Help with fishless cycle

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
Hi Rachelfiona. Out of curiosity, where did you get the ammonia from? Pure ammonia is difficult to attain here in the UK. Are you sure there are no other ingredients in the source ammonia you are using?

Sent from my SM-T210 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
 
More questions to add to the pile :lol: :
- Did you add any seeded items from another tank (gravel, filter media, etc.)?
- Are there any animals or plants in there, any at all?
- Did you experience a bacterial bloom (water goes really cloudy)?
- Did you use tetra safestart?
- When you first tested for ammonia, how long after you dosed did you test?

Other things that could go wrong are:
- The ammonia has anything but Ammonium Hydroxide and water in it (that is the standard). Perfume and surfactant are specifically bad.
- You somehow got perfume, or something in the tank, maybe furniture polish or something that you spray from a can like fabreeze or windex.

Basically, here is what we know:
- Something brought the ammonia down to 1 ppm (or you read it wrong and it was originally 1 ppm)
- It took 10 days to do that.
- Since then it has not gone down at all.
- No nitrite has been seen in the tank, and no water changes have been done, therefore either you tested wrong originally, and somehow there never was any ammonia "eaten", or something (like a plant or algae) "ate" ammonia and never created nitrite, or created nitrite and "ate" that too.

So think about that! ^^^

By the way, I assume you have a good understanding of cycling a tank, right?
 
Tank, filter and everything else was new and I rinsed it with tapwater before setting it all up.

Temperature was 26C but I turned it up a bit this morning. Now having trouble reading what it is on the strip thermometer, I think I need to get a better thermometer.
The full story is that it took me a while to find the adjustment dial on the heater, so initially it was 23C. Once I found the dial it was over 30C for a short time then I found the right point to keep it at 26C. This was about the 10 day point. I did forget to put the heater back on once soon after this (I switch everything electrical off briefly while I take the water samples just to be on the safe side) so it was off completely for a few hours. Just as well I made that mistake before getting fish and not after! I can see this might have set everything back but would have thought that at worst the cycling would have just needed to start again and it should be OK by now.

The ammonia I have been using is KleenOff ammonia household cleaner and I have seen it recommended on aquarium forums. There's no ingredients list which I'm hoping means it is pure ammonia.

No seeded items. I do have friends who recently started an aquarium (about 6 months ago) but when I spoke to them about it they hadn't done any research and they have had a few fish die, so I thought best not to risk importing any diseases or problems from their tank.

There are no fish and no live plants in the tank. I didn't use Tetra Safestart and the water has remained clear. I haven't sprayed anything near the tank so don't believe anything could have gone in that way.

I tested the ammonia about 20 mins after adding initially. It was 2ppm so I added the same amount again and tested 20 mins later, when it read 4ppm. I then began testing every 2-3 days from that point on.

I tried to follow this guide: http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...guide-and-faq-to-fishless-cycling-148283.html so I thought I knew what to do to cycle the tank.

I have just turned the light on in the tank (it has been left off) and noticed a greyish growth around the glue holding the plastic plants on the plastic driftwood. Do you think this could be causing a problem?

I have uploaded photos here: Aquarium Advice - Aquarium Forum Community - Rachelfiona's Album: Rachelfiona setup.

Off to do the water change now - this will be the first time I've done it.

Thanks for everyone's thoughts and comments.
 
Caliban07 said:
Just going back to the ammoniavso we can rule it out once and for all. Apparently there are different versions of your ammonia. Check this link. Make sure its not the one for cleaning sinks sodium hydroxide and ensure it IS ammonium hydroxide.

A Kleen Off warning

Sent from my SM-T210 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
Click to expand...

Good find Caliban!
I would feel so bad for you Rachel if it's the wrong cleaner BUT better an ANSWER than a mystery. So far I'm kind of baffled.
But how would sodium hydroxide give her an ammonia reading, ever?

Caliban - On the note of being up I did go to bed after that, but I am a total vampire and regularly up til 2 or 3 =/
 
The bottle definitely says ammonia on it so should be the right one.

I've now done (almost) 100% water change - I didn't try to empty the water in the bottom inch or so among the gravel. I've removed the suspect ornament, which felt really slimy. The other two ornaments are fine. I've replaced the filter cartridges with filter sponges cut to size, ensuring that they fit snugly into the space (ie top to bottom and side to side, there is still space in front and behind as there was with the cartridges). The cartridges had gone brown, not sure if that would be expected or not.

Next I'll do the full range of tests on the tank water and then add ammonia to 4 ppm.
 
If you replaced the cartridges you will be starting over, as that's where the bacteria live.
I'm not sure why the cartridge would be brown from a fishless cycle??

Is the filter getting proper flow when it's on? I'm really curious about the brown cartridges
 
threnjen said:
If you replaced the cartridges you will be starting over, as that's where the bacteria live.
I'm not sure why the cartridge would be brown from a fishless cycle??

Is the filter getting proper flow when it's on? I'm really curious about the brown cartridges
Click to expand...


You will lose a lot of bacteria but not all. Lots will stick to gravel plants ornaments sides of glass etc. I'm assuming the cartridges are 1 x green sponge and 1 x floss with carbon. I bought a 15 gallon from pets at home a while back which came with its own hang on back filter. The carbon floss media has it's uses but isn't a great choice for housing bacteria. Only thing I would suggest it going to your local pet store and ask if you could have some seeded media to get you moving. We can then we could look in to possibilities of what might have caused this.
 
I reckoned the cycle wasn't going anywhere anyway so I wouldn't be losing anything - hope I haven't just set myself back even further!
The cartridges were one of these: Marine Bio-Clear Slim Filter Goldfish Cartridge 3pcs by Marina | Pets at Home
and two of these: Marina 360 Bio-Carb Slim Filters 3pk A291 by Hagen for £4.79 | Swallow Aquatics
I guess not relevant now anyway since I've removed them!

Do you think the slimy stuff on the ornament was part of the problem? Should I leave this out of the tank or will it be OK to put back in?

I'll maybe see if I can go to the LFS on Monday and ask for seeded media.

I'll keep you updated on progress.
 
Rachelfiona said:
Tank, filter and everything else was new and I rinsed it with tapwater before setting it all up.

Temperature was 26C but I turned it up a bit this morning. Now having trouble reading what it is on the strip thermometer, I think I need to get a better thermometer.
The full story is that it took me a while to find the adjustment dial on the heater, so initially it was 23C. Once I found the dial it was over 30C for a short time then I found the right point to keep it at 26C. This was about the 10 day point. I did forget to put the heater back on once soon after this (I switch everything electrical off briefly while I take the water samples just to be on the safe side) so it was off completely for a few hours. Just as well I made that mistake before getting fish and not after! I can see this might have set everything back but would have thought that at worst the cycling would have just needed to start again and it should be OK by now.

The ammonia I have been using is KleenOff ammonia household cleaner and I have seen it recommended on aquarium forums. There's no ingredients list which I'm hoping means it is pure ammonia.

No seeded items. I do have friends who recently started an aquarium (about 6 months ago) but when I spoke to them about it they hadn't done any research and they have had a few fish die, so I thought best not to risk importing any diseases or problems from their tank.

There are no fish and no live plants in the tank. I didn't use Tetra Safestart and the water has remained clear. I haven't sprayed anything near the tank so don't believe anything could have gone in that way.

I tested the ammonia about 20 mins after adding initially. It was 2ppm so I added the same amount again and tested 20 mins later, when it read 4ppm. I then began testing every 2-3 days from that point on.

I tried to follow this guide: http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...guide-and-faq-to-fishless-cycling-148283.html so I thought I knew what to do to cycle the tank.

I have just turned the light on in the tank (it has been left off) and noticed a greyish growth around the glue holding the plastic plants on the plastic driftwood. Do you think this could be causing a problem?

I have uploaded photos here: Aquarium Advice - Aquarium Forum Community - Rachelfiona's Album: Rachelfiona setup.

Off to do the water change now - this will be the first time I've done it.

Thanks for everyone's thoughts and comments.
Click to expand...

That could be it. When testing, you should wait at least an hour after dosing ammonia. I don't know why it hasn't started cycling again though. Perhaps it is the ammonia?
 
Also, the slimy stuff is probably a type of fungus that grows on new aquariums, and I too find it particularly common on aquarium silicone.
 
It's a couple of months since I started this thread and I'm still struggling. In early Feb we gave up on fishless cycling after 2 months with no progress whatsoever and got 3 male guppies. I've been testing the water then doing a 60% pwc about twice a week. Every time I test I get 0.25 ammonia (sometimes looks closer to 0), 0 nitrite and about 5 nitrate (a little more than the tap water).

Is the tank cycled and just low nitrate because lightly stocked? If so, I'm confused why there was only very briefly any nitrite reading.
Or is it still not starting to cycle? I so, what could I be doing wrong? Is Aquacare water conditioner from maidenhead aquatics ok? I can't think what else could possibly be the problem.

Thanks
Rachel
 
Hmmmm….. If you have detectible ammonia levels, the tank is not cycled yet. With only three guppies and a 60% water change twice a week, they should be fine while it happens. You are not rinsing out your filter media during this time, right? The fact that you are getting some nitrates means either you have nitrates in your tap water OR the tank is cycled and the ammonia isn't really .25 but is 0. I know it can be hard to tell the difference between the lemon yellow and barely greenish yellow difference.

Test your tap water again (let a cup of it sit overnight first and test the next day) for ammonia and nitrate.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

M
Strange Nitrate problem in fishless cycle
Replies
8
Views
796
Andy Sager
Andy Sager
J
Fishless cycle help
2
Replies
39
Views
2K
Andy Sager
Andy Sager
M
Fishless Cycle Question
Replies
8
Views
585
Andy Sager
Andy Sager
N
Fishless cycle - have I crashed it
Replies
8
Views
742
Colin_T
C
thekeymaker57
Fishless cycle - stalled?
Replies
2
Views
601
thekeymaker57
thekeymaker57

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom