3 hrs - still not cycled

[jinmon]

I put in some nasty, gross, smelly used filter media THREE HOURS ago and I still have NO nitrates and the same amount of ammonia. What gives???

Hee!

Anyone know where I can buy some patience cheap?

-Julie (who really really really would like an insta-cycle, please! Magic wand, anyone?)

 

[rich311k]

With a good amount of media,you can do this in less than a week.

Patience is a key to everything in this hobby. It will be worth it in the end. Is getting fish quickly, as important than having a beautiful under water world that will entertain you for years and give you a sense of a job well done.

 

[Zagz]

I agree with Rich, patience, 3 hours is too little of time. Patience is never cheap in this hobby LOL.

 

[trotty]

the only way to do it is to get water, gravel and filter media all from and established tank to put into a new one. i have done this before and had no problems.
use a old/new water ratio of about 1/3. that way its no more than a really big water change.
if the tank is bigger than the amount of water you have, half fill it for a week or two and then add more water to the fill line. i have even moved discus this way.....


Oh anything from an established tank will help... plants, ornaments, large rocks even fake plants have a surface that good bacteria lives. One thing, these pieces cannot dry out or everything will die off and give you a cycle.... what we are trying to avoid.!

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Water doesn't hold bacteria so I wouldn't even bother. You're not going to have readings unless you are providing an ammonia source. Did you add pure ammonia?

 

[locorosa]

WHen I converted from an established 35 to a 46 I moved everything...including the water (figured there must be at least some happy fish vibes in the water) and saw no cycle at all. I'd guess that's about the only way to get an instant cycle!!!!

As for the patience, I sold mine off al long, long time ago. My sanity is available right now if there are any takers...lol!

 

[jinmon]

Hee! I think I'd buy some sanity, sure - always could use a little of that!

I did add ammonia, 4ccs, Ace Hardware brand. My ammonia readings are still 4.0ish this morning. It's been less than 24 hours since I added ammonia and the icky filter, I suppose maybe that's normal. But I have to take a little overnight trip away from my aquarium today and won't be able to test it again until tomorrow night - ENFORCED patience!

If there's still no sign of nitrites by Thursday night I'll try and get some more bacteria sources to add to the tank. I was just HOPING I'd have an unusually easy time of this.

 

[David14259]

Well good luck. It's going to be at least a week, maybe 2 or 3. So get ready for the long haul...your fish will 'tank' you in the end though. Get it, Tank. Ha.

 

[7Enigma]

Water doesn't hold bacteria so I wouldn't even bother. You're not going to have readings unless you are providing an ammonia source. Did you add pure ammonia?

The only possible benefit of using the existing water would be due to the differences in water chemistry between the old and new water. Things like GH, dissolved organics, pH, etc. could all have an effect on the metabolism of the bacteria. I think its an interesting thought; that while the water doesn't CONTAIN much bacteria, it might be key in keeping the bacteria working at peak metabolism.

I know when growing cultures you have a stationary phase prior to log phase of growth where the environment is being adapted too. I would be willing to bet a drastic change in water quality/chemistry can have a large effect on cycling times.

 

[jinmon]

Woo hoo! I go away for a couple days, come back, and guess what I have tonight? Not only nitrites, but nitrates! About 1.5ppm ammonia, .25ppm nitrites, 7.5ppm nitrates - roughly.

I think that be good!

 

[7Enigma]

Woo hoo! I go away for a couple days, come back, and guess what I have tonight? Not only nitrites, but nitrates! About 1.5ppm ammonia, .25ppm nitrites, 7.5ppm nitrates - roughly.

I think that be good!

Did you happen to check your nitrAte levels prior to starting? Your numbers seem a bit odd since you only started with ~4ppm ammonia, but the nitrAte test at low levels is not very accurate and the test itself is pretty variable depending on how well you shake the tube/bottles. The other possibility is that some of the crud from the filter you moved is rotting in the tank creating more ammonia which would explain the higher levels of nitrAte.

You're well on your way!

 

[jinmon]

My numbers WERE a little odd - but only a little. I redid my nitrate test on my tapwater (correctly this time, forgot to shake bottle #2 the first time) and got somewhere between 1-2ppm nitrates?

Tank water this morning: Ammonia 1.0ppm, Nitrites 0.25ppm (still, maybe a little higher?), Nitrates about 10ppm or a little higher.

I think I need to add a little more ammonia...

 

[rich311k]

Pump it back up to 2ppm.

 

[neilanh]

Agreed, push it back up to 2-3ppm.

 

[jinmon]

Ammonia pushed.

Couple quick questions - I left the used filter in the tank leaning against the intake tube of my filter (sorry, it was NOT going to fit in my filter! The pad is from one of those millenium 3000 filters, its material is well-attached to a stiff plastic piece, etc) - so can I squish it around my water again and take it out of my tank, or do you think at this point most of the bacteria is still in the used filter? I don't mind my cycle taking a little longer if I remove the filter pad, but I don't want to set it back substantially - and I'm not sure there's any way to predict that, unless y'all can help from your experiences!

Second question - I think I know the answer to this, but there's no harm in adding my piece of malaysian driftwood to the tank, is there? It's scrubbed and boiled and soaked and boiled again and soaked some more (over the course of a week, it still leaches tannins) - and I think I'd boil it again before adding it. Fine, or a bad idea?

Third question - I don't think I need any additional used media at this point, do y'all agree?

Last one - no harm adding a plant or two, right?

 

[rich311k]

Squeeze the media again but leave it in there. Go ahead and add the wood and the plants. Plants are a good source of bacteria. I would however leave the lights off until you are done with the cycle, light plus ammonia equals bad algae.

 

[neilanh]

1) I'd leave it in for at least 2 weeks

2) No harm - go nuts!

3) from what I'm seeing, no... but, if you were to stall, that could help get things going again.

Live plants?
The harm with plants is the risk of algae. Since you're dosing ammonia, light + ammonia = algae. So you want the lights off as much as possible - completely being preferred. Live plants don't like the darkness...

Fake plants - yes, decorate til your hearts content.

 

[jinmon]

As far as lights go - for tank lighting we're going to have to build a hood. We have 6 cats, several of which weight about 20 pounds each, can't find a good full hood to fit a 40 gallon regular. So all we've got is ambient room lighting from the windows when the shades are open or lamps - no direct sun. I don't think there's a lot of threat of algae (but I could be wrong) but I don't know that the plants would enjoy it either...

 

[neilanh]

If you're talking live plants you've basically got 2 options. Finish you fishless cycle, then add fish and plant, or go away from the route of the fishless, plant, and do a silent cycle.

 

[jinmon]

Ack, too confusing. I thought a silent cycle applied to fairly heavily planted tanks only, so I didn't read up on it very much. Maybe I'll just hold off on the plant thing.