Fishless cycling. Nothing happening?

[Bubblebeam]

Sorry for the lengthy post, but I want to cover all bases early on.

So I got a new 130L/34G tank a fortnight ago. Rinsed with a clean cloth and warm water (a family member did this but I did stress to them only warm water, no soaps). Given the size of the tank I wasn't sure how to go about conventionally rinsing it, and it's only me (currently pregnant with a hematoma so absolutely no lifting/strenuous work allowed) and another woman here. Hopefully that was enough? The tank is brand new and Google says a rinse is all that's necessary.

So a few days into setting it up, I installed the heater and hang on filter that the tank came with. Set the heater to 22C/71F so it was both ready for my goldfish and so it wasn't stone cold for the BB (just assuming here they do best in mild temps).

I followed an idea from someone online, about using the rinse water from a cycled tank sponge (that water you swish/squeeze your media in) and dumping it straight into the new filter. This seemed the best option for me as I can't attach a hangon filter of any kind to my already established tank (lid panels in the way all around). Otherwise I would have put it next to my cycled filter and done it that way.

So the new filter parts were looking very dirty as soon as I did that. A good thing I assumed. A good amount of BB must now be there. I'll admit at this point I had a d'oh moment and only then realised there was nothing for that BB to actually feed on, but a quick Google on cycling told me a pinch of fish food a day is all that's necessary, so I added it and have been daily for almost two weeks now.

The problem? Nothing seems to be happening. Ammonia, nitrites and nitrates have all read zero this entire time. I understand cycling can take months but 1) the person who posted about using his rinse water said his cycle was done in just days and 2) shouldn't I be seeing SOMETHING by now? Something going up? This tank bottom is now so full of fish food I can't understand how nothing is happening. Out of desperation, I even dumped some of the established tanks vacuum water in, full of goldfish poop, hoping maybe that would get some ammonia appearing. That was a few days ago and still... nada.

I get tempted at times to just transfer my goldfish as I could easily transfer them back to the established tank if readings suddenly spiked. But, I feel like I'll regret it. They could still fall ill. I don't get what I'm doing wrong though.

Thanks for reading and any advice. I should also mention that the water added was tap water than runs through a filter we have where I live, that removes chlorine.

My two current suspicions are 1) family member used a clean but perhaps previously used with chemicals cloth? and 2) perhaps the built in tap filter is overdue on having its filter changed. As I'm newly renting I don't know when it was last done, so maybe there IS chlorine in there?

 

[Aiken Drum]

In my opinion fish food is a poor way of dosing ammonia into a fishless cycle. Its difficult to judge how much to dose, it takes a while to decompose into ammonia, when left uneaten in the tank it goes mouldy, a fishless cycle takes a couple of months so thats a lot of food going mouldy.

A much better way is an aquarium specific ammonium chloride product like Dr Tims Ammonium Chloride. You can dose ammonia accurately to the desired level, check it with a test and see that immediately in the water rather than having wait for it to decompose.

Saying all that, i would expect fish food added a couple of weeks to be showing as some ammonia by now. What test kit are you using? I would get a 2nd opinion on your tests, either try a different kit or take a sample to a fish store and get them to test for you.

A few other points.

If you arent sure if your water is dechlorinated use a water conditioner. But, chlorine offgases in a day or so, it wont be hanging round for weeks. It also wont stop your fish food decomposing to ammonia. Same with if something got into the water from the cloth you mention, it wont stop fish food decomposing to ammonia. You can get tests for chlorine if you arent sure. I think the filter media that removes chlorine is charcoal, and charcoal only lasts a month at most, so if that hasnt been replaced in the last month you probably have chlorine in the water. I would also check with your water company if your water is chlorine or chloramine treated. Chloramine wont offgas.

Your tank is 34g and you mention goldfish. Your tank is the minimum size for a single goldfish. I wouldnt recommend more than one goldfish in that size tank. Im not sure if you mean goldfish (singular) or goldfish (plural).

We have a lot of traffic on this site with people having trouble getting tanks to cycle. By far more people have trouble with fishless cycle than fish in cycle. In almost every case switching to fish in solves their problems. Kind of depends how big the fish is you plan on transferring.

22c is on the low side to cycle a tank. It will cycle but take much longer than it would say at 28c. If you can turn up the temperature and then lower it once cycled before moving your fish.

In conclusion though, for now though the issue is zero ammonia. The food should be putting ammonia into the tank, so i would question your testing and look at an alternative ammonia source.

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

The gunk that comes out of dirty filters does not contain much, if any beneficial filter bacteria. It contains harmful bacteria, protozoa, worm eggs and other gross stuff. Likewise the gunk that comes out of the substrate contains the same bad stuff.

The beneficial filter bacteria attach themselves to hard surfaces (filter media, sponges, gravel, etc) and live in a biofilm (slime) that helps them stay attached to the hard surfaces. If you want to speed up a filter's cycling process, you can take some gravel or filter media from an established tank, and put it in your tank and filter.

If you already have an established tank and filter, you can simply take half the filter media from that filter and put it in the new filter for an instant cycled tank.

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The following will also help speed up the cycling process.
1) Warm water (30-32C) helps the bacteria grow faster. Once the filter is cycled, you can reduce the temperature.

2) Provide lots of aeration/ surface turbulence to keep the oxygen levels high. The bacteria are aerobic and need oxygen. High oxygen levels in the water help the bacteria thrive.

3) Keep the pH around 7.0 if possible. The good bacteria don't do as well if the pH starts to drop below 6.0.

4) Have the tank lights off unless you have live plants in the tank. If you do have light plants, they will hinder the cycling process by using ammonia and stopping the bacteria getting it. If this is the case, add lots of live plants and let them grow for 2 weeks, then add a few fish and monitor ammonia and nitrite levels for a month or so.

5) You can add liquid filter bacteria supplements to help speed things up. It's just bottles of beneficial filter bacteria that you can buy from most pet shops. I recommend adding a double dose every day for a week, then pour the remaining contents into the tank. Try to add the bacteria near the filter intake so it gets drawn into the filter where we want it. The filter bacteria need food (ammonia) to grow so you have to have fish or add ammonia or food to the tank so some ammonia is available for the bacteria.

6) If the cycling process stalls, do a 90% water change using dechlorinated water and add some more ammonia.

Most filters take around 4-6 weeks to cycle and should be done by 8 weeks. If the filter hasn't finished by 8 weeks, something is wrong.

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If you are using fish food to produce ammonia, use a pellet or wafer that holds together when wet. Replace it every 24 hours and take it out when the ammonia level hits 3ppm. Don't let the ammonia level go above 5ppm or it will stall the cycling process. When the ammonia level drops to 0.5 to 1pmm, you can add some more food.

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Be wary of any used water filters in houses unless you know exactly when it was installed. You should err on the side of caution and dechlorinate any tap water before it goes into the tank. This will ensure no chlorine or chloramine enters the aquarium and harms the filter bacteria or fish.

 

[Jacky12]

By way of keeping an extra cycled filter around, consider a big sponge filter since another HOB may be problematic.