Fishless cycle help please ....

[Juventus]

I been starting a fishless cycle , with the right ammonia n everything I added 4ppm waited until it went down and cracked it back up to 4 is been 1 month now but I still don't see nitrite , idk what's is the problem .,.,.,.?,.,?!?,.

 

[madams102]

is your heater turned up. The bacteria you want will reproduce at its best in the mid 80's so turn your heater up if you have not and keep doing what you are doing it will eventually totally cycle.

 

[Juventus]

My heater is at 86%

 

[Fresh2o]

After dosing the ammonia to 4 ppm, how long does it take for it to reach zero? 12 hours? 24 hours? Longer? How often are you testing? It could be the case where the nitrites are being processed at a rate where they are not be detected.

More importantly, what are the nitrates at? If they are very high, then it appears the nitrites are being converted.

 

[Juventus]

I test everyday , and it takes ammonia longer then 24 hours maybe days and my nitrate is yellow which equals zero but my nitrite right now a month later of starting my fishless cycle is at .25

 

[Coyne]

hmm... that is weird. The ammonia is dropping, which means its being converted into nitrites. Are you confident youre doing the test right or that the test liquid hasnt expired?

 

[jlk]

A few questions first so we can figure out whats going here. Has your ph been staying stable? What does it read?

Next, when you test for nitrites, do the blue drops turn purple as they fall or on the bottom of the test tube then change color after shaking?

Last, are you really shaking and banging the nitrate bottles on a hard surface for a full minute+ before testing (your arms should hurt a bit)? Reagents can clump leading to a false zero/yellow result. Lets see if we can figure out what's going on!

 

[Juventus]

My ph is pretty stable and my test is fine I honestly don't shake the actual bottle I shake the hell out of the tube tho but other then that the drop hit the bottom n stay blue not purple but I am seeing a nitrite of .25 today but that's it

 

[jlk]

What is your ph? You need to really shake and and bang the nitrate bottles hard prior to testing. Try rerunning the nitrate tests after 1-2mins of shaking and banging and see if there's any change in your results.

 

[Juventus]

I did all that n it was at .50

 

[Juventus]

Talking bout the nitrite btw my nitrate is zero ( yellow)

 

[shellieca]

I haven't done fish less cycles but in one of my tanks I didn't see nitrites until week 6 & in one tank I saw them only one day. I know it doesn't help you but just wanted to point out cycling isn't written in stone & odd things can happen.

 

[Coyne]

What's goofy is that he says his ammonia is being metabolized, which means he should have nitrites... Or if the tank is fully cycled nitrates. But he claims to have little to none of either. It's not like the ammonia gets converted into cotton candy or anything else besides nitrite.

 

[Fresh2o]

What's goofy is that he says his ammonia is being metabolized, which means he should have nitrites... Or if the tank is fully cycled nitrates. But he claims to have little to none of either. It's not like the ammonia gets converted into cotton candy or anything else besides nitrite.

That had me stumped; no response. But the cotton candy remark was funny.

 

[Juventus]

So u think I'm lien !!! Yeah it is cotton candy I'm running a candy shop in my tank, I'm starting to seethe past 2 days alik nitrite is around a light purple which means is like 1 maybe but my question is know should I wait or add more ammonia ???

 

[Hbbambislayer]

What size tank do you have and how long is it taking for your ammo to go down?

 

[Wolfsblood]

Have you done any water changes during this one month period? You still havent told us what your ph is.

 

[Hbbambislayer]

That was going to be my next question along with tap water readings

 

[Hbbambislayer]

Areb you testing your tank at the same times each day? When your adding your ammo how long do you wait to test it? Do you have good airation in the tank? Make sure your waiting the 5 minutes b4 getting the readings doesn't hurt to give a little shake during that time either instead of letting it just sit. Getting us readings from your tap and tank will be helpful. Your nitrites are slowly rising which is good but Imo a month seems to long for them to be moving up this slow. Like the other person b4 me asked have you done a water change at all during this time. Tank size would be helpful also.

 

[shellieca]

So u think I'm lien !!! Yeah it is cotton candy I'm running a candy shop in my tank, I'm starting to seethe past 2 days alik nitrite is around a light purple which means is like 1 maybe but my question is know should I wait or add more ammonia ???

Nobody thinks you're lying, it's just an odd occurrence you're reporting. The comment was NOT meant to be rude, at least I didn't read it as rude & I'm sorry it came across as that to you. We are trying to help you get your cycle completed. If you can answer some of the questions others have asked we might be able to better help. As for adding more ammonia . . . what is your current reading? Typically if the ammo falls to 1 or less it is advised to redose it.