problem cycling

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Sep 27, 2004
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Hi,

I am doing a fishless cycle with ammonia a bought at my local super market. I started cycling my tank a week ago and there hasn't been much of a change in the amount of ammonia in my tank. When I first put the amonia in I aslo put in Bacter Vital (a bacteria starter) so after the first day the ammonia went down from 5ppm to 3ppm. But then I read here that bacteria starters other than Bio Spira are useless so I stopped using the Bacter Vital. Since then the amount of ammonia has not gone down.

My tank:
Gravel, plastic plants, heater, filter (with sponge and carbon)
Temp is 86 degrees
Ammonia is at 3 ppm
zero nitrites and nitrates

Is this normal since I don't have any bacter ia to begin with? Or is there something wrong with my set up??

Please help :confused:
 
I'm the bad guy who doesn't cycle his tanx. I'm still trying to find out if i'm just lucky or what? go buy a few goldfish or some cheap, small, yet hardy fish. not too many, just one or 2. put them in and see what hapens. some people might say this is wrong but it's never given me any problems. My 55 was ran fishless for 2 days then I added 2 blue skirts. they have since become food but lasted quite a while(2 or 3 months before being eaten) amongst some pretty rowdy tankmates.
 
IF you are doing a fishless stick to it, one week isn't a lot of time and no suprise you haven't seen a change yet. it will happen in the next few days though I would guess. The cycle will start slow, but it will start, and then move pretty quickly through the ammonia stage. then there will be a slow period while the nitrite eaters get estabilished, then they will come on strong and you'll be done. this all takes 4-6 weeks, and is well worth the wait.


Dave
 
I've been using this product called nitromax and it seems to work very well. The ammonia level was at 8 ppm (thats as high as my tester goes, it was much darker than the color code) then a day and a half later it went down to 2 ppm, then the end of that day it was at 0 ppm. Now I'm waiting on the nitrites to go down. All-n-all, the tank has been cycling for 5 days. I don't know if Nitromax is anything like Bio Spira, but like Bio Spira it has to be refrigerated and there is a shelf life of 9 months after opening.
 
one thing to keep in mind is to maintain your patience. 4-6 weeks doesn't seem like a long time until you start going through it.... and waiting, and waiting, and waiting. I'll be starting what I believe is my 4th week into it and I'm not too confident the 4 weeks will be my case..... I'm thinking more like 6...... so I wait, check ammonia, add more, and wait.... check ammonia, add more, and wait.... check ammonia, add more, and wait.... good luck! ;)
 
yeah, my 20 gallon tank took over 4 weeks to fishless cycle... i got impatient and got some bottled bacteria and added it in, and after i added it the ammonia went away and any ammonia i put in thereafter disappeared after a day. i am not really sure why a lot of people don't believe in the bottled bacteria, because it certainly worked to speed up my tank cycle.
 
Thanks a lot for all your responses. The water seems to be a tad cloudy so I guess that means its cycling. Still no changes in the amonia, but like you said I just have to be patient. Thanks again.
 
Cloudiness is not a good indicator of whether a tank is/has cycled. Cloudiness is generally caused by an excessive number of 'normal flora' microorganisms who aren't involved in nitrification. Testing for ammonia/nitrite is the only way to tell how the cycle is progressing.

HTH,
Jim
 
Ok, so if its been a week or a little over and my ammonia hasn't been going down at all should I be doing something? Or just be patient? I'm ok with being patient. I just don't to be waiting a month to find out everything is wrong and I have to start over.
 
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