Stalled Cycle?

[Mazdaman]

I know a lot of questions and post have already been made similair to this but I have to ask again. I have been going at the fishless cycle now for almost 5 weeks and have seen no change. I thought I noticed a drop in Ammonia the other night, but when I tested again last night, it is still stting right around 5ppm. No Nitrite to date. I know that there is no excact time frame for this but man is it taking way longer than I had thought. Any thoughts? Tank is 47Tall, 83 deg, Ammonia at 5ppm. Thanks in advance. Oh and used pure ammonia.

 

[neilanh]

Wow, 5 weeks and nothing? That does seem strange.

You've got the temperature up, that's good. Do you have a lot of aeration in the tank? Extra O2 helps too.

Try adding a pinch of very finely crushed flake food. Sometimes that can be helpful too.

What test kit are you using?

 

[Mazdaman]

using AP master test kit, Aeration is good and even better as of a week ago. I lowered the water level and attached the power head jet to the outlet of my filter. It is really starting to frustrate me with how long it is taking. For my own sanity; will a tank always cycle and just the timing might be different?

 

[neilanh]

Yes, it will cycle unless something is killing off the bacteria that are trying to survive. But typicaly, without seed material, you should've had nitrItes by now. You may not have been fully cycled yet, but you should've been well on your way - so I'm confused.

Let's check a few more things. Have you done any water changes? Are you using tap water? What dechlorinator are you using? Do you have access to any seed material?

What does your tap water (or source water if not using tap) in test at in terms of ammonia?

What pure ammonia are you using?

 

[Mazdaman]

no water changes. Using Prime. Tap water shows no Ammonia but Higher PH. Can't remember the excact name of the ammonia but I know I went to like 5 places to find pure ammonia with no added chemicals, dyes or perfumes... Wish I had seed material but no... my last two tanks I did a cycle with fish and remember it going much much faster... Thanks for your help with this. I have read all the articles and quite a few posts but nothing is really helping me figure this out. At 5 weeks with no advancements; I am getting close to doing a very large water change to remove the ammonia and going to get some fish...

 

[neilanh]

Yeah, you got me, it sounds like you're doing everything right. Please don't go get fish just yet, but a water change might not hurt. Do a 50% and then redose your ammonia back up to around 4-5 or so and give it another week before throwing in the towel.

 

[Mazdaman]

it was more venting than anything, alright been this long, no point giving up just yet. Will give the water change a try...

 

[sabina]

I agree with neilanh, don't give up just yet. I was having similar problems with my fishless cycle too. I didn't see ANY nitrites for almost a month and I was at the point of starting over a few weeks ago. I think neilanh is right about doing a water change. I did a large WC 3½ weeks into the cycle. The ammonia would only drop to 2 ppm and remain at 2 ppm for days and days and because of the lack of nitrites I thought a WC was worth a try. Within a couple of days after doing the WC, I started seeing a regular drop in ammonia and I had a small reading of nitrites (0 - 0.25 ppm) for nine consecutive days into weeks 4 & 5, although they've totally disappeared and I haven't had a reading since. I even seeded the filter with a mature filter sponge when I started, but I don't think that it helped, but somehow I think the WC helped with my cycle. Now, after almost 8 weeks the ammonia is starting to drop to zero within 24 hours, nitrites are still at zero and nitrates are off the API chart. It's interesting that we get different readings for ammonia from our city's tap water though, I've tested mine a couple of times and get 0.25 - 0.50 ppm.

 

[OldMan]

One thing that can stall a cycle's progress is a low pH. If that is your problem, add a bit of baking soda, not baking powder, to move the pH up a bit. You might also be able to trade media with Sabina if she is near enough to Edmonton.