fishless cycle taking forever!

[AmyD]

Not much change since yesterday, dying to see that little test tube turn blue! Must be patient

 

[AmyD]

Nitrate seems to be at 160ppm! Just waiting for the day that nitrite test turns blue, shouldn't be too long surely

 

[Christina717]

Good luck I finished my cycle today...well yesterday but I tested again to make sure. It took 35days for me to finish mine. When you see it turn blue ohh man you will be SOOO excited!!!!. Its funny, when you first start you want it to change purple and when your done you want it blue. Good Luck Hope your soon done so you can enjoy your fish!

 

[AmyD]

Good luck I finished my cycle today...well yesterday but I tested again to make sure. It took 35days for me to finish mine. When you see it turn blue ohh man you will be SOOO excited!!!!. Its funny, when you first start you want it to change purple and when your done you want it blue. Good Luck Hope your soon done so you can enjoy your fish!

Well done what fish will you be getting? I think i'll be jumping up and down and cheering when that test turns blue!

 

[Christina717]

I got a Oranda goldfish. Im planning on getting more after x-mas I only have a 10gallon so with my x-mas money I wanna get a 29 or a 40 so I can have lots of goldfish!!.
What fish will you be getting?

 

[BBradbury]

Fishless Cycling

After nearly 3 weeks of ridiculously high nitrite levels and no increase in nitrate, i decided to do a huge water change to get the nitrite to a readable level. I'm now dosing the ammonia a bit lower for a few days and will do another water change if those levels get crazy again. Hopefully things will get moving again now, i have no idea where all this patience is coming from, i guess i'm just determined to do it right and not give up!

Good morning Amy...

Cycling a tank can take up to six weeks. You're at least half way there. You know you can safely add a few fish now if you want. As long as you carefully monitor the water conditions and change half the tank water when toxins get a little high, the fish will be fine. But, you'll need to test the water daily.

The key is to get hardy fish that will survive the cycling process. Some good ones are Fancy or Feeder Guppies, Platys or Zebra Danios. Also, plant some plants the next time you do a large water change. Plants love acidic water and use a lot of toxins in the water for food.

So, if you're in a rush to get some fish into the tank, you can, but stick to around four or five and get the ones I suggested. Others can be extremely senative to poor water condtions.

B

 

[AmyD]

I'm doing a fishless cycle so to add fish now would defeat the object and mean that i have just wasted my time. I've come this far, i'm not going to mess it all up now!

 

[AmyD]

I got a Oranda goldfish. Im planning on getting more after x-mas I only have a 10gallon so with my x-mas money I wanna get a 29 or a 40 so I can have lots of goldfish!!.
What fish will you be getting?

Cool a bigger tank is what i'm aiming for too. I'm going to start with a few guppies but i'm not sure what else i'll get yet

 

[millerb7]

Amy, I'm on day 25 (well today's testing will be day 25)... I'm seeing VERY slight ammonia drops but no no2 or no3 yet. I have an active sponge that arrives today so that should help speed up the process.

 

[AmyD]

Amy, I'm on day 25 (well today's testing will be day 25)... I'm seeing VERY slight ammonia drops but no no2 or no3 yet. I have an active sponge that arrives today so that should help speed up the process.

Hope it works for you it took 3 weeks for the nitrites to show up in my tank, unfortunately we can't buy active filter sponges here in the uk :-( i have very high nitrate levels now and i'm waiting for that nitrite test to turn blue! Hope it all works out for you

 

[AmyD]

Nitrates sky high and it might be wishful thinking but the nitrite test seems a little lighter (still pretty high though) and is a lot lighter for longer when i put the drops in and shake, if that makes sense

 

[ocean]

Shouldn't be much longer now!! don't be surprised when they drop to zero overnight! You'll see that nice pretty blue soon!

 

[librarygirl]

Nitrates sky high and it might be wishful thinking but the nitrite test seems a little lighter (still pretty high though) and is a lot lighter for longer when i put the drops in and shake, if that makes sense

Yep makes sense! They should be coming down soon. The nitrite phase is the longer of the phases, it's normal. Hang in there!

 

[Matt68005]

get some cheap goldfish and put them in there, that will cycle it in 10 days or so

 

[AmyD]

Getting fed up with people telling me to add fish when i'm doing a FISHLESS cycle

 

[warthog76za]

I went with the frozen shrimp and had that rot inside of pantyhose. Took some weeks, but with fishless cycling patience is needed and the pay off is worth it in the end.

 

[AmyD]

I went with the frozen shrimp and had that rot inside of pantyhose. Took some weeks, but with fishless cycling patience is needed and the pay off is worth it in the end.

Nice tank

 

[AmyD]

I'm cycled! nitrite test is pure blue, just dosed the tank with ammonia and will check tomorrow. If all is good getting fish monday! So excited, weeks of testing the water and dosing with ammonia has paid off

 

[jlk]

Congrats!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[jlk]

Just dont forget to do a big wc right before you get your fish to get the nitrates at or below 20ppm (water condit + temp match). I will warn you this may be quite a bit of work! It took me ALOT of wcs down to the gravel to get my nitrate levels safe! Congrats again!!!