Why will my tank not cycle?

[sea-note]

Tank has been operational for 4.5 weeks. I haven't had a tank for over 7 years and came from the "old school" of tank cycling and started a fishy cycle before reading that fishLESS was probably best. So, now I have to live with what I've got.

I started my 60 gallon with 5 Danios, 1 Platy, 3 Cory Cats, a Java Fern, and some other plant I don't know the name of. After 2.5 weeks, I added a Pleko. Pretty quickly, my Ammonia was at .25ppm and has stayed there. It has not fluctuated at all - not when I WAS doing water changes and it hasn't fluctuated even though I haven't done a water change for 9 days. I have never had any Nitrites and obviously no Nitrates.

I removed the unknown plant, because it had grown almost to the top of the tank, so I thought maybe it was keeping the tank from cycling. Things haven't changed as far as my levels are concerned.

Any ideas?

Also, when I make a change, how long do I wait before I can determine that the change is not helping the cycle. The LFS guy said 1 week, but I take their advise with a grain of salt.

Thanks for your help!

 

[meegosh]

What type of test kit are you using? It may be bad and giving false readings. I'd recommend taking a sample of your water to a LFS and have it tested. With that amount of fish I would expect more ammonia.

Sorry to keep it short - had surgery on my wrist Monday.

 

[sea-note]

Thanks for the reply. I thought about the same thing. I have an API test kit. The LFS tested my water 2 days ago and came up with the same results.

 

[missileman]

Unless you seed the tank with a live bacterial source it can take 6-8 weeks or longer to do a fishy cycle.
Get yourself some seed material (squeezing from a filter sponge, used filter media ect..) and put in your filter or buy a product called Bio-Spira which is live bacteria if you want to speed up the cycle and make it easier on your fish.
Otherwise it will take time, in which case keep a close eye on it and keep up with water changes.

 

[Bender]

Funny how fish stores really dont ever say cycling will take so long... guess if they dont it will be greater profits for them.:censor:

 

[sea-note]

I really don't mind waiting; however, I see folks that have had their tanks cycled by now or at least seen a nitrite spike. I've seen neither. Still haven't - tested last night - even after the suggestions made here.

I'm at a loss now. Shouldn't I have at least seen a nitrite spike? On average, how long after the nitrite spike is the tank cycled?

 

[joy13]

Do you know of someone you can get some filter medium from? I have to seed my tanks with filter medium because I am allergic to ammonia. I don't know how close you are to me but I do have an extra filter going now so I can seed a tank.

 

[Bender]

I have come to the conclusion without "seed" material your best bet is to get on your knee's and begin to pray to the "Cycle" Gods..... other then that I have a feeling I soon will be in the same boat.

 

[neilanh]

There's so many factors involved in cycling an aquarium that you have to look at each one as an individual. Just because Joe was able to cycle in 6 weeks doesn't mean you will.

I do find it odd that you're ammonia level isn't build up anymore than you're seeing, however.

 

[sea-note]

Cycled!

Thanks so much for your help. I added the Bio-Spira and the tank was cycled within 4 days. I don't know if it was the Bio-spira, time (2 days shy of 6 weeks), or a combination of both. Either way, I hope to turn the corner now of answering more questions here than asking.

My readings now are: Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 15.

I added 3 Gold Killifish yesterday. I plan on leaving the tank like it is now (with the exception of a couple of plants) for a month or so before adding a few Angels.

Please feel free to critique my tank and/or make suggestions (details are in my signature). By the way, with the lights on, my tank will not go below 79 degrees. Is this a problem, or am I okay as long as it stays consistent?

I'll post pictures of my newbie tank soon.

Again, thanks to everyone for your help. The outpouring of assistance was amazing.

 

[missileman]

Congrats.
79 degrees is a good temp for most tropicals.
It is a shame that Bio-Spira is being replaced, and with a product that by all I have heard (Tetra Safestart) doesn't work very well.

 

[sea-note]

Oops, let me correct my post. It WAS SafeStart that I used. I could not find Bio-Spira and I read that SafeStart was its replacement.

Again, I do not know if it was the SafeStart that did the trick or the fact that basically 6 weeks had passed.

 

[missileman]

WELLL,
This is the first Safestart success story I have heard.
I will add this to the plus column.