and wait until the day you have ammonia under 0.75 ppm then add another 3 ppm dose of ammonia.

Full instructions are here

Cycling Your New Fresh Water Tank: Read This First!

Cycling Your First Fresh Water Tank What is Cycling and Why is it Important? Fish waste, and especially fish breathing, plus uneaten food and other organic matter breaking down in a tank all produce Ammonia. This can quickly become toxic to fish if it is allowed to build up to any measurable...

www.fishforums.net

Thanks so much! I’ll do that. Oh, and how much longer do you think it will take to finish cycling?

 

[Essjay]

That's like asking 'how long is a piece of string' I'm afraid. Every tank is different.

 

[Layci]

That's like asking 'how long is a piece of string' I'm afraid. Every tank is different.

Ok, I’ll be patient, lol... one more question tho - would adding more Seachem Stability be at all helpful now at week 7?

 

[Colin_T]

Don't bother testing for nitrates until the ammonia and nitrite have both gone up and come back down to 0ppm. Nitrate test kits read nitrite as nitrate and give you a false reading.

If you have another tank with an established filter, you can use some of that filter media/ material to instant cycle the new tank. Do a 90% water change and gravel clean the substrate on the new tank using dechlorinated water. Take half the filter media from the old tank and put it in the new tank's filter. Let it run for 24 hours and then add some fish.

-------------------
The following things help speed up the cycling process.
Have lots of aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise oxygen levels in the water.
Keep the pH above 7.0.
Keep the KH above 50ppm.
Keep ammonia level around 3ppm.
Have the temperature on 28C.

Don't bother adding fish food if you are using ammonia.

 

[Layci]

Ok, I’ll be patient, lol... one more question tho - would adding more Seachem Stability be at all helpful now at week 7?

Ok, so I now have .50 ammonia and 0 Nitrites. Could this mean I’m heading towards completion?

 

[Essjay]

Where are you in the cycling method? How long since you added ammonia?

Without details of how much ammonia you added and when it's impossible to say. For example if you added a 3 ppm dose of ammonia yesterday you are close. But if the last time you added ammonia was a couple of weeks ago you still have a long way to go.