No Fish Ammonia Cycle Insane

[LtShark1980]

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Tank size: 10 gallons
pH: perfect
ammonia: off chart
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 0
kH: unknown
gH: unkown
tank temp: 69

Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior): no fish.

Volume and Frequency of water changes: Water was less than 1 month old when everything died. We changed the entire tank including washing everything down.

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank: There are no chemical additives and there is a rock, pirate ship, and 3 plastic plants. All bought from the pet store to ensure no unusual chemicals on them.

Tank inhabitants: none.

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration): There are only rocks and decorative items from fish store rinsed.

Exposure to chemicals: Ammonia.

I am not sure why the ammonia is not going down at all. My guess is an insufficient filter? It's a tetra 5 to 10 gallon with the white cotton sourounding charcoal media?

 

[RobRocksFishTank]

It sounds like you started with too much ammonia. Do a significant water change to get the level readable and then follow the directions found here for doing a fishless cycle.

 

[LtShark1980]

I was following those directions. Except they did not give a dose for the 10 gallon take because the links are broken.

 

[RobRocksFishTank]

The links are fine but that is not the issue here. You need to get it down to an appropriate level. I did the same thing when I did my first fishless cycle.
 
Oh yeah, bring the temperature up.

 

[StevenF]

I was following those directions. Except they did not give a dose for the 10 gallon take because the links are broken.
 

 
What instructions are you following?
 

The links are fine but that is not the issue here.
 

 
The issue is each of you are talking past each other and not listening.  He has instructions that are not working with links that are not working.   How can you say the links are fine when you don't know where his instructions are coming from?
 
LTshark, try these instructions http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/421488-cycling-your-new-fresh-water-tank-read-this-first/.  These instructions are on this site.  I Checked all the links and they appear to be working.  Just in case here is an alternative amonia calculator that you can try:  http/www.fishtanksandponds.co.uk/calculators/ammonia.html.  I also checked the links on this site.

 

[Ch4rlie]

"pH : perfect"
 
What is this 'perfect' pH?
 
Exact numbers are usually required rather than folks saying its "fine" or "perfect" as this could be important information.
 
"Ammonia : off charts"
 
Am assuming this means past 5ppm on the API test colour chart?
 
What is the brand of ammonia you are using and what is the strength in percentage of this ammonia you are using?
 
Sometimes adding too much ammonia overwhelms the bacteria and stalls the cycle.
 
When you washed everything down in this tank, did you use any soaps or detergents for this?
 
 

Oh yeah, bring the temperature up.

 
Bring temeperature up to what?
 
While its true bring the temperature up higher may help the cycle colonize a little bit quicker, having a temp of 69F / 21C is not the worst, just means will be slower basically.
 
Quoted from the fishless cycle article -

• An optimal temperature by having a heater set to between 75F and 85F. Lower tends to slow the cycle while higher won’t make things go even faster.

Cycling Your First Fresh Water Tank

 

[RobRocksFishTank]

The issue is each of you are talking past each other and not listening.  He has instructions that are not working with links that are not working.   How can you say the links are fine when you don't know where his instructions are coming from?

 
Nope, the issue here is too much ammonia.
 
We were talking about the instructions on this website. The ones with links to a calculator. But that's not going to help at this point.

Bring temeperature up to what?

 
The temperature in the instructions. That is what we were talking about.

 

[AmtotheBurr]

I was following those directions. Except they did not give a dose for the 10 gallon take because the links are broken.

When I tried the links weren't working either. You aren't the only one

 

[eaglesaquarium]

 

I was following those directions. Except they did not give a dose for the 10 gallon take because the links are broken.

When I tried the links weren't working either. You aren't the only one
 

 
There had been an issue with the calculator link.  That has been corrected now and it should be working, if you want to try it again.

 

[AmtotheBurr]

Thanks E

 

[fatheadminnow]

Please open the attached link to see a table, I made, for ammonia dosage by tank size.  save it on your computer or print it out so you will always have it.