Cycle woes, or lack of

[richardh]

I'm 3 weeks into a fish in cycle at the moment and nothing seems to be happening. It's a 65 litre tank (17usg). This is what I have done so far:

Week 1 setup tank added nutrafin cycle media
Week 2 introduce 5 red eye tetras
Week 3 introduce 2 platy
3 days ago introduced 2 yoyo loaches

Ive tested (Api master) the water since the start and always zero nitrites/nitrates, ph 7.2. Ammonia always 0.25 a conservative guess. Is it actually possible to get the the illuminos yellow 0 colour? There's certainly never any hint of green in the reading.

I carry out PWC twice a week (50% Monday, 25% Thursday) and gravel vac once a week.

All fish seem happy and active, no signs of distress. Surely the tank should be starting to cycle now? I am beginning to doubt the test kit, although I have used strips as well and got same results!

 

[jcolon]

It is possible your are "cycled" using the bacteria in a bottle ... which is a source of debate among some members who feel those bacteria become unstable(because it's not the right type of bacteria) and die off, while outcompeting the good beneficial bacteria. I've heard that bottled bacteria dies off in a few days if there's no ammonia source and according to your timeline, they went a week without ammo.

Your best bet is to continue to monitor your numbers and stick to your pwc's. Any bacteria die off ... if it happens ... occurs within the first couple of months, and then you'd see ammo spikes. You may have lucked out and have the good bacteria already colonized in your tank. Your maintenance routine sounds solid ... and many members consistently get the yellowish 0 - 0.25ppm reading. The true indicator IMO is do you ultimately get any nitrates.

Do you have any live plants and what type of filter are you running?

 

[richardh]

It's an aquastart filter and is the size up from what I actually need in that size tank. I do have a few sprigs of grass and I put in 2 others 9 days ago, not sure what they are, but are growing like wildfire! Probably too much for the tank i have. I am setting up a bigger tank in the next few weeks and will transfer one of the new plants into the new tank, as it does look a bit crowded

 

[jlk]

Just to accurate idea of what zero ammonia looks like, pick up some distilled water & test it then compare it to your tank water. Zero is yellow with absolutely no hint of green or 'off' yellow coloring. It sounds like your doing well with your tank so far-keep up the good work with monitoring your water parameters daily & doing pwcs!!! You will see some nitrates when its fully cycled (along with zero amm/nitrites) so keep eye out for them. Good work!

 

[richardh]

Thanks, I will continue to monitor

 

[richardh]

Thanks, I will continue to monitor the water quality and chemistry closely for changes. I have tested my tap water and there is only a very slight difference in colour on the ammonia test