Can a tank NOT go into a cycle?

[Anthony8858]

As a newbie, one of my goals is to get a full understanding of the "cycle" that tanks go through.
My recent posts have been focusing on cloudy water and its causes. Seems like everyone keeps taking about nitro cycles, bacterial blooms, ammonia, etc....

My 36 gallon tank is 5 months old. It contains fish, and I have yet to lose any.
Looking back my maintenance chart, I have NEVER had an ammonia spike, nor have I had a nitrite increase.

Can an active tank actual become stalled in the cycle process?

[NatakuTseng]

Well if you don't have readings of any ammonia or nitrite then the tank is cycled. I don't think a tank will get stalled in the process, either it will cycle or it won't. Going back to your maintence log, how often did you check the water? Also if you had any ammonia or nitrite readings at anytime, that would be your spike. A healthy tank shouldn't have either when you take readings.

[WaterBaby]

It took a long time for my planted tank to cycle (if it did-I never got any ammonia or nitrite readings from it).

I was told by board members the plants use up the ammonia. Do an archive search and you'll find alot of useful cycling tips and tech stuff.

[Anthony8858]

My tank does not contain any live plants.
My water testing is typically done about every 3 days. I have never had anammonia reading above 0, same goes for nitrites. My PH holds steady at 6.8

Still trying to get a clamp on my cronically cloudy water, that reads perfectly on all tests.

[OrionGirl]

Have you had your test readings confirmed by another source?

The development of the bacteria is inevitable. How extreme the spikes are depends on many factors--how many fish you add, how quickly you add them, the filter media you're using, the amount and frequency of feeding...It's very difficult to reverse engineer the exact process online.

[TKOS]

Yes, I was going to say that perhaps you should see if your test kits are not expired. But after 5 months it is inevitable that the good bacteria has grown in your tank.

Even planted tanks must cycle, but you never really see the spikes as the plants will use excess ammonia and nitrites. Thu stest kits won't catch them. There is still plenty to go around for everyone.

I never had any "noticeable" ammonia spikes in my planted tanks, but I put in a couple of small fish at a time and had fast growing stem plants, so I never expected to see anything.

Do a nitrate test. If there is any nitrate then there is definatley some good bacteria doing its work in your tanks.

[Slappy*McFish]

Just curious, what test kit did you use?

[Mark_b]

In order for there to be no ammonia or nitrite in your tank there must be a decent colony of bacteria - hence your tank is cycled! If there were no bacteria then the levels of these pollutants would just rise and rise between water changes.
Its possible too that you may never have a reading of nitrate if you have enough plants to 'use' it up as it is produced.

In my tank (see signature) i have never had a reading of ammonia, nitrite or nitrate in the five months it has been up and running, due to slow stocking and lots of fast growing plants.

[Slappy*McFish]

^
Originally posted by Anthony8858
My tank does not contain any live plants.

I'm thinking either Anthony's test kits were defective, or maybe he used biospira or some filter media/gravel from an already established system. :confused:

[ewok]

this is sort of getting interesting.......

the water is *still* cloudy? i've been sort of busy lately, but i might be able to scrounge up a few ideas. if you want, feel free to pm me or something. maybe post a link to the previous thread?

til then, some reading if you're bored.........

http://aquaticadvice.com/level2/quick.html

http://aquaticadvice.com/level2/cycle.html

these are just a couple pages i wrote when i was bored, it might help explain things somewhat. if anyone notices any errors give me a yell, we all make mistakes occasionally. :)

[david]

When I setup my tank, Ammonia and Nitrites were always 0 and Nitrates were 10 ppm from the very start and have never changed. I did have a cloudy water issue, but it cleared on it's own eventually.

I planted the plants, added Bio-Spira and a dozen fish, and it appears the plants just suck it all up.

I am considering getting a more accurate test for Nitrate just to be sure...

[ewok]

Originally posted by david
added Bio-Spira and a dozen fish, and it appears the plants just suck it all up.


the bio-spira is the bacteria you need, supposedly..... hence, no cycle besides the brief cloudy water.

[RTR]

Some less-than-careful word choices here which can be misleading. All the experienced aquarists know that every tank "cycles" (nitrification bacteria establish which oxidize ammona and nitrite). But that does not mean that the aquarist will always see or read "spikes" (detectable levels of ammonia or nitrite by hobby test kits). Below the lowest detectable level of hobby kits does not mean zero ammonia or nitrite, it just means undetectable by that kit. So, to me, all tanks "cycle", but the hobbyist may or may not see spikes of the intermediates, or even the final tank form nitrate if the tank is heavily planted. The fact that the hobbyist did not read it does not mean it did not or does not happen.

ewok - your notes are pretty good, but a couple of points:

There is nothing magic or critical about ph 7 and ammonia toxicity or lack thereof. A pH of 7. is just another point on a continum. A greater percentage is in the ammonia form at higher pH and at high temperature, but pH 7 is in no way a critical level. To me that is misleading.

Nitrite versus ammonia toxicity is highly debatable. I disagree with the idea that nitrite tocity is somehow less dangerous than ammonia - on a nitrogen basis there is very little difference, and due to ammonium ion presence in equilibrium with ammonia, at tank pH and temp the ammonia is actually less likely to be dangerous. It is better to say that both/either should be zero/undetectable,and that neither should be tolertated. Trying to do comparisons is full of traps.

Nitrosomas and Nitrobacter are no longer considered FW nitrification bacteria which establish in tanks. That is out of date info.