Fishless cycle help....

[NJNewbie]

Ok guys....brand new to the Hobby so let me tell you what I have done so far and please stear me in right direction. We purchased a 65 Gallon Aqueon Column tank that is 36 inches wide, 18 inches deep and 25 inches height wise. I have filled the tank with water as well as decorations, gravel and some fake plants. I have 2 emperor 400 filters's running on the back of the tank with the 2 carbon cartridges they come with in them both as well as 1 of the additional maedia cartridges filled with Fluval 500 biomax. I also have a 300W heater and it has my water currently sitting at 82-84 degrees. I have a Tetra Whisper 100 air pump set up supplying air through silicone tubing to both my coral decoration and also a 12 inch Top Fin Long Airstone.

5/28 started fishless cycle:
Ammonia : 0
Nitrite : 0
Nitrate : 0
pH : between 7.4-7.6

So now I am going to add my ammonia from the ace hardware store and according to the calculator looks like I need to add 9.84 ML since it is a 65 gallon tank with 10% ammonia to get it to a 4ppm reading. So I add 9 ML, wait 20 minutes and get 4ppm ammonia reading.

5/29 Ammonia : 4.0
5/30 Ammonia : 4.0
5/31 Ammonia : 4.0
6/1 Ammonia : 4.0
6/2 Ammonia : 4.0
went to LFS and purchased a "cultured pad" added to my filter at 6pm

6/3
Ammonia : 2
Nitrite : 0.5
Nitrate : 0
pH : between 8.0-8.2

6/4
Ammonia : between 1.0-2.0
Nitrite : 1.0
Nitrate : 0
pH : 8.0

Everything going great so far Ammonia dropping, Nitrites starting to form and i'm excited. I dose the ammonia back up to 4ppm by adding 5ml of ammonia.

6/5
Ammonia : 4
Nitrite : between 2.0-5.0
Nitrate : 0
pH : 8.0

6/6
Ammonia : 4.0
Nitrite : 5.0
Nitrate : 0
pH : 8.0

6/7
Ammonia : 4.0
Nitrite : 5.0
Nitrate :between 0.0 and 5.0
pH : 8.0

 

[NJNewbie]

Today's readings 6/8

Ammonia - 4.0
NitrIte - 5.0 + dark purple
NitrAte - 5.0
pH - 7.8 - 8.0

Ok so I'm confused why the ammonia isn't dropping??? What's my next step??? No drop in 4 full days!!!! PWC??? Buy more cultured pads from LFS??? I'm lost what to do....did it stall????

 

[NJNewbie]

Today's test readings

 

[Stephen Rollins]

I would continue to let it sit till the ammonia drops. No water changes

Cycle takes a long time

 

[Stephen Rollins]

Hopefully JLK will chime in and help you. She's great at these things

 

[librarygirl]

well your PH is at a good level so a PH crash hasn't caused any issues. You did dechlorinate the water when you filled, right? You're really ahead of schedule having nitrites this early. I wouldn't panic yet. I'd like to see some nitrates rising though; when you test nitrate, shake and bang both bottles on a hard surface for 30 seconds (there's a reagent powder in there that can get clumped and cause false readings), then shake the tube for a full minute (shake it vigorously) and wait 5 minutes for the results.

If you wanted to, you could do a 50% water change to get the ammonia down to 2 and restore some minerals and buffers in the water and see what happens. Honestly though I wouldn't worry yet.

 

[NJNewbie]

ok going to sit tight and see what this weekends readings bring....hopefully the ammonia drops

 

[NJNewbie]

Yes we finally have the ammonia dropping again....

Saturday June 9th test readings

Ammonia - 2.0

NitrIte - 5.0+ dark purple that us darker than the 5 on card

NitrAte - 10.0

pH - 8.0

Everything looking good so far. Ammonia dropping, Nitrites and Nitrates rising!!! Nothing today as I will let the ammonia drop for another 24 hrs before I redose back up to 4ppm.

Any other suggestions, I'm all ears... Thanks

 

[NJNewbie]

I always forget to attach the picture

 

[Stephen Rollins]

Like u said let it sit another day

 

[NJNewbie]

Forgot to post yesterday's results....
Sunday June 10th

Ammonia - between 1.0 - 2.0

NitrIte - 5.0 + dark purple

NitrAte - 10.0

pH - 7.4-7.6

 

[NJNewbie]

Today's readings, Monday June 11th

Ammonia - 1.0

NitrIte - 5.0 + dark purple

NitrAte - 10.0 but getting darker, moving towards 20.0

pH - 7.4-7.6

So what do I do now??? My understanding is I need to wait until the ammonia drops from 4-0 in a 24 hour period. So do I redose it back up to 4??? Give it another day to drop the ammonia??? At a loss as what my next step is....please help

 

[Stephen Rollins]

I'd let it ride. Sit on it another day

 

[NJNewbie]

I'd let it ride. Sit on it another day

Ok going to let it be until tomorrow....

 

[NJNewbie]

Today's readings, Tuesday June 12th

Ammonia - .5

NitrIte - 5.0 + Dark purple

NitrAte - 5.0 (Confused how this went down??? Tested twice to make sure)

pH - 7.4-7.6 (7.4 on high test and 7.6 on low test)

Ok so what is the next step??? Leave it alone another day??? Redose the ammonia?? To what level(4ppm or less)??? Why the hell did my NitrAtes drop??? I'm so confused....

 

[NJNewbie]

Just went to clean and rise out the test bottles and the NitrAte bottle was a 10.0 reading... Maybe I didn't give it enough time??? Would it be getting darker just sitting there??? Right now I think I should redose the ammonia back up to 4ppm....

 

[Stephen Rollins]

I would dose it to 4 ppm

 

[NJNewbie]

Ok thanks going to redose back to 4ppm and see what tomorrow brings...

 

[NJNewbie]

Today's readings, Wednesday June 13th

Ammonia - 4.0 (slightly lighter green but still closest to this reading rather than the 2.0 on card)

NitrIte - 5.0+ dark purple (reading hasn't changed in a long time)

NitrAte - 5.0-10.0 (seems like this reading has dropped slightly since it initially went up from 0 on 6/6 to 5.0 on 6/7 to 10.0 on 6/9 and since nothing upward, actually a slight step back in the next 4 days????)

pH - 7.4-7.6 ( always 7.4 on high pH test and 7.6 on reg pH test)


This is getting really frustrating. I thought ammonia was suspossed to drop quicker??? Yet it seems the same for me each time. Dose ammonia up to 4 and it takes a week to drop down to below 1. I also thought nitrites and nitrates should continue to go up each and everyday. Looked like I was on that tract but yet my nitrates haven't made any movement in 4 days!!!! May have even took a slight step downward???? So what am I to do??? I thought the whole process should take between 4-6 weeks and also thought adding seeding material was supposed to speed up the cycle and make it less time!!! Yet I am over 2 weeks into the process and have seeded material and nothing seems to be moving positive....my ammonia only drops slightly in a 24 HR period even though I already have nitrites and nitrates!!! Am I doing this correctly??? Wtf??? This is so annoying.....please someone with fish less cycle expertise tell me what to do.... Start over???PWC??? Stay on my current path???

 

[Stephen Rollins]

Stay on your current path wait till ammonia drops