Help! I don't know what's going on!

[severum mama]

I have cycled like 5 tanks without doing water changes i have no clue why you are doing one. I agree with adding an ammonia source, but i wouldnt do a pwc until you have only trates. Do what you want though.

High ammonia and/or nitrite can stall a cycle from what I understand. This is why I never really understood the point of dosing up to 4 PPM. Seems to me that it would be easier to dose up to 2 PPM and just start with a smaller fish load.

 

[bud29]

I am beginning to wonder the same thing. Judging from a lot of fishless cycling threads I have read, the majority of the people ended up doing a pwc and then only dosing the ammonia back up to 2 ppm until they built up the bacteria to handle 2 ppm in a day. Then they started dosing to 4. I think that when I help my sister cycle her 10 gallon I will only dose it up to 2 ppm to start.

 

[blert]

I have cycled like 5 tanks without doing water changes i have no clue why you are doing one. I agree with adding an ammonia source, but i wouldnt do a pwc until you have only trates. Do what you want though.

High ammonia and/or nitrite can stall a cycle from what I understand. This is why I never really understood the point of dosing up to 4 PPM. Seems to me that it would be easier to dose up to 2 PPM and just start with a smaller fish load.

+1
Sure, you can wait it out without doing a PWC but, as posted above, it has been speculated that high nitrite can stall it out. Besides, once it's off the chart you have no idea what you are dealing with, it could be 9ppm or 16ppm. Doing a PWC won't harm anything and getting the numbers back onto the chart lets you know what's going on.

 

[bud29]

Alright...Adding the fish food did nothing, so I did a pwc. Readings ~30 min after the change were
~.75 ppm ammonia
~.75 ppm nitrIte

I then tried to dose it back up to 2 ppm and I ended up overdosing. It now appears to be about 3 ppm, as the water color is obviously darker than 2 ppm, but obviously lighter than 4.

Do I do a small pwc and really try to get it down to 2 ppm? Or is it OK at 3?

 

[blert]

Nah, take a break, 3ppm ammonia is fine. Give it 24 hours and test again. If the nitrite climbs you are doing good. If nitrate climbs you are doing even better.

 

[bud29]

Thanks! I will test tonight!

 

[bud29]

Ammonia 3ppm
Nitrite between 2 and 5 ppm

I am really fed up with this cycle. I have no idea what I have been doing wrong. I have looked all over town to find bacteria in a bottle and there is none to be found!

 

[ktulu909]

You don't have a lfs you could beg for some used filter material? I went that route and was cycled in less than a week.

 

[bud29]

You don't have a lfs you could beg for some used filter material? I went that route and was cycled in less than a week.

I already got some, I put it in when my cycle started. I was hoping it would make my cycle short, but no........

 

[blert]

Is nitrite rising?
Is nitrate rising?

 

[bud29]

No and no.....I have done 3 pwc during this cycle, and after every one the nitrites spiked without an amm. drop the day after the change. Then all the levels stay the same.

 

[bud29]

any ideas on what I should do?

 

[bigbanker]

Curious ... what are your numbers out of the tap

 

[bud29]

.25 ppm ammonia
1 ppm nitrite
5 ppm nitrate
8.4 pH

 

[ktulu909]

After each water change and initially your dosing with prime or some other conditioner to remove the chlorine and other stuff right?

 

[bigtoad78]

any ideas on what I should do?

I had the same thing happen with my fishless cycle. Started the cycle by dosing ammo to 4ppm until it started dropping, then started half dosing. It stalled in the nitrite part for about a month. (didn't ph crash or anything either)
I decided to do water changes to try and kick start it... did a couple 90% water changes, and nitrites were still off the chart, so I did a 100% water change, and then added about 5 gallons of water to the substrate and removed it just to make sure I got all the nitrite out.
Once I did that, I dosed 1ppm ammo and left it alone for a couple days. (bacteria won't starve if they aren't "fed" for a couple days) The ammo and nitrite dropped to zero a couple days later, so I added 3ppm ammo, and it took two days to convert it. I finally took it back up to four, and it converted it in 24hrs.

It seems like the nitrite converters where there... but were just overwhelmed and needed some help in my case.

 

[bigtoad78]

I am beginning to wonder the same thing. Judging from a lot of fishless cycling threads I have read, the majority of the people ended up doing a pwc and then only dosing the ammonia back up to 2 ppm until they built up the bacteria to handle 2 ppm in a day. Then they started dosing to 4. I think that when I help my sister cycle her 10 gallon I will only dose it up to 2 ppm to start.

I actually had this same thought, so that's what i did when I set up a ten gallon for my kids a few weeks ago. I had filter material from my main tank, so I just started the dose at 1ppm and worked my way up to 4ppm. Cycled it in a week.

I've seen a lot of threads around different forums too, where people used media from other tanks to cycle, and it still took them way too long in my opinion... maybe because that initial dose of 4ppm just wipes the majority of bb out?

 

[bud29]

Yes, I put in Tetra AquaSafe after every water change.

Bigtoad, thank you. I will try that and see what happens.

I am seriously thinking about getting a bottle of bacteria now, possibly colonize by doctors foster and Smith.

 

[bigbanker]

What are your readings today?

 

[bud29]

Sorry I didn't respond. I was gone on a long trip. Just got back today. They day before I left I ordered the colonize and it came the day before I got back. I had my mom test the water while I was gone. Even though I gave her thorough directions on how to test, she couldn't figure out how, so she used my test strips instead. My ammonia dropped from 1 ppm down to .5 while I was gone. Then, 24 hours after adding the colonize, I tested it with my liquid API kit and it was at zero. Nitrites between 2 and 5.

This is my first noticeable ammonia drop. We are getting somewhere