Day 10 and my cycle is doing...nothing

[TankinWithUs]

We have a 5.5 gallon tank that we are fishless cycling. We have 3 small plants. The Java Fern is growing

We bought ammonia from the dollar store and the only ingredient is ammonia hydroxide.

When we tested the tank this morning, these were the levels:

ammonia 4.0
nitrite 0
pH 8.2

I didn't bother to test nitrates.

The last time I dosed ammonia was 4 days ago. Before that, it was coming down...or at least, I thought it was.

What gives?

 

[DeeLee2013]

Hmm...

Put a flake or two of fish food into the tank. Maybe that will help the bacteria colony...


? Diana Lee ?
? the St. Augustine Redhead ?

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
36g Rescape in Progress!
10g Orchid Endler's N-Class
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

[TankinWithUs]

I'll give that a go...i haven't tried that yet.

Sent from my SM-G900T using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[TankinWithUs]

Should I just wait a little longer? It is starting to get a tiny bit cloudy like before...maybe it will start dropping?

Sent from my SM-G900T using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[LittleCory]

I'm still cycling my first tank myself, a 10gal, but I can say at least with my tank it took until the 5th day for there to be any change in the ammonia levels. Sometimes it just takes awhile from what I gather.

 

[TankinWithUs]

sigh. just keep swimming!!

Sent from my SM-G900T using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[Dotrskeeper]

Did you use a source of bacteria like a used filter?


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[TankinWithUs]

No, it's not seeded. I'm hoping to beg my LFS for some seeding material this weekend.

 

[Angela1108]

Sometimes too much of something can stall it. You might want to do a water change then dose up to like 2ppm ammonia just to see what it does.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[TankinWithUs]

I was thinking that, too, Angela! Maybe I was getting too ammonia happy. I'll see what it looks like tomorrow morning. If it still won't budge, I might just do a teeny water change. Maybe

The good news is my plants seem to be loving it because they are growing. I'm worried they are growing brown algae, too, but I'm not 100% sure what that looks like or what I could do for them.

 

[Angela1108]

If you have lights on I would turn them off for a little bit. Brown algae/diatoms are petty common in new tanks. It might go away on its own.

http://badmanstropicalfish.com/articles/article85.html




Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[TankinWithUs]

oh ok. Good to know!

Sent from my SM-G900T using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[TankinWithUs]

I am so frustrated. Day 11. I have this white dust looking stuff floating around in the tank and setting on the leaves of the plants. I have no clue what it is. I did a 10% water change and thought it would be a good time to test the water. I tested first from the water i siphoned into the bucket. 4ppm ammonia, 0.50ppm nitrite. I was so excited to see nitrite...

But when I tested the tank...I had 4ppm ammonia, 0 nitrite.

Wtf?

Should I just start over??