I'm currently cycling a 40B for fancy goldfish and it seems as though the cycle isn't moving forward. I set the tank up two weeks ago, and when I added the water and Prime, I only waited a few hours before adding 2ppm of ammonia (I only meant to add 1ppm but accidentally overdosed a little) and then TSS+ forgetting that Prime can kill bacteria. I decided to wait a week to see if some bacteria survived and it would cycle anyways, but there was no change to the ammonia so I went out and bought another bottle of TSS+ (it was a size smaller if that matters) and added that. It's been another week and a half roughly and ammonia is still at 2ppm. Anyone know why this is? There should be bacteria seeded in the filters so I don't know why it's taking so long to eat the ammonia. Nitrite is 0. Should I just keep waiting?
Tank Isn't Cycling
- Thread starter Kaelico
- Start date
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verochloeedgar
Aquarium Advice Regular
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- Jun 13, 2017
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I think you are supposed to add 4ppm of ammonia at the start... mine took longer than 2 weeks for the ammonia to start to convert. Are you using ammonia with no additives? Check if it has surfactants as it would not work if that's the case
Jobin13
Aquarium Advice Regular
If you were using "seeded" filters from another tank that bacteria is long dead. If you're really trying to get the cycle going, crank up the temp on the tank if you have a heater to mid 80s. and get yourself some microbe lift special blend and night out. use them together and you're tank will be cycled in a week and a half. it sounds like you're doing a fishes cycle but I could be wrong. if so crank the temp, crank the flow rate and if you can heavily oxygenate your water.
side note, if you dosed with ammonia from the hardware store did you check for surfactants? if your ammonia has surfactants you're going to need to clean out the entire tank. an easy way to check this is to shake the bottle if it bubbles/foams it has surfactants (soap).
side note, if you dosed with ammonia from the hardware store did you check for surfactants? if your ammonia has surfactants you're going to need to clean out the entire tank. an easy way to check this is to shake the bottle if it bubbles/foams it has surfactants (soap).
Fresh2o
Aquarium Advice Addict
Good point on the check on appropriate ammonia. Ultimately, the MSDS will list all active and inactive ingredients. Product brand name and supplier would be helpful (Google is your friend).
4 ppm is the most commonly recommended amount ammonia to dose but 2 ppm would work as well. Just don't go crazy when introducing fish.
I've done a rapid fishless cycle using media from an established tank. Ran the new filter with new + old media in the old tank for 9 days. Moved the new filter to the new tank and by day 6 it was processing 4 ppm within 24 hours.
4 ppm is the most commonly recommended amount ammonia to dose but 2 ppm would work as well. Just don't go crazy when introducing fish.
I've done a rapid fishless cycle using media from an established tank. Ran the new filter with new + old media in the old tank for 9 days. Moved the new filter to the new tank and by day 6 it was processing 4 ppm within 24 hours.
