Fishless Cycle Problem - No Progress

Tazman

Disregard my last post....

Did you when you set the new tank up, match the water temperature to the tank you took the media from?
This can also shock the bacteria if the water was not near the temperature they can from.

jrossi90

No i did not, good to know for future reference.

Tazman

In which case it is quite possible that the good bacteria from the other tank have been killed off. This may explain why you are not getting any readings yet as the bacteria are not there yet. ie you are basically starting off again and it might take the 6-8 weeks to cycle.

ladayen

ahh NH3 is ammonia.. keep thinking it's nitrates.

Ok so nothing is changing..

Bacteria wont die off that easily, they can adjust to a wide range of temperatures including sudden changes. I'm sure theres a limit of what they can handle but unless one tank was super cold I dont think thats the problem. As to food, they can hibernate basically and last for months with no source of food. That shouldn't be the issue either.

So I would guess either the ammonia was too high and killed them off, possible but dont think so, or it was a bit of everything.. stress basically. Prime, bacteria supplement, ammonia.. too much stuff to handle is my guess.

AbbeysDad

Welcome to TFK.
There is some incorrect information in the thread so I'd like to clarify.
Bottled bacteria does not need food to survive. The culture is in a hibernation stasis. It can however be destroyed by extremes in temperature (which can occur in transit).
Prime does not convert nitrites. It does however detoxify ammonia, nitrites and nitrates for 24-48 hours. Using Prime will not impede the cycle process.
Although nitrosomonas bacteria oxidize ammonia, high levels of ammonia are toxic to them as well. Perhaps the ammonia level is a bit high.

I'd suggest a water change to get ammonia levels down well below 5ppm. Perhaps add additional bio-seed (e.g. Seachem Stability or API's new Quick Start) and don't add any more ammonia at least until levels drop and you see nitrites.

Good luck,
AD

FishlessCycle

I am interested in what kind of "full bottle of live bacteria" you used for your fishless cycling?

The only proven working live bacteria product for aquatic nitrogen cycle is Tetra SafeStart.
Everything else won't work. Other products mostly have land based nitrogen cycle bacteria, which will drown in the water after a week and crash the seemly "completed" cycle.

If you have used Tetra SafeStart, it can cycle your tank as fast as a few days, and as late as 1~2 weeks.

If you indeed used Tetra SafeStart, you should also know that even this proven working product is not 100% stable. It is mentioned in the following article. On two occasions, once it almost instantly cycled the tank. Another time it didn't.
Fishless Cycling ( Nitrogen Cycle )

AbbeysDad

That may have been true years ago, but I don't think it plays anymore. Nothing against Dr. Tim, who I believe was originally behind the Tetra product, but today upscale companies with proven track records like Seachem (Stability) and API (Quick Start) are in the bacteria in a bottle market. I'm encouraged by this new era as it has the potential to eliminate crude old school cycling and end new tank syndrome.