Newbie in need of serious help

[light_angel_7]

Hi I,m in need of some serious help. I bought a aquaculture 10 gallon kit about a month ago. I started cycling the tank with Austins pure ammonia around 3 weeks ago. However I am still not getting any nitrites nor nitrates on my API freshwater test kit. My tank temperature is around 84F and my PH is 8.0.
My fake plant driftwood decoration also has a slimy feel to it.

I guess my questions are

Is it normal to go 3 weeks without no readings?

Is the slimy feel on the decoration normal?

Is Austins ammonia good for fishless cycling?

My API test doesn't expire until 2018 and I read read the instructions precisely and I have even started putting some fish food and a piece of shrimp in the tank. I have read the getting started guide on the site as well as reading info from other sites and I still seem to be lost. This is also my first fish tank ever and I have no prior experience of keeping fish



Here is a picture of what my tank looks like

Here is also a picture of the ammonia brand.

 

[Coursair]

I would drop the temp to 78. I'm not sure if the high PH has stalled your cycle ? I know really low PH can effect things.

 

[light_angel_7]

I read on some sites that a high PH and temperatures in the 80's was suppose to be good for bacterial growth but I'll lower to temp to see if their is any changes. I also tested the tap water and the readings were
ammonia - .25
PH - 7.6
High PH - 8.0
nitrite - 0
nitrate - 0

and here is my journal of the fish tank readings

Day1
High PH - 8.
Ammonia - 8.0
Did 50% water change. (I was guessing the amount of ammonia for a week since I didn't have the test kit)

Day 2
Ammonia - 1.0 - 2.0ppm
PH - 8.0

Day 3
Ammonia- 2.0 - 4.0
PH - 8.0

Day 4
Ammonia 2.0 - 4.0
PH 8.0

Day 5
Ammonia2.0
PH 8.0
Nitrite 0ppm

Day 6
Ammonia 1.0 - 2.0
nitrite - 0
nitrate - 0
added 3 drops of ammonia

Day 7
Ammonia - 1.0ppm
nitrite - 0ppm

Day 8
Ammonia - 1.0
nitrite - 0
added 5 drops of ammonia

Day 9
PH - 8
ammonia - 1.0
nitrite - 0
nitrate - 0
added 6 drops of ammonia

Day 10
ammonia - 8.0
nitrite- 0ppm
did 40-50% water change. Possible ammonia contamination in the dropper.
After change
ammonia - .50
added 5 drops

Day 11
ammonia - .50 - 1.0ppm
nitrite - 0
added 3 drops

Day 12 -14
Ammonia - .50 ppm
nitrite - 0ppm
nitrate -0ppm
added several drops of ammonia over the course. Did notice that the nitrate changed to an orange color after being left for a few hours?

Day 15
Ammonia- 1.0 - 2.0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate- 0
PH - 8.0

 

[Mebbid]

If your ammonia is falling then your cycle is working. Are you sure you are following the API nitrate test correctly? You have to add 10 drops of bottle 1, then shake bottle 2 like CRAZY for 30 seconds, then add 10 drops of bottle 2, then shake that like CRAZY for 1 minute straight and let it sit for 5 minutes before checking. I noticed that if I do anything wrong it gives me a 0 reading.

Also the bacteria will grow faster at the 80-90 degree range.

Did you use any type of water conditioner in the tank?

What are you using to collect the water sample? I talked to a guy that used the same syringe to add the ammonia to the tank as he used to put the water in the test tube and it gave him crazy results for his ammonia test. If you are indeed adding drops to the tank then that sounds like one of your possible problems.

 

[light_angel_7]

Yes I have read the API test correctly. I have put 5 drops into the nitrite test tube and shaken it for about 5 second and then leaving it for 5 minutes. I have also put 10 drops into the nitrate test tube using the nitrate 1 bottle, shaking the test tube for a few seconds, shaking the nitrate 2 bottle for around 30 seconds and then shaking the test tube for a minute and then waiting for 5 minutes. I also clean the test tubes with hot water after every use.

Also I do put water conditioner into the fish tank. I'm using Tetra AquaSafe.
Here is a picture of the other stuff that I have for the tank.

As for the water sample, I'm using two droppers that I got from walgreens to take the samples. After the unusual results from day 10 I cleaned both syringes out with hot water and taped a piece of water onto one of the droppers to tell them apart.

 

[light_angel_7]

Day 16
Ammonia - 1.0 - 2.0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0
added more fish flakes

Day 17
Ammonia - 2.0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0

I just added some more water into the tank and I have noticed some bubbles around the tank. is this just air bubbles getting stuck on the tank or is it something else?

 

[shellieca]

All I can add is I had one tank that took about 6 wks to get nitrItes. According to your latest post you're just past 2 wks. IMO your nitrItes will show up any day now, you're cycle is not abnormal. How high are you dosing the ammonia? When you shake your bottle of ammonia, does it foam? If it does its not pure ammonia which may effect your cycle but I'm not sure how.

 

[Mebbid]

The ammonia is fine. It would say there were surfactants in it if it was a bad type.

 

[liulady]

I just finished with my first fishless cycle. The best thing you could do at this point is to get some seeded material to put in your tank. A piece of filter media, gravel or an ornament from a friend's tank? But, if you have no access to any seeded material...just keep doing what you are doing. It will happen in time. You are still really early on.

I kept my temp high...about 80-84 degrees. I ran several bubblers. I added straight ammonia to bump it up to around 3-4 ppm each day. I had media from another tank and it STILL took a good 6 weeks to fully cycle my tank.

But, as soon as you see the nitrites start to appear and the ammonia start to drop...you are on the right road!

 

[shellieca]

The ammonia is fine. It would say there were surfactants in it if it was a bad type.

Just checking.

 

[light_angel_7]

Day 18
Ammonia - 2.0
Nitrates - 0
Nitrite - 0

Hi shellieca, When I shake the ammonia it does not foam, but you do see bubble come to the top and then disappear after 2-3 seconds. It's nice to know that this is normal since I heard from other people that they got their tanks cycle in far less time without the tank being seeded.

liulady i'm curious about when you noticed nitrites appearing in your fish tank. I unfortunately don't know anyone with a fish tank that would lend me some seeded material. I'm also going to add a bubbler in the fish tank to see if that would help cycle the tank faster.

 

[light_angel_7]

Day 19
Ammonia - 2.0 - 4.0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0

The Ammonia appears to be going up. I'm guessing that the shrimp and the fish flakes in the fish tank are beginning to break down. I also got an air pump and bubbler for the tank and just need to get a airline for it.

 

[Platiesareawesome]

What are you using to collect the water sample? I talked to a guy that used the same syringe to add the ammonia to the tank as he used to put the water in the test tube and it gave him crazy results for his ammonia test. If you are indeed adding drops to the tank then that sounds like one of your possible problems.

Lol that was me!

 

[liulady]

I'd say it was about a week before the nitrites started showing up. The whole process took a good 5 weeks even with seeded material. I'm always amazed when I hear about people doing a fishless cycle in a week!

In my case, the nitrites got to a SUPER high level and I went a couple of weeks thinking that any day I would be seeing the nitrates start to rise. Finally, I realized that I needed to do a huge water change to get the nitrites back to a readable level. After I did that (it took 2 75% water changes!) it was not long before the nitrates started to rise.

Hang in there! It WILL happen! It is worth it at the end! We got our first fish this weekend and it is awesome to know that I don't have to worry about the water levels going all out of control.

 

[Mebbid]

It took me a week and a half to do my cycle

 

[liulady]

It took me a week and a half to do my cycle

Impressive! Maybe my next tank....

 

[light_angel_7]

Day 20
Ammonia - 2.0 - 4.0
Nitrite - 0
nitrate - 0

Day 21
Ammonia - Not Checked
Nitrite - .25

Ok the shrimp was starting to smell on day 20 and I had to remove it and about 60% of the water. Since I needed to install the airline into the tank anyway I decided to turn off the heater and filter and put the biofilter and filter pad into the tank since I was going to remove the rest of the water tomorrow as well. Well today I tested the remaining water to make sure that the results were the same and to my surprise I finally got nitrites.

 

[light_angel_7]

Day 22
Ammonia - 2.0 after several tests and drops (originally .50)
Nitrite - 0

Ok I finally got a airline and installed it into the tank. I refilled the water w/ aqua safe and put the biofilter and aquarium filter back where they belonged. When I tested the water my nitrites are back down to 0.

Did the filters in the tank water cause a false reading or did I just lose the nitrites due to lack of oxygen or ammonia?

Also does anyone know how to make the air pump make less noise. It's a tetra whisper air pump and its making a vibrating humming type of noise.

 

[Mebbid]

Did you have any nitrate on day 22?

 

[light_angel_7]

I haven't tested for nitrates today. I thought the nitrites had to stick around for a few days or weeks before nitrates would begin to show up.