Tank not Cycling

G

greatpratty

AC Members
Sep 28, 2005
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Hello, I was wondering what would cause a tank not to cycle. I set my 29 Gallon tank up on October 30. The salinity, temperature and ph are all correct. My amonia is now in the sky, maxing out the amonia test in my kit from the shrimp I have put in but I have 0 Nitrites. I am getting very frustrated and I am not sure what to do. Do you think that using tap water would cause a tank not to cycle? I am considering starting over and either buying bio-spira or live rock and cycling that way. How much live rock would I have to buy to cycle the tank?
Thank you for your help.
 
what are you using for bacteria? i use CYCLE. and to condition tapwater use PRIME.

have you done any waterchanges? if so how often? how much?

if you dont have enough live rock, that may be your problem... you should have as many pounds as you do gallons capacity.
 
Hello, thank you for the reply. I wasn't using anything for the bacteria. I thought they just appeared. Is this incorrect? I have not done any water changes because I thought that I wanted the ammonia in the water to feed the bacteria. I also do not have any live rock yet. I was going to add that after the cycle was finished. Is some live rock required to cycle the tank and introduce the bacteria?
 
Based on your mention of the shrimp, it sounds like you're attempting a "fishless cycle". If you search on "fishless cycle", maybe you'll find some helpful threads.

Peace...
 
Yes that is correct, I am doing the fishless cycle. I feel like I have read quite a bit but it seems that everyone else's fishless cycle has worked correctly. Thats why I am baffled as to why mine is not working.
 
Get some cycle

Since your not using live rock in there, I assume you haven't seeded the substrate either. If not go to the shop and buy a product called CYCLE (think its made by Hagen), and this will speed up the process by introducing the necessary bacteria.

I recommend that you get some live rock in there though as this will help to stabalise the tank, people suggest about 1-2 pounds per gallon of water. You might want to look into buying some live sand aswell to help seed the substrate.
 
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Thank you for all the replies. I will try getting some live sand. I guess I was under the impression that the bacteria would just appear but I guess that is not the case.
Thanks.
 
No, you are right the Bacteria will appear.

Are you moving the water via powerhead or pumps? You don't NEED live rock, you can use a base rock, filter material, substrate, anything bacteria can colinize on. You with me?

I have heard it can take some people longer. Not sure why. And I am one of the old school before message boards and such, never used shrimp, I grab a few cups of the LFS sand out of their invert display tanks, few live rocks, and in a few days some fish to continue the amonia feed.

Tho you will probably want live rock, you don't NEED to go out and buy it now, just a small peice or two, save for the finished cycle, otherwise you may lose life you want on your rock to the cycling aquaria.

Hope I helped.
 
Yep, I am using powerheads to move the water around. Would it be benificial to purchase a few small peices of live rock and some live sand to seed the aquarium or would my already high ammonia levels kill off everything? Would it be better to start over with new water and just use the fish cycle method?
Thanks again.
 
Can you list exactly what is in your tank now? Meaning what you are using as substrate and anything else in your tank? Sand? You still need a media for the bacteria to grow on. If you can list everything that is in the tank right now I am sure the people on this forum can narrow it down a problem if there is one. Good luck! I am still in the process of researching as much as I can to start my own SW tank too. I am going to cycle with the raw shrimp too hopefully! :pc: :hi:
 
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