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What am I doing wrong?

4K views 53 replies 11 participants last post by  weedkiller 
#1 · (Edited)
Ive been cycling my tank for about 2 months and somethings not right. btw, im doing a fishless cycle. At first everything was working fine. about 8 days i got my first decrease in ammonia and seen nitrite. Great, im making progress. It got to where my ammonia level would drop down to almost yellow and id add more to it to bring the levels back up to about 4ppm. Well last week my ammonia spiked without me even adding any:confused: So I leave it be and not put to much thought in it. Well today I checked it again and got the same dark green result with a lighter colored purple then usual and some nice orange nitrate. Is everything going as planned or did I fubar something along the way.

Heres a picture of most recent test results.

btw, will water temperature effect cycle process?

 
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#2 ·
have you added anything to the tank that you have washed in tapwater?
bogwood soaked in tapwater?
always wash things in dechlorinated tapwater if you must before it goes in the tank but dont wash anything in the tank while its on its cycle.
dont do any water changes till it has cycled..
turn your temps up to about 80 to cycle faster and plenter of air
just be patient, add your ammo when needed to get to 4ppm or abouts,
 
#3 ·
Thats just it. I havn't done nothing but let it sit there. Not added anything, not taken anything out, no water changes. I just check it daily and add ammonia when I need to. Will water temp affect it because it did get really cold last week.
 
#4 ·
depends how cold, have you no heater in the tank?
get one if not and get it up to 80 and add an airstone,
maybe you overdosed the ammonia?
just keep patient an go with it, keep calm and dont panic
 
#6 ·
Change your water. If ammonia spikes too high like that it causes a stall in the cycle. The bacteria them selves are effected by such high ammonia. You have likley lost ground in the cycle. I would do a water change ASAP. Do not let ammonia go over 5ppm. Ideally i would keep it around 2ppm. The 4ppm recommended dose it a bit to high IMO as it makes a stall like this more likely.
 
#7 ·
Definitely do the water change- 50-60%- then check the ammonia, if it is still above 2 or 3ppm then don't add anymore until it starts to drop. Then add it to keep it closer to 2ppm. You have no nitrite showing and you will need that. It's possible the high ammonia is knocking the nitrite down. You should see it go up again before it falls. The good news is that your nitrate is in a pretty good range, so the tank is pretty close to being cycled. It will just need a chance to calm down from what it's currently doing.

When you are showing 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and nitrate is present then you will want to do a large water change, add ammonia in to about 2ppm and if it is gone 24 hours later your cycle is finished. Add fish slowly.

And this is why we do fishless cycling :) No worrying about harming the fish when your cycle freaks out on you!
 
#9 ·
pretty much mirrors the pm i sent when i couldnt post a reply to you, wouldnt say 4ppm is too high but it is pretty much the limit and it will cycle quicker if you got it to 2ppm once you see nitrite, check your ammo level every 12 hours and keep at 2, once in the morning then 12 hours later.... as i keep saying, be patient, one day very soon you will hit them 0's, do a water change to rid the nitrates and just dose your ammo one more time then as long as you hit the 0's again your good to go ;)

oh and you will need to low dose ammo till you stock it
 
#11 · (Edited)
does look like ammonia is dropping, hard to say because of the shadow behind your tubes, always try in good light and watch the shadows, they darken the way the result looks, add another pic in a few days like the 3rd you put up before you add your next dose of ammonia and add nothing else except ammonia if needed
leave the adding ammonia till it near yellow then add a little more to dose to 1ppm or maybe 2, i would say 1 as your nitrites are high, check ammonia every 12 hours and dose if needed (remember to let ammo levels drop 1st as it is now)
you want nitrites to drop to 0.. once nitrites are 0 check your nitrates (they will be off the chart)
do a massive water change to get them as low as you can and dose your ammo to get to 1ppm,
check after 12 hours, if ammo and nitrites are 0 well done, if not dont panic..check after another 12 hours by now they should be 0, check your nitrates again, as long as they below 40ppm add your fish as soon as you can and let the fish add the ammonia, if your not adding fish straight away you will need to keep dosing ammonia to keep bacteria alive but make sure it 0 before you add fish.
if your nitrates are 40ppm or there abouts you can concentrate on getting that down as you go after fish are added, if nitrates are low in your source (and by your 1st and 2nd pic they are) every 3 days do a 30% water change and test for nitrates after 30 minutes each time, and try and get water temps the same as tank water before you add it,
soon you will have 0 ammo/nitrites and a low nitrate...
then you can pat yourself on the head sit back and enjoy your fish :)
 
#12 ·
You have nitrite :) I'd not add anything for another day, see if things continue to go down. It's all still on the high side. That you have nitrite now is awesome! You don't want the nitrite to get any higher than it is.
 
#15 ·
ROFL, it will get there cassper! It's doing well on its own. If you have fish food you could add a pinch of that. It won't add a whole lot of ammonia to the tank, but will keep it fed.
 
#19 ·
exactly, it may be 'just a fish' to some.... if thats the attitude, why on earth are they considering having fish, usually they are the ones who are more likely to get bored of the water changes and let the fish swim in their own stew :(
 
#20 ·
I know, right? To me, fish are little lives who are totally dependant on me, so I must take that responsibility seriously. I enjoy trying to learn about each one's needs, and natural environs. If I lose one, I take it personally. When I was in the fish biz, customers would sometimes fuss when I wouldn't sell them a set up & fish the same day. I always had them come back the following week, water samples in hand. I know how exciting it is to set up, and how waiting for the cycle feels like eons, but the satisfaction of success is worth it!
 
#22 ·
I dont think that people intend to hurt the fish but it just kinda sorta happens or they dont get something hardy to cycle the tank. I used fish but before they were too big After cycling I gave them away fortunately they didn't die. But I did lose a few fish starting out I think all of us have at some point in time and that is natural....
 
#23 ·
So its been a little over a week and im not noticing any changes in my results as I test daily. This is todays result. I have done nothing to tank since the water change. The temperature is at 82 like always.


it seems like its just stuck. Any advice?
 
#24 ·
if you don't want to do a fishless cycle I use feeder guppy's or leftover minnows from fishing, yes the chance of sickness in the tank goes up but given time and water changes it all works out great plus if feeders die no one cares
 
#25 ·
what ammonia are you using? cant understand why its stalled like that unless summin has been added that has stayedresident in the tank that is leaching summin that is killing the bacteria, whats in your tank?
 
#26 ·
i have no idea what those little tubes are telling me...haven't used a test kit in decades..
but..........if it were me i would stop adding ammonia......do 4 or 5 40% water changes in a week ; and add a few fish..
 
#27 ·
Lets go from the beggining.....
You add dechlorinated water...
Start your filters and heater
Add ammonia and wait till it drops
When it drops check nitrite till it drops
Check nitrate and water change if nitrates high with dechlorinated water
Is there anything you have done different?
 
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