Cycling question

[stevil]

Hello
I am trying without success to cycle(fishless) my 30 gal tank. The cycle wont begin. The tank has been running for a month at 80 F with both a hang on back filter and a large sponge filter running. I do use dechlorinated water. The ammonia level has not dropped at all from 5 ppm and obviously there is no nitrite forming either. I gather from other posts that most people start to see some change within a couple weeks or even days.

I did alot of research before I dived into the aquarium hobby only to be stumped right off the bat. What is stopping the bacteria from colonizing my aquarium?

Thanks for your help

 

[ejaramillo01]

I did the fish less cycle with my 26g tank, It did work good, took me 4 weeks total. I used micro lift special blend (petco) and that product really started the cycle.
The best is to get some gravel from a cycled tank ( friend), with 2 to 3 cups will be enough, you just put the gravel in a sack inside of your tank, this way also can speed up the process

Good luck

 

[subliminalanarchy]

what did you put in there to start the cycle? straight ammonia? my guesses are either unreliable test strips or somethings killing the bacteria. it's possible that the tank has already been contaminated with some sort of chemical that's prohibiting the bacteria from developing.. maybe it wasn't rinsed out totally or something? this is a tough one... you have tried testing for nitrites right? do you condition your water before adding it to the tank?

 

[stevil]

I used ammonia from ace hardware since it was the only one I could find without surfactants. I am using a api liquid test kit I have never heard of the liquid tests being unreliable. I have tried testing for both nitrites and nitrates both come up with nothing. Ammonia still reads 5 ppm. I use a dechlorinater that says it removes chlorine, chloramine and heavy metals. Is that what you mean by condition the water?

 

[subliminalanarchy]

The test strips are probably fine. Sometimes they can be hard to read though. Maybe there's not enough ammonia in there? Yup that's what i meant about the water conditioner. I was just thinking that since the bacteria colony is still so small that if you put in untreated water it might kill it off before the dechlorinator gets rid of the chlorine. Just make sure you treat the water before putting it in the tank, like in a bucket or something. Have you done any water changes? Either the bacteria is starving, human error, or theres a chemical in your tank. That's all i can think of.

 

[mfdrookie516]

There's a link in my signature on Fishless Cycle. Take a look, it has some tips to get it going faster. Sounds like you're doing everything right. I always aim for 4ppm to keep it from being too high. I think its 8ppm that stalls the cycle. I'm not sure what I would do in your situation. 5 weeks is a very long time, especially since ammonia hasn't dropped any. Sounds to me like you have two options. Either start the tank over after a thorough cleaning, or give it more time.

 

[stevil]

Okay Thanks guys. I will give it a little more time maybe see if I can find someone with to get some seeding material from.