Stalled Cycle..I think??

[jerbear]

Looking to put some spark in my fishless cycle which I now believe is stalled. I am on day 31 in this process. Brief synopsis of the cycling process...
Day 1.Added enough ammonia to reach 5 ppm
Day 13. Nitrite show for the first time
Day 14. Nitrites still climbing... Ammonia declined to 2 ppm . Added ammonia to reach 5 ppm
Day 17. Nitrites reached¬ 5+ ppm. Ammonia declined to 2 ppm... Added ammonia to reach 5 ppm.. Nitrates start registering...
Day 18 – Day 20 same as Day 17
Day 22. Nitrates at least 80 ppm. Nitrites 5+ However, ammonia is not decreasing reads 5ppm
Day 22- 29..No change
Day 30 no change in any of the readings.. Checked ph for the first time.. Reading was 8+++ . Did a 70 percent w/c. New readings after w/c. Ammonia 1pm.. Nitrites 5+ (still very high). Nitrates 10 – 20 ppm.. ph 7
Day 31.. No change from day 30


Am I being impatient or is has this cycled stalled and if it has. what do I need to do to move it along.

55 gallon tank, AC 500 and 2 sponge filters running. Temp 86

Thanks
Jerry

[KDodds]

Being that it hasn't budged in two weeks, I'd say you're "stalled". Since the WC hasn't done anything either, you might want to seriously consider adding a bacterial seed, either from another tank source, or from a refrigerated bacterial cycling product. Either should kickstart your cycle again.

[Chad Hughes]

Jerry,

A month long syslce seems to be a bit long. Sounds stalled to me as well. If you are performing a fishless cycle, I would pump up the ammonia level to like 8 and let it ride. Do not perform a water change until your nitrite is zero. You will likely have high nitrate. Once you achieve an ammonia and nitirte level of 0, then you are cycled and can perform a water cahnge. The big reason for water changes during cycling are typically to protect fish during "fishy" cycling. Since you have no livestock in your tank, there is no helth risk to a fish. Also, if you are using carbon in your filter, take it out. You want your bilogical filter to form on your biomedia, not a carbon cartridge. Personally I do not use carbon and there is no harm in leaving it out.

Best wishes!

[salth20]

Nope, shouldn't be this long, IMO. Are you also dosing with a bacterial seed, such as Bio-Spira, Stability, etc? Get a handful of gravel from an established tank, used filter media from another tank, something to bring in some bacteria. Ammonia is an inhibitor to nitrite eaters developing. It just sounds to me like you need a bacterial shot in the arm. For example, I moved a bag of ceramic rings from one tank's wet/dry to another I set up. I noticed a mild nitrite spike at about 9 days, it was gone by day 11. Good luck.

[Chad Hughes]

11 days is a perfect cycle IMO!

I used some of that bacteria starter stuff when I started a tank years ago, but since then I always use filter media from a well established filter. I operate a sump under my 150 gallon and I keep 2 sponge filters in there all the time. When I need a cycled sponge filter, I pick it out of the sump and add it to the new tank then replace that sponge filter with a new one for next time! It really works out nicely and I never have to cycle a new tank due to the large amount of bacteria already present in the sponge. Just a thought!

Best wishes!

[jerbear]

Thanks guys. First time I tried a fishless cycle. Nope. no carbon in the filter and I did not seed with Bio-Spira.. However, after the advice here, I did break down and added a very large handful of substrate from my 75 gallon tank. I was reluctant to do so fearing future ramification of cross contamination. I am VERY hopeful this with give it the kick it needs.

Thanks Again..

Jerry..

[Roxanne]

You could be impatient but, I think your PH is too high and it can't process , it's too much over 7.2 IME, over or under 7.2 will delay the completion phase of the cycle......It can take up to 6 weeks for the bacteria to establish.....you can't realistically expect anything before that and you can't say it has stalled either because it is too early...it doesn't mean the bacteria aren't colonising just because the ammonia isn't moving...your water change brought the ph down, so the bacteria you have could process what ammonia there was, hence lower readings...then you added more, you could have had some die back from an overdose so it has to catch up again

I have watched a tank with higher than 5ppm ammonia readings, a delayed cycle for weeks, eat ammonia with my own eyes, the ammonia came crashing down to 0 within I think it was an hour or so of me buffering my 6ph water up to 7.2-7.4....

If nitrifying bacteria came alive and kicking to you in a bottle from a LFS, we wouldn't be discussing this would we?...save your money honey...Graham always says, it takes 4-6 weeks with an ammonia source, 28-42 days with snake oil..

....I wouldn't dose to 8ppm, that will kill off the nitrifiers you are trying to feed..don't go over 5ppm in a dose......no need to feed it while it's cycling either until ammonia reads 0, then redose to 5ppm..when your filter can process 5ppm ammonia down to 0 in 24 hours, you're done.....

Rox

[Don Trinko]

I have had it take 6 weeks almost every time. My ph is typicaly 7.6 to 8 in the tanks. Rox seems to be onto something. Since my ph is high I thought it took 6 weeks for everybody's to cycle. Don T.

[jerbear]

It has been a week since I added substrate from another tank.I have fed the tank 3 times to get the Ammonia level back up around 4ppm.. Nitrites 5, Nitrates 10 + .. However my ph has coming crashing down to 6 over the past day.. Not sure why or if I need to add some baking soda..

Jerry

[nickmcmechan]

cycle can stall above 4ppm ammonia - keep the ammonia below 4ppm

think about it...why doesn't the bottle of pure ammonia cycle?...there hasto be an upper limit...IME for tanks its above 6ppm so i tend to fishless cycle 2ppm to 4ppm ammonia

[jerbear]

cycle can stall above 4ppm ammonia - keep the ammonia below 4ppm

think about it...why doesn't the bottle of pure ammonia cycle?...there hasto be an upper limit...IME for tanks its above 6ppm so i tend to fishless cycle 2ppm to 4ppm ammonia

I will keep it under 4 ppm. What about the ph level falling.. Should I add some baking soda?

Jerry

[Chad Hughes]

I will keep it under 4 ppm. What about the ph level falling.. Should I add some baking soda?

Jerry

What is your KH reading? This will tell you if you need to add. If it's less than 4 degrees, yes, add!

[Patr1ck]

...think about it...why doesn't the bottle of pure ammonia cycle?...there hasto be an upper limit...IME...

Thats funny. Good point

Pat

[jerbear]

What is your KH reading? This will tell you if you need to add. If it's less than 4 degrees, yes, add!

My Kh was less than 1.. Added the baking soda now around 5..


Jerry

[Chad Hughes]

My Kh was less than 1.. Added the baking soda now around 5..


Jerry

Perfect! Well done.