Staying Strong ..

DaveyGSXR,

I am sorry to hear that you have not had any luck (yet). We started about the same time and mine is fully cycled and stocked. I have some questions for you...

When you shake the bottle of ammonia does it foam up? If so, go get some new ammonia. Shake the bottle in the store until you find a brand that does not foam. Do a complete water change and start over.

Are you running your filter without any carbon or resins? It should be just any bio materials, sponges and floss for now... Carbon and other chemicals should be avoided until the cycle is complete.

Did you "seed" the take? If not, go to the lfs and ask them to fill a bag with water and some of their filter gunk and a handfull of gravel. The bag should look like sewer water (full of nasty stuff). Just dump it in the tank. If they have some used filter wool, dump that in too.

Test for everything the first few days... Mine happened so quick, I missed the nitrite spike. On day eleven the 55 gallon tank was eating 4.0 ammonia in 18 hours with only .25 of nitrates at 18 hours and gone completely in 24 hours.

This was my first fishless cycle and I will never start a tank with fish again.

If you didn't seed the tank, you're within the normal range for a cycle. Some people may move along more quickly, but 3 weeks is OK. You should be OK with 86 degrees F, too. Your ammonia level -- 4 ppm -- is also fine.

One thing to try: leave the lid off the tank, or at least open the hinged cover. The bacteria you want are everywhere, and opening the tank may allow a few more into the water.

Good luck and hang in there... a slow fishless cycle isn't much fun. Even less fun, though, is netting dead fish from a cycling tank...

Jim

Davey-hang in there, I'm in the same boat as you, only much longer.. we set up our 125 gallon 6/12/04, and still have no fishies! We had a ph crash and killed the cycle and had to start over again. :sad I know the frustration you are feeling(couple times have said Screw it! im just gonna get some fish!! and then I come to my senses.)
As Jim says as least we are not scooping out dead fish. Keep chugging along, I know it will be worth it the day the fish come home and go into a tank that is ready for them.

Shar

With my tank I did a fishless for almost 2 months (29 gallon) with out seeding the tank. It can take forever to get it started from scratch so always beg and plead for some thing to jump it from the fish store. I regret to say I never finished the fishless in the end but now that I have a tank up and running I know I won't have to do it again. Also Bio Spira (the only cycle aid that seems to work) should be back out on the shelves or orderable in Sept.
-Neo Sithlord

IMHO adding 4ppm of ammonia is not a natural occurance and seeding the tank is the best method to assure a fully cycled tank. There is nothing worse than loading the tank with expensive specimens and watching them have problems because it appeared to be cycled.

If you dont have another tank to seed from, the LFS you trust is the best method. If the fish you are buying have been in thier tanks, its the same issues you may face once you bring them home anyway.

Most LFS have stand alone display tanks versus the bulk filtered tanks. If the fish are healthy, then thats the one you want some gravel, filter gunk from and avoid feeder tanks when ever possible. I cycled a tank using feeder fish because... well they were gonna die anyway. OMG what a disaster. That tank still has problems 2 years later. I plan to strip it down and get rid of it soon.

I would consider lowering the temp to 80 degrees,,,86 is a little high,,,also the aqua-clear 200 is some what small for a 30 gal,,,I had that on my 20 tall and found I had to change water more frequently and finally got a 300 for it. Works much better.

I fishlessly cycle my tanks at 85 degrees without a problem. You do need to make sure there is sufficient suface disruption to keep the water well-oxygenated, though. Otherwise, the temp is fine.

HTH,
Jim