Fishless Cycle - What's Wrong?

[dcutl002]

I cycled my planted aquarium for three months before adding fish. I highly recommend real plants. My fish are so much healthier in a natural aquarium. I have been keeping tanks almost 40 years. Tried it all. Tried real plants and never turned back. Good luck.

 

[Daner]

Purchased some seeded material from MrFisher from the classifieds board, which arrived on Friday so I installed it into my filter. Tested the water parameters on Sunday (have been ill lately and didn't feel like moving at all Saturday), and had NitrAtes of 10ppm! No nitrItes yet, and Ammonia was about 3ppm.

Checked parameters today, the nitrItes test was a different shade of blue but still not purple yet, and Ammonia went to 1ppm. So at least something is happening there. NitrAtes read 20ppm today.

Is it weird for the NitrAtes to be present before the NitrItes? I previously tested my tap water before I got started and there were no NitrAtes there, or ever before in the cycling process.

Thanks again to user MrFisher for getting my cycle started finally! I was starting to think nothing would ever happen!

 

[trennamw]

Could it be possible that you're already fully cycled? I dunno I'm on my first cycle myself. But it sounds like the ammonia went straight through the whole cycle in between the times it took to test. Seems fast even for seeded media but ... Hmm.

 

[Daner]

Tested yesterday morning, Ammonia was slightly above 0ppm (yellow but not green), NitrItes finally joined the party and the nitrAtes had gone up as well. Am checking again when I get home this evening. I guess the nitrItes were just slow But, thankfully Mr Fisher's seeded material was all my tank needed to get get started for real!

 

[Daner]

Have had steady increases in my NitrAtes since adding the seeded material. Once NitrItes showed up they had a small spike and then are now quickly turned over to NitrAtes. The problem now is that the Ammonia doesn't come all the way down to zero anymore. Any ideas why that would change as the NitrIte -> NitrAte turn over got better that the Ammonia -> NitrIte turn over has slowed down considerably?

The last week my test kit has read Ammonia 1-3ppm, NitrItes 0ppm and NitrAtes 160ppm .
I just did a partial water change ~20% this morning, so hoping maybe bringing the high NitrAtes down will help somehow?

 

[SteveC68]

Are either of these the guide that you originally found?

Aquarium Nitrogen Cycle and Fishless Cycling - Pets Keepers Guide

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...guide-and-faq-to-fishless-cycling-148283.html

I'm on day 6 of my nitrogen cycle. I have the Dr. Tims ammonium chloride mentioned in the first link. I used the Tetra Safe Start also mentioned in the first link. My ammonia levels drop from 4.0 to 2.0ppm in a 24 hour period. I might try his One & Only Live Nitrifying Bacteria.

 

[Mr Fisher]

Have had steady increases in my NitrAtes since adding the seeded material. Once NitrItes showed up they had a small spike and then are now quickly turned over to NitrAtes. The problem now is that the Ammonia doesn't come all the way down to zero anymore. Any ideas why that would change as the NitrIte -> NitrAte turn over got better that the Ammonia -> NitrIte turn over has slowed down considerably?

The last week my test kit has read Ammonia 1-3ppm, NitrItes 0ppm and NitrAtes 160ppm .
I just did a partial water change ~20% this morning, so hoping maybe bringing the high NitrAtes down will help somehow?

I'm quite sure once the nitrates come down you will see ammonia conversion begin again. I believe this was proven in the extreme fishless cycle thread.