Newbie onboard. Help with Cycle

[gomikestrat]

Hello everyone, I'm a newbie and after quite a lot of reading I'm a bit puzzled:

I bought a 30L aquarium which I plan to inhabit with a betta fish and shrimps.

Before purchasing the livestock I studied and read that I need to cycle it.

So I have bought the AP master freshwater kit for the various tests.

After 3 weeks (filter, thermostat are in place) and while using Bacto Elixier FB7 by Dennerle Im still getting readings of ammonia and 0 nitrites and nitrates (see attached).

Is it possible that the bacteria of the product are dead or something?

I dont know what im doing wrong.

Thanks for your help

[Aiken Drum]

So you dont have any fish?

If you are doing a fishless cycle you also need an ammonia source as a substitute for fish waste so the beneficial bacteria responsible for your cycle can grow.

Did you add an ammonia source? Normally either an aquarium specific ammonium chloride product (eg Dr Tims Ammonium Chloride), pure ammonia, fish food that will produce ammonia as it decomposes, or a cocktail shrimp that again produces ammonia as it decomposes.

Without ammonia there is nothing for the beneficial bacteria to consume, no ammonia, no nitrite, no nitrate.

It typically takes 6 to 8 weeks of dosing ammonia before your beneficial bacteria has grown enough to be considered cycled.

I can give more details on how to do a fishless cycle. Or consider getting your betta and doing a fish in cycle.

[gomikestrat]

currently i dont have any fish
i add the following food (see attached)

but i dont see ammonia lowering, thats what concerns me

if you check the previous post the AP ammonia test shows lots of ammonia but it stays like that and nitrites and nitrates dont rise at all

[Aiken Drum]

A few points.

Your ammonia might be a little on the low side. You typically dose to 4ppm to give it a little kick at the start. This is difficult when your ammonia source is fish food. I would recommend either dosing ammonia or go with the cocktail shrimp.

You arent doing anything wrong. Take a skim through a lot of posts on here. Fishless cycles are a very common issue with things not going as planned or hoped. So many things can go wrong or sometimes they just don't work even when you do everything right. Im an advocate of fishless cycles, but generally people have fewer issues with fish in cycles. I would really recommend a fish in cycle if you cant get a fishless cycle to work.

Typically a fishless cycle takes 6 to 8 weeks so you are at the beginning of the process. It can take much, much longer.

Just to cross off a few possible causes. Whats you pH? Do you know if you have hard or soft water in your area? Did you use a water conditioner?

And yes, its entirely possible that the bottled bacteria died off before you even got to make your purchase. If not stored and transported in a temperature controlled environment it can easily die off and be useless.

[gomikestrat]

thanks for the help & quick reply

ph seems to be around 6.4 (attached)

i used a water conditioner, yes

ill try to get pharma grade ammonia to dose to 4ppm and buy new bacteria bottle from another shop

thank you once again