little trouble cycling my 10gl

gRuNg3b0y

Hi I just recently joined fishforum and wanted to say hi to all the members!! I have a 10 gallon tank that I'm trying to cycle. I screw up the first cycle because the ammonia I used has surfactant and I was told to drain all my water and start over.

After I reset my tank's cycle after 2 hours I tested it using API master test kit and it gave me

Ammonia - 1.0ppm
Nitrite - 0ppm

I waited 24 hours to make the tank do it's thing before I add the ammonia I bought at Ace hardware store. It's called Janitorial strength and here's the link

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s...g?t=1198104751

I tested it and it gave me

Ammonia - 0ppm
Nitrite - 0ppm

I don't know how it happen so I also checked for nitrate and it gave me 0ppm too. I added the ammonia I have (about 1/2 teaspoon) and waited for a while before I test it and the ammonia is 4.0ppm and nitrite 0ppm.

So is there something in this method I did wrong?? And I'm looking for some advice, opinions if can and it will be a great help!!

Thanks

oh heres what I have in my tank:

10gl tank(incase you forget)
Filtration system AquaClear and it's for 70gl with mechanical, and biological filter media
Gravel
2 airstones on both corners with a decor frog that spits a blob of air every minute
Heater (temperatures reaching between 80-84 degrees)
Decor plants (plastic)

vinoth1465

hi, welcome to the fishforum...

i have never done a fishless cycle before, nevertheless it takes more then just 24 hours...

atleast 2 to 3 weeks or more for the tank to cycle... the tank needs to establish bacteria first before it can start to break down the ammonia into nitrite...

let the filter run and leave the tank as is... check for ammonia and nitrite after 4 to 5 days...

you should have less ammonia and increase in nitrite...

Oldman47

At 4 ppm you have plenty of ammonia to start the cycle moving. If you have no used media to jump start the process, don't be surprised if you still have lots of ammonia a few days later. You have as much as you ever want so do not add ammonia until the levels start coming down and don't add enough to go back above 4 ppm. The high temperatures will help speed things up once you get some bacteria going. There won't be any nitrates from the bacterial action until the process is well under way. You may want a baseline reference number so that when it looks like you are having success on reducing ammonia, you will have something to compare the nitrates to. The nitrite level also won't move much until the ammonia starts dropping. The it will shoot up to very high levels until the nitrite bacteria get established. When nitrites start coming down, the nitrates wil finally move up. At this point you will be glad to have your baseline reading so you can see how much its changing. You may even see the nitrates start to move up before the nitrites come down enough to be within the scale of the nitrite test. This should reassure you that things are happening and shortly after, within a few days, the nitrites will be near zero.

Little-Fizz

Alright well I've never used ammonia to cycle a tank. I used fish flakes. But like a day or so after I added fish flakes I got ammonia and it slowly went up to 8.0. It stayed like this for like... a good 2 weeks probably and somewhere around the time the ammonia started to drop off I had high level nitrites. and they stayed around at high levers for another two weeks or so. It seemed like they were stuck or something. So I did a water change and the following weekend it was fish safe... It takes much longer then 24 hours to cycle your tank. It took me a good solid month. It's a pain in the butt and I know all you want to do it go out and buy fish, but its worth the wait. Having a nice beautiful fish tank with happy healthy fish in it that you don't have to do daily waters changed I'm so glad I did it right this time. Good luck with cycling your tank!

fish_4_all

http://www.fishforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=3738

SeaSerpant

I had done a fishless cycle on a 10 gallon. i had put in water conditioner and cycle which has all the beneficial bacteria. if you do that it should take a week.

Falina

Cycle is thought of as a useless product by many members here. I have never used it so can't personally say. IMHO there is no substitute for a proper old-fashioned fishless cycle, no additives, to ensure stable water parameters.

fish_4_all

There is really only thing to remember when cycling a tank. It can take anywhere from 1-12 weeks to cycle a tank. What determines it who knows but even the best intentions and the best preparation can still lead to a 2 month cycle. Cycling products work sometimes, sometimes they never work and are a waste of money.

A good test kit is worth more than any cycling product because without one you will never know when the cycle is done.

gRuNg3b0y

Well I might as well wait it up some more. Besides it's only been a week since the last time I started re-cycling my tank. And I read from the different fish forum about the "Seachem's Stability" http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/aqua...ead.php?t=6941 so I decided to give it a shot for the heck of it I also re-use my 20gl Aquaclear filtration system that I had the first time and added the "Fluval Biomax rings" for Biological filtration. So right now I'm using 2 filtration system on my tank (for 70gl/mechanical and bio, and for 20gl/bio). I'll give an update in a couple of weeks.

Hope everybody had a great holiday!!!

Unrulyevil

stop adding all the unhealthy stuff to the tank and just wait.