Help, my tank won't cycle!

[LeifAlbor]

Hi guys! I recently acquired this second hand 130L curved glass aquarium. Being a little unsure of its previous history, everything was stripped out of it, cleaned with pure diluted bleach, and dried.

I set the tank up in early January. In my filter I've got:

• Seachem Matrix
• reactivated Seachem Purigen
• coarse sponge
• old filter wool and noodles from my other mature tank.

I've added 10 Neon Tetras to get the ammonia started, and have been using bottled bacteria to try and keep the cycling as short as possible. Alas though, ammonia has been above 4PPM for a couple of weeks now, but zero nitrite has been detected, while the ammonia has continued to steadily. What gives?

My smaller 40L tank is happily producing nitrate and houses a happy community of fish - and I'm struggling to work out where I've gone wrong with the larger tank - which I was hoping to migrate to.

Tank parameters/info:

pH: 6.8
Ammonia: 6-7 PPM
Nitrite: 0 PPM
Nitrate: 0 PPM

Help please!?!!

 

[Yorg]

Hi guys! I recently acquired this second hand 130L curved glass aquarium. Being a little unsure of its previous history, everything was stripped out of it, cleaned with pure diluted bleach, and dried.

I set the tank up in early January. In my filter I've got:

• Seachem Matrix
• reactivated Seachem Purigen
• coarse sponge
• old filter wool and noodles from my other mature tank.

I've added 10 Neon Tetras to get the ammonia started, and have been using bottled bacteria to try and keep the cycling as short as possible. Alas though, ammonia has been above 4PPM for a couple of weeks now, but zero nitrite has been detected, while the ammonia has continued to steadily. What gives?

My smaller 40L tank is happily producing nitrate and houses a happy community of fish - and I'm struggling to work out where I've gone wrong with the larger tank - which I was hoping to migrate to.

Tank parameters/info:

pH: 6.8
Ammonia: 6-7 PPM
Nitrite: 0 PPM
Nitrate: 0 PPM

Help please!?!!

*******************************************

Hi LeifAlbor: Can you get the neons out of the tank until you can solve the problem? An ammonia of 6-7ppm is lethal. If you can't rehome them, can you get an ammonia detoxifier like Prime to protect them somewhat from ammonia poisoning?

The Purigen is obviously not working if your ammonia is that high, so I would remove it from the filter.

What bottled bacteria product are you using? What is your water temperature? In addition to the filter do you have any other aeration in the water?

Something is obviously preventing the beneficial bacteria from colonizing in sufficient numbers to start the cycle. I suppose there could be some left over effect from the bleach, depending upon how strong the solution was.

I think if I were facing your situation I would:
1. rehome the neons temporarily
2. remove the Purigen
3. raise the water temperature to the mid '80s (F)
4. add some additional aeration
5. do a large water change (> 50%)
6. add a bacterial starter like SafeStart
7. keep monitoring ammonia. nitrite and nitrate for signs that the cycle is beginning

 

[LeifAlbor]

*******************************************

Hi LeifAlbor: Can you get the neons out of the tank until you can solve the problem? An ammonia of 6-7ppm is lethal.

If you can't rehome them, can you get an ammonia detoxifier like Prime to protect them somewhat from ammonia poisoning?

Thanks heaps for your reply!

I realised this morning I'd FUBAR'ed my pH and ammonia levels in my post - and haven't figured out how to edit posts on this forum yet.

Ammonia is closer to 4-5, still too high though. pH is actually around the 7.2 mark.

I do have another established community tank - though the idea was to migrate these across to the new tank once cycled, so moving fish in the other direction from the larger tank to the smaller tank isn't what I'd intended; especially considering the tetras were bought expressly for cycling. Obviously I would have preferred to fishless cycle, but unfortunately I can't buy pure ammonia around these parts.

I have been using Prime to treat new water during water changes, and API Stress Coat between changes to minimise stress and damage to the tetras.

The Purigen is obviously not working if your ammonia is that high, so I would remove it from the filter.

Any advice one what I should be using instead? Or should I opt for brand new Purigen instead of reactivated?

What bottled bacteria product are you using? What is your water temperature? In addition to the filter do you have any other aeration in the water?

Can't remember - I think it might be Blue Planet brand? I finished the last of it last week and tossed the bottle. Temperature usually sits around the ~23deg C mark? Yep, there's a couple of air stones in the tank as well.

Something is obviously preventing the beneficial bacteria from colonizing in sufficient numbers to start the cycle. I suppose there could be some left over effect from the bleach, depending upon how strong the solution was.

That's what I'm wondering. It was well over a month since we did a bleach clean, but it was diluted as recommended in the instructions I followed and was thoroughly rinsed afterwards. The tank also sat empty in a warm, dry garage for a couple of weeks after the clean, so common sense tells me any remaining chlorine in the bleach would have evaporated, surely...?

I think if I were facing your situation I would:
1. rehome the neons temporarily
2. remove the Purigen
3. raise the water temperature to the mid '80s (F)
4. add some additional aeration
5. do a large water change (> 50%)
6. add a bacterial starter like SafeStart
7. keep monitoring ammonia. nitrite and nitrate for signs that the cycle is beginning

Some of those bits of advice are more applicable than others, but I'll definitely give them a go! Thanks

 

[Yorg]

Thanks heaps for your reply!

I realised this morning I'd FUBAR'ed my pH and ammonia levels in my post - and haven't figured out how to edit posts on this forum yet.

Ammonia is closer to 4-5, still too high though. pH is actually around the 7.2 mark.

I do have another established community tank - though the idea was to migrate these across to the new tank once cycled, so moving fish in the other direction from the larger tank to the smaller tank isn't what I'd intended; especially considering the tetras were bought expressly for cycling. Obviously I would have preferred to fishless cycle, but unfortunately I can't buy pure ammonia around these parts.

I have been using Prime to treat new water during water changes, and API Stress Coat between changes to minimise stress and damage to the tetras.



Any advice one what I should be using instead? Or should I opt for brand new Purigen instead of reactivated?



Can't remember - I think it might be Blue Planet brand? I finished the last of it last week and tossed the bottle. Temperature usually sits around the ~23deg C mark? Yep, there's a couple of air stones in the tank as well.



That's what I'm wondering. It was well over a month since we did a bleach clean, but it was diluted as recommended in the instructions I followed and was thoroughly rinsed afterwards. The tank also sat empty in a warm, dry garage for a couple of weeks after the clean, so common sense tells me any remaining chlorine in the bleach would have evaporated, surely...?



Some of those bits of advice are more applicable than others, but I'll definitely give them a go! Thanks

************************************************

Thanks for the additional info, LeifAlbor. Adding the Prime every 24 hrs or so will help protect the fish until you get the ammonia under control.

For right now I'd keep the Purigen out of the filter altogether until you get the cycle established.

You're doing everything right; the temp and additional aeration is great, and the ph is good for beneficial bacteria. What baffles me is that, between the media from the matured tank and the bacterial additive, you should have SOME nitrifying bacteria established by now, and so therefore should be seeing nitrite and a drop in ammonia. That's why I keep coming back to the bleach, although you're right that there shouldn't be any chlorine persisting.

Are you able to get hold of a different bacterial additive? Some are better than others; Tetra's SafeStart is one of the ones that people often say does the trick. Any chance you could try it or another product after a large water change?