Help with Cycling!!!

[Tigerstein]

ok i've been adding ammonia and letting it drop for the past couple weeks. No nitrites or nitrates have shown up yet. what should i do???!!!!

 

[Coryluv]

What kind and how much ammonia (how many ppm when you test your water?) are you using? Is your tank heated and aerated? Give people all the information you can about your set up. It can take a while for the nitrites to start showing up. A couple of weeks does not sound all that strange.

 

[Tigerstein]

I don't know exactly how much i use. It depends on how low the ppm is. The last time i tested it was around .25 ppm. and right now it doesn't have a heater or a top on it. Do you have any ideas on how to speed up the process?

 

[Fresh2o]

I don't know exactly how much i use. It depends on how low the ppm is. The last time i tested it was around .25 ppm. and right now it doesn't have a heater or a top on it. Do you have any ideas on how to speed up the process?

.25 ppm is pretty low (I was getting 1.0 ppm out of the tap last year...ouch). I believe the target for a fishless cycle is 2-4 ppm. Increase temp (82 degrees F) and additional aeration should help.
I just bought some ammonia from Harris Teeter last night; might start a fishless cycle with that.

 

[Tigerstein]

yeah i added more ammonia just a bit ago. i think i need to get a heater, both for cycling and for the fishies. I can't wait to get the fishies!!!

 

[librarygirl]

It's still early. Are you dosing ammonia every 24 hours and then it goes to <.25? If so that's a good sign, nitrites should be showing up fairly soon. You may have seen it but if not this guide is a good one to follow: http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...guide-and-faq-to-fishless-cycling-148283.html

 

[Coryluv]

yeah i added more ammonia just a bit ago. i think i need to get a heater, both for cycling and for the fishies. I can't wait to get the fishies!!!

I know the feeling. I'm only a week into cycling myself. However providing a safe home comes before gettng fish so I wait. One idea while waiting is to just do a lot of research and many visits to the LFS. At least that works for me.

Getting a heater will help your cycle along. Hang in there!

 

[Fresh2o]

I know the feeling. I'm only a week into cycling myself. However providing a safe home comes before gettng fish so I wait. One idea while waiting is to just do a lot of research and many visits to the LFS. At least that works for me.

Getting a heater will help your cycle along. Hang in there!

Ha! I am only into fishless cycling for about 3 hours. Dosed 2 mL ammonia in a 20 gal tank and 20 min later tested at 0.5 ppm ammonia. Added 2 mL more and it went up to 1.0. Was targeting 3-4 ppm but had to go to work. One thing that should help is that the filter was running on an established tank for about 1.5 weeks; hopefully sufficient seeding occurred during that time. Will retest and/or redose at 12 and 24 hours. Like the poster above, not in a hurry to stock this.

Would be a good idea, if you are not doing this already, is record (date/time) all of your test results, amounts of ammonia added, temperature, and water changes. Helpful when trying to see what went right or wrong down the road.

 

[Coryluv]

Oh yes, I think recording test results provides a record and also gives something to do while waiting. I use Aquaplanner Pro on iOS for that purpose, but pen and paper, or a spreadsheet (graphing can be fun) works as well.

 

[Tigerstein]

Graphing is fun!

 

[Tigerstein]

Ummm... ok so i appear to have about 20 nitrates and no nitrites... Does this mean my cycle is almost done?!