Fishless Cycle Stalled?

[strawberryblonde]

Ok, so since your tank is refusing to cycle no matter what you do, can I ask what your plans are for the tank? I'm assuming that you're going to be adding discus, right?

If that's the case, and you're planning to purchase discus for that tank, why not just purchase through one of the sponsors on these forums and purchase seeded sponge filters at the same time? You can continue to run the AC when the new fish and filters go into the tank and it will slowly seed itself while the sponge filters handle the bio-load of the new discus.

It just seems like a much less frustrating way to get a stubborn tank up and running. =)

[Nu2Discus]

Hey there Toni. This is going to be a quarantine tank for discus. I'm probably going to buy the discus from Kenny. I didn't think of buying a seeded sponge filter, and I might just do that. But I don't want to rely on that totally. So I think I'm going to continue on with this cycle and hopefully it'll start to progress.

As the day has gone on today, I think the tank might be clearing up a touch. I'm not sure if it's because I wiped the walls down, or if it because I squished the sponges yesterday, or if it's because I added some floss to the AC or if it's just me talking myself into it. I'll wait and see tomorrow if it's clearing. But hopefully something positives is starting to take place. It would be about time lol.

[dirtyplants]

Wish you a quick cycle.

[Nu2Discus]

Quick update.

Last time we left off, I was at day 28 of the cycle. I had wiped the tank walls and squeezed out the sponges. The tank actually cleared up almost completely after a few days. After a few days I decided to add some tetra safe start plus to see if that would help. That was day 31. Things have pretty much stayed unchanged. I have added a bit more ammonia here and there, and the ammonia has been staying at 1-2 the whole time. I also wiped the tank down again a few days ago and squeezed the sponges in the tank.

Today the tank is pretty clear looking. I'd say the cleanest it's been since this whole thing started. I ran the tests today (day 37 of the cycle) and here are the results. Ph=8.3, ammonia 1-2ppm, nitrite=0, nitrate to me looks like 5ppm, TDS=517, temp=82.

I took some pics of my results.
[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

Am I reading this properly? It looks to me like my nitrites are zero, but the nitrate to me look like they might be 5ppm. Is it possible to be seeing nitrates without any nitrites?

[Second Hand Pat]

Your nritrate could be more like 10ppm.

[Nu2Discus]

Hi Pat! I've been noticing my nitrates turning a bit orange over the past few days. But since the nitrites to me look like it can't be anything but zero, I really wasn't making much out of it. But today the orange in the nitrates looks more pronounced. So now I'm wondering if there really could be some nitrates forming.

What do you make of the fact that the nitrites seem to be zero?

[Second Hand Pat]

Could be. I wonder if you are simply missing the nitrites...ie your timing is off with the testing.

[Nu2Discus]

Can I miss them? I've been testing all those parameters I've listed, everyday in the afternoon. Not exactly at 24 hour intervals, but within a few hours of it anyway.

[Second Hand Pat]

Not sure...maybe. Either way the raising nitrates are a good sign.

[Nu2Discus]

Yea I'm excited. I just wish there was something like a progress bar, so you could know if you're stalled or moving very slowly. I'm ok with moving very slowly, it's just the not knowing that drives you crazy.

[Eti]

Yea I'm excited. I just wish there was something like a progress bar, so you could know if you're stalled or moving very slowly. I'm ok with moving very slowly, it's just the not knowing that drives you crazy.

Hey nu2, I have had the same problemon my 75g. I was just adding pure ammonia and nothing was happening...until someone told me to put a little bit of food, which could "wake up your nitrites". So 4 days ago, I bought some regular fish flakes and put a tiny bit. I came back from a trip yesterday and YES, I have some nitrites reading! I started my cycle on September 1st with 4ppm of ammonia and I had the exact same colours as you on my API tk (very frustrating)! But since my nitites test is turning a bit purple, I am almost as happy as if my discus would have babies!

[Nu2Discus]

Hey there Eti! Oh I'm glad it's not JUST me. You know I have heard of adding some fish food, but forgot about that. Thanks for reminding me! I may just try that myself. I checked my parameters today(I check everyday), and my nitrates seem to be 5-10ppm, but the nitrites are still zero. The blue is so blue and so far away from the first purple, I wouldn't doubt if I had negative nitrites lol.
Are you only going to add the fish food once, or do you think you'll add more than just the one time shot?

[flutterbug]

I hate to be a bearer of bad news but the 5 ppm or even 10 ppm Nitrate reading is probably just what your tap comes out with. If you want to be sure do a nitrate test on your water right out of the tap. I have in the past and my tap always reads between 5 and 10 ppm. Usually summer causes higher readings. Something with Agricultural bi-products in the water. We aren't somewhere warm so we only have that in warm weather.

[Nu2Discus]

Hey Flutterbug. Actually I did test my tap before I started the whole process. My tap has zero nitrites, zero nitrates, and zero ammonia. I then filtered my tap water before I used it. I then re-tested the water after being filtered, and I still had zero ammonia, nitrates, and nitrites.

Also I've been testing everything everyday since I started. I had zero nitrites, and still have zero nitrites. But when I started I had zero nitrates, just the past few days to maybe a week, I've noticed the nitrates becoming more orange. At first, I didn't think much of it because the nitrites were zero, and the color was still yellow and having a slight orange tinge, but for about 2-3 days now, it's been very orange. Today they are 5-10 ppm, which is pretty far away from the yellow when I started. So it is a bit odd.

[musicmarn1]

+200 for seeded sponges, because buying discus is going to cause a new cycle anyway your not adding TH.a.t much ammonia! Or food etc, so your bacteria colony can't handle the amount of discus you need to make the DISCUS happy, unless you have some fish who can have a party in the tank until diacus come ( now your seeing nitrate I'd do it) get the seeded sponges and do at least one hopefully two water changes daily. I've started three new discus tanks having never kept them in the last year. This and Epsom salts are my ONLY qualifications !!