I HATE FISHLESS CYCLING! PLEASE HELP!

[bunebop]

GRRRRR... alright, so here's my problem. None of the stores around here carry "100% pure ammonia" so I got the closest thing I could and used that. I threw in 2 filter cartidges from established tanks as well as some plastic plants and gravel from them as well. I've been checking the amonia and nitrites constantly. NOTHING IS CHANGING!!!! I am getting so frustrated. Am I doing something wrong? I have the filters running all the time... the ammonia has been in it for two weeks now... and nitrites are not going up... and amonia is not going down. This is just making me so frustrated. Does anyone have any suggestions or anything which might help me figure out why the heck this tank is not cycling. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE. TIA!!

 

[krap101]

yeahit might be the ammonia your using. maybe it had like soap or something that killed the bacteria.

2/2 of the walmarts here sell it. its called clear ammonia. i have a site somewhere that says other synonyms of the pure.

and i dont think i have it anymore. i had the sheet somewhere but i think someone threw it away
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edit: sry forgot. you can also use like fishfood or if you have pest snails put them in a jar with an algae wafer. this is not a constant way but just use anything that is or turns into ammonia. because on the snail thing i have them in a jar to breed for my puffers and every now and then i get more from the store. because they dont breed fast enough. theres a nice coat of lil tiny curly french fry things on the bottom on the jar. id send you some but #1 shipping )never shipped anything b4)
#2 im cycling my 29 gallon right now..


and also pure ammonia (clear) is usually in the cleaning isle. a good way to test it is. ya kno if you shake a bottle of water with soap in a watertight container it bubbles with the soapy bubbles. if the ammonia does this when you shake it then it probally has soap. but mine had bubbles but not the shiny (soap) bubbles

 

[TankGirl]

Are you using any ammonia-removing additives in your filter?

 

[krap101]

oh that 2 8P

 

[bunebop]

It says clear ammonia. My boyfriend apparently got the same thing, and it worked fine on his tank.

 

[krap101]

ic. try getting new ammonia. every time you open it or keep it open it loses its affectiveness.

 

[bunebop]

Are you using any ammonia-removing additives in your filter?

Not that I'm aware of. I have 2 Emporer 400's on it... and they just have the cartridges that came w/ em. I didn't add anything. So unless it has amonia-removing additives automatically in it I didn't put it there. Plus the amonia level is not decreasing at all...

 

[bunebop]

And the amonia hasn't been open very much... just enough to dump it out and recapped tightly. It's brand new. When you shake it it doesn't have bubbles either. Although there are a few clear bubbles in the tank (not like soap bubbles)

 

[krap101]

give it another week. im sure. i have faith in that stuff 8P

oh and not the best idea if you get too impatient could try fish cycling with like feeder fish? but like i said not the best idea

and do you dechlorinate your water?

lol sry for asking standard procedure 8P

 

[bunebop]

No, I don't dechlorinate my water. I have well water, so no chlorine in it to get rid of lol I'm just so frustrated. I hate waiting... and I thought SOMETHING would happen in 2 weeks. grrr Thanks!!

 

[krap101]

yeah sometimes people stall but ive never heard of it happening this early. oh i have well water too but i still dechlorinate my water. mainly to get out the hard metals or whatever. oya heavy metals

 

[bunebop]

huh. I dunno. I tested everything on my water. We have this crazy water softener, so the waters really really soft... and has 0 chlorine. My other tanks are doing fine on it.

 

[krap101]

ic.. sry cant help much more. time will tell.

maybe someone else'll chip in

 

[Menagerie]

This is odd. You said it worked for your bf? Is his tank established?? Get a squeezing from this filter--that will have all the bacteria necessary to get your tank moving in the right direction!

 

[bunebop]

Yes, his tank is established, but he lives kinda far away and getting a sqeezeing from his filter isn't really an option. My established 10 gallon does not have a filter w/ a biowheel at the moment (don't worry just ordered one) but the last two times I've changed the flter insert I threw that in the new one. Also my 13 gallon has a biowheel, but I don't wanna take a sqeeze out of that, cause it's a very newly set up tank and I used the biospira, and it hasn't worked very well for me so far, I think it would be useless.

 

[Menagerie]

Ew. Do you know anyone with an established tank near by?? If you were closer, I could give you a bag full of beneficial bacteria :? You could contact your local Aquarium Society

 

[bunebop]

lol no, only one's w/ a tank I know are my boyfriend and I I think I have bacteria and stuff in there. I mean I put tons of gravel and stuff in from my 10 gallon. I dunno what it's problem is I could get some more bio spira stuff at my lfs. Would that help?

 

[Moe36]

Although im still a newb...you said, get more bio spira? Meaning you already used it? If so, your already done the cycle..

 

[bunebop]

I used it on my 13 gallon, not the 50. And that was only cause I had to cycle quickly.

 

[TankGirl]

I don't think the ammonia will be any less effective over time, but that is not the case here. I know it is hard but wait it out. Something has to give here in the near future - you can't avoid it but I have had slow cycles in the past, too, and it is no fun.

One other thought - are you heating the tank? I had a cycle recently run much quicker when I raised the temp of the tank to 86 just for the cycle.