My tanks won't cycle. Help!?

S

Sheila Key

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Nov 15, 2018
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North Carolina
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Sheila
I'm having some issues with my tanks cycling and I'm hoping you can help. I have 3 10 gal tanks I'm trying to cycle.

Tank #1
Setup on 11/04 with 2 Cory Catfish, 3 Guppies and 1 African Dwarf Frog
API Quick start was used for bacteria supplement because that was recommended at the pet store.

Tank #2 & #3
Setup on 11/18 No fish

I found out about Dr. Tim's One & Only when I set up tanks 2 & 3. I added 20 ml of One & Only to all 3 tanks (twice the min dose) and enough Ammonium Chloride to bring tanks 2 & 3 to 2ppm Ammonia on 11/18. By 11/23 I was seeing no results at all. Ammonia was staying the same and no Nitrites. On 11/23 I added 2oz of One & Only to all three tanks thinking I didn't add enough to start with. Today is day 4 since adding the 2nd round of One & Only and still no change. I am having to do more frequent water changes on Tank #1 because there are fish but keeping Ammonia levels around 0.5ppm-1ppm and using Prime to detoxify it every 48 hrs. I even started adding Stability hoping to give the bacteria a boost and still nothing.

Temps in all 3 tanks stay at 78, Ph is staying at 7, I'm using sponge filters so there's plenty aeration, live plants in all tanks and gravel substrate. I'm using the API Master test kit.

I have no idea what I'm doing wrong or why these tanks aren't cycling. Any help or advice you can provide would be greatly appreciated.
 
Even with your quick starts, you are pushing things time wise. Patience. Frequent testing for ammonia and daily WC's at about 25%...

Keep ammonia at low levels...even if kit says zero, there is still some there.
 
Even with aids, cycling can take weeks. I'm not familiar with Dr. Tim's One & Only, but I've not heard terribly great things about API Quick Start. Most people find more success with Tetra Safe Start or Seachem Stability.
 
Dr. Tim's is out on his own now for a few years...best stuff out there but it isn't as instant as advertising suggests...nor when sold commercially under a brand name that required refrigeration....
 
Sheila, when I did a fishless cycle on a 10g, by adding ammonia, it took about a month.

On your tank #1, I'd do daily 50% WCs on it until you see nothing but nitrates. You should not wait until you see ammonia or nitrites before you do a WC on this tank. Like Rbishop said above, you may not be able to measure it, but there's enough there.
 
I have been doing daily water changes on tank #1 of at least 50% or more just because it freaks me out seeing the ammonia that high. I've had that set up the longest which has been almost a month now, so shouldn't I be seeing some changes? I'm testing the water daily and the only thing I have is ammonia that's not decreasing at all.
 
Im new myself so take anything I say with a grain of salt, BUT I did research the @#$% out of this myself and finished cycling two aquariums in the past month. From what I read, the chance the ammonia method is kind of low, but the people who had it not work had a really hard time for a really long time I didnt want to risk it.

I cycled one tank with a feeder gold fish and tetra safe start. (I didnt check the water during the cycle so IDK how long it actually took but the filter was up and running for 2mo by the time I had the kit to check, at which point the cycle was done)

I started cycling the 2nd tank by just putting a little flake food in the tank and letting it rot slowly increasing ammonia level. I bought "Interpet LIFE CARE Fast Filter Start Fish Aquarium Filtration" for $5 at walmart... its the cheapest bacteria boost product I could find: $5 and treats 1,200 gallon but says to treat the tank every other day.

I started dosing the tank with Interpet Life Care the same time I started adding the fish food. It took a few days for the ammonia to reach 0.5ppm It took a 8 days to see some nitrites appear. But I cheated after that I stuck media from the fish-in cycled tank in there at that point dosed it with Life Care two more times less than 3 weeks total 0 ammonia 0 nitrites
 
The "chance" of ammonia cycling IS NOT very low. In fact, it is quite high and very successful. If you have any reputable documentation to support otherwise, I'm sure we would love to review it.

What usually happens, people overdose the levels and stall the process. What is often the case with folks who are impatient and want immediate results.
 
Rbishop said:
What usually happens, people overdose the levels and stall the process. What is often the case with folks who are impatient and want immediate results.
Click to expand...

^ This.

I've done it myself. Got impatient. Kept dosing ammonia to 4-6ppm. Maybe more? Nitrites were so high, it wouldn't read on my API master test kit. Just indicated "zero" ppm. This was on smaller tanks. A 10g and a 29g. Larger water volumes are more forgiving.
 
wickette said:
I. From what I read, the chance the ammonia method is kind of low, but the people who had it not work had a really hard time for a really long time I didnt want to risk it.
Click to expand...

Damn voice to text, the chance the ammonia method FAILING is kind of low, but the people who had it not work had a really hard time for a really long time I didnt want to risk it.

hence the "but"
 
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