New Fish Tank Not Cycling?

[Fishywoowoos]

Hi,

I recently brought a 60L tank, after reading the forums a bit I found the guide to fish less cycling and decided to opt for the add daily method, I added approximately 3ml of ammonia solution from home base ( 9.5% no bubbles when shaken) daily for about 7 days not noticing any change in the ammonia levels what so ever staying at 8.0 or higher when carrying out API ammonia tests, i decided to not add any more ammonia until I saw a drop in the levels, after another 7 days and no change in the ammonia levels i carried out a 25% water change which brought the levels down to 6.0 decided to carry out another water change a couple of days later and brought it down to about 3.0. I have since carried out the ammonia test every 2 days and have yet to notice any change in the ammonia levels for another 7 days.

Perhaps am being impatient with all this and am aware that it does take time but would of expected to see some changes in the ammonia levels by now, wasn't sure if am doing something wrong or if just a case of waiting till the changes do happen.

Here is list of some of equipment I have in tank if it makes any difference to the cycling.

60L tank
Fluval U2 Filter (set to top output, for maximum circulation and oxygenation)
150W heater (temperature 32/90)
Arcadia light ( do not switch it on )
Gravel in tank no plants or fish

Thanks for any tips or advice offered

 

[Jonty]

Hi,

I recently brought a 60L tank, after reading the forums a bit I found the guide to fish less cycling and decided to opt for the add daily method, I added approximately 3ml of ammonia solution from home base ( 9.5% no bubbles when shaken) daily for about 7 days not noticing any change in the ammonia levels what so ever staying at 8.0 or higher when carrying out API ammonia tests, i decided to not add any more ammonia until I saw a drop in the levels, after another 7 days and no change in the ammonia levels i carried out a 25% water change which brought the levels down to 6.0 decided to carry out another water change a couple of days later and brought it down to about 3.0. I have since carried out the ammonia test every 2 days and have yet to notice any change in the ammonia levels for another 7 days.

Perhaps am being impatient with all this and am aware that it does take time but would of expected to see some changes in the ammonia levels by now, wasn't sure if am doing something wrong or if just a case of waiting till the changes do happen.

Here is list of some of equipment I have in tank if it makes any difference to the cycling.

60L tank
Fluval U2 Filter (set to top output, for maximum circulation and oxygenation)
150W heater (temperature 32/90)
Arcadia light ( do not switch it on )
Gravel in tank no plants or fish

Thanks for any tips or advice offered

The add daily method will take longer as you start overloading the tank with ammonia before bacteria develop.

I'm also doing my first cycle, also in a 60l tank but have opted for the Add and Wait method.

 

[Fishywoowoos]

Yes from reading the guide I was aware it would take longer to do the add daily method, which is why I carried out the water changes to reduce the ammonia levels in the tank and tried to go with the add & wait method, which it did but after a week since the water changes have not seen any changes in the ammonia levels. Just worried that perhaps have done something wrong which is stopping the levels going down or perhaps just a case of wait and see.

 

[paulbr1]

You will get the bacs growing at a high Ammo ppm but not the bacs that you want, if you take it up to around 5ppm once it reaches 0ppm that is usually the best method,

I noticed on my FC that the first lot of ammo was converted fully by day six - but I did give a head start by washing my other (mature) filter so that the new filter dragged in all the gunge (bacteria) so you may see a difference in the next few days.

Ask a friend for some mature media or to wash theirs in your tank!

Paul.

 

[OldMan47]

It is not unusual to see the first drop in ammonia take a full 2 weeks. Just hang in there and the cycle will happen almost on its own.

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, agree with oldman47 and paul. It does indeed often take 2 weeks to see any drop in ammonia, so being patient is definately called for here. And paul is right too that if you've had the level at 8ppm for a period time there's a chance the wrong species of bacteria developed and will now need to die off and give up its spots on the media to the correct species, so this may be one of the things going on if you have a bit or further delay. But there's nothing to do except preceed from here on out with an ammonia level of about 5ppm, monitoring ammonia and pH daily (and eventually adding in the nitrite(NO2) test, after you start seeing ammonia drop.) You want your temperature to be about 84F/29C and you should post up some of your pH readings for the members to see.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Fishywoowoos]

Well I finally saw the ammonia drop to 0.00ppm, but only after carry out approximately a 15% water change ( mainly due to water evaporation) also carried out nitrite tests which came up at around 5.0ppm & nitrate which came up also about 5.0ppm.

Am I finally on the right track with the cycling or would the water change carried out have a large impact on the tests results I am seeing?

thanks for any advice.

 

[OldMan47]

If your ammonia has gone to zero, it is time to dose it back up to at least 4 ppm. After that just wait for it to drop again. The nitrites will probably continue to rise for a while before coming back down. It is quite normal at this stage to have the nitrites go so high you just record them as more than you can test. After a week or more it will come back down.