Cycling help

[iambannana]

Ok so i have a 60 gallon tank, and have been trying to cycle it with 10 neon tetras for 7 weeks now with no luck. for the first 5 weeks no levels changed, until the 6th week the amonia crept up to 1ppm, but now its dropped back to 0.25 and i still have 0 nitrites. everything i have read says the whole thing should be done with 4 to 6 weeks, so im wondering what the heck is going on! im keen to add more fish but obviously i cant till the tank has cycled.

Any experience or advice would be apprecated

 

[Phranque]

10 little neons in a 60 gal tank isn't producing much load, so your cycle could take some time. Either take the fish back to a lfs, have them hold them for you, and do a fishless cycle, or have some serious patience with the way you're doing it.

 

[BHead707]

10 little neons in a 60 gal tank isn't producing much load, so your cycle could take some time. Either take the fish back to a lfs, have them hold them for you, and do a fishless cycle, or have some serious patience with the way you're doing it.

agreed i cycled a 10G tank with fish and it took me 7 weeks to complete it, with that little of fish for that size tank the BB have nothing to snack on to grow

 

[iambannana]

aah good old fish store giving me wrong information again.. so just take the fish out and jsut add ammonia to the tank?

 

[BHead707]

ya most people dose pure ammonia up to 4 ppm and try to keep it around there so the BB is very plentiful at the end of the cycle, this is an article from the sight here, eco is the man when i comes to fishless cycling so read up on this if u haven't already

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...guide-and-faq-to-fishless-cycling-148283.html

 

[jetajockey]

I kind of disagree with some of this stuff. It's true that just a few fish won't produce much load, but that's not really a bad thing. It doesn't take a magical amount to get the bacteria going, if there is waste, there will be bacteria converting it.

At this point, I think fishless cycling would be a big effort for a minimal gain. If it were me, I'd leave the fish in, possibly even add a few more, get some established media and keep testing.

Not that there is anything wrong with fishless cycling, but if the tank is under control toxin-wise, I don't see the good in taking the fish out of their home and dosing ammonia. Yeah it builds a big biofilter, but that biofilter adjusts according to the waste level just like it would naturally.

 

[NYgiantsRP]

You could also just add some more fish to it and see if that helps. If those fish are ok then add more. maybe? i dont understand the "cyling" process as it is. I start a 29 gallon 5 years ago and knew NOTHING about fish I bought platties and mollies, like 15 all at once and only 1 died in about 6 months, and I got bored with them so I started to read some more and BANG. I traded them for other fish. 3 tanks and probably over 40 fish later....I mean I understand in theory but...I wont dig myself any deeper, looking like an idiot on cycling.

 

[Wy Renegade]

I agree with jeta, with one exception. Your tank is most likely "cycled". Please remember that the definition of cycled simply means that the bacteria colonies have been established to a point where they are capable of handling the waste production produced by the organisms in your tank. Obviously you are seeing this, as you've seen the nitrite levels spike and fall.

Now that is not to say that you can now go out, buy as many fish and you want and dump them all in your tank, because that would obviously overload your current bacteria levels quickly and result in toxic spikes.

However, if you do as jeta suggested and simply slowly add a few fish to the tank over time and keep an eye on your levels, then you should have no issues.

As jeta stated, the biofilter adjusts over time to the bioload. Many people build up huge bacteria levels using ammonia, then put only a few fish in their tank. When you do this, most of the bacteria are going to die back anyway, until they are in proportion with the bioload of your tank.

 

[iambannana]

yeah it would be a pain in the *** to try take the fish back to the store now so i may just add fish slowly and keep an eye on the levels, seen as a big tank is safer for spiking levels and whatnot. still dont know what kind of fish i want though.. maybe ill get another 10 black phantom tetras for now? or would that be too much. i also want a BN pleco and a betta at some point..

 

[NYgiantsRP]

10 is too many. You dont want to risk it now. Just do the pleco. A betta might not work, agression and what not. I would get the pleco and test every other day for 2 weeks then maybe 3 more tetras. You really should never add too many fish no matter how well established your tank is.