Will Cycle Start ?

[richrich]

Hello,

New tank (50 gallon with trickle filtration built into hood)

Doing a fishless cycle as per instruction on here.

Have white wool, ceramic noodles and black mesh in filter.

Tank was setup and left 48 hours to settle. Have then added ammonia so it read 5-6 ppm.

The ammonia was added 6 days ago. I have tested each day and 6 days later is still exactly the same at 5-6 ppm

It is heated and sitting at between 28 - 29 degs

Should I not be seeing the ammonia start to drop now after 6 days ?

 

[rowdyburns21]

Hold tight buddy, you got an airstone?

 

[Rooster]

Can you not "seed" it from an old tank, or find a local fishkeeper to help with old media or starter culture ? Doing it "virgin" will still work, but may take weeks longer, or even MONTHS to complete.

Dont waste your money on instant cures from the LFS - they doo little to help !

 

[richrich]

Hi,

My tank is vigin so I appreciate may take some time. I do have a friend with a tropical tank. When you say get some of their media, what should I get ? I have a built in filter in my hood that takes filters that are a custom shape. Am I just trying to get a piece of wool of the black wirey stuff just to jam in alongside mine ?

 

[Rooster]

Hi,

My tank is vigin so I appreciate may take some time. I do have a friend with a tropical tank. When you say get some of their media, what should I get ? I have a built in filter in my hood that takes filters that are a custom shape. Am I just trying to get a piece of wool of the black wirey stuff just to jam in alongside mine ?

Depends on what his media is.... if its sponge, then just take a bag and get him to squeeze some of the "gunk" from it into the bag, with some tank water... if his media is solid, then get him to swish some of it about in a bag of tank water, or a bucket...
The idea is to get a good dose of the horrible, disgusting brown gunk from his filter ! The all you need to do is get it home as fast as possible (within a hour if poss) and simply tip the lot into your tank somewhere near the filter - it will be sucked into your media, where they will setup home.
Dont forget to continue "feeding" the colony with ammonia, daily up until you are ready to add fish.

 

[rdd1952]

First off, you need to turn the temperature up. Optimal cycling temperature is 32 to 34 range. You can always reduce it when you do the big water change in the end. As also mentioned, you will need a good airstone if you don't already hae one to keep the water oxygenated. Otherwise the high temperatures will drve the CO2 levels up to the point that the bacteria don't have enough oxygen to process ammonia and nitrite.

Also, are you sure the ammonia is a 5-6 and not off the chart high? For me, it's very hard to differentiate between the colors. Have you tested the nitrite yet to see if you have any? It cold be that the ammonia was too high and some may have been processed already but the level hasn't gotten low enough for you to see a difference in the color.

And last but not least, did you add dechlorinator to the water? Not dechlorinating can obviously prevent a tank from cycling.

 

[fearce]

would it prevent or just delay, as I thought it soon wears of from the water....

 

[rdd1952]

It depends on whether the chlorine kills off all the bacteria present before it dissipates. And if the water has chloramine, then it would conceivably be there forever as chloramine will not dissipate.

 

[fearce]

Oh ok. Thanks