Help Needed with Fishless Cycle

[Just Another Fish Guy]

Hey guys!

I really need some help. I have been fishless cycling my tank since March 26th. My current tank is 60 gallons with a sand substrate and two Emperor 400 power filters (I am running all 4 bio-wheels). I originally dosed the tank up to about 5-6ppm of Ammonia and let it drop to around 1ppm before dosing it again.

My Nitrites began to spike above 5ppm and every time my Ammonia dropped to around .25ppm, I would dose up to 4ppm. I have never seen 4ppm of Ammonia drop to 0ppm within 12 hours. It was recommended that I do a 50% water change to bring the Nitrite levels down...which I did.

I went out of town last weekend, came back on Sunday afternoon and tested. My results showed 0ppm for Ammonia and Nitrites and 5ppm for Nitrates. I thought that was good, so I dosed Ammonia back to 2ppm to see if it would process it over night. When I woke up in the morning, the Ammonia only dropped to around .25ppm and I had 0ppm Nitrites and still only 5ppm Nitrates.

So we get to yesterday and the Ammonia was still at .25ppm, so I dosed back up to 2ppm and when I just tested now, it's only down to 1ppm, 0ppm Nitrites and still 5pm Nitrates.

I had the tank at 87 degrees with an airstone, but dropped it down last night to 78 because I thought maybe the water was too warm and there wasn't enough oxygen. The tank is now very cloudy (which I am assuming is a bacterial bloom).

I don't know what to do from here. It just seems like the Ammonia bacteria just aren't processing. I'm really wanting to add some fish since I've been going at this for over two months now.

Any ideas or advice will be greatly appreciated!!

 

[Caliban07]

Hey guys!

I really need some help. I have been fishless cycling my tank since March 26th. My current tank is 60 gallons with a sand substrate and two Emperor 400 power filters (I am running all 4 bio-wheels). I originally dosed the tank up to about 5-6ppm of Ammonia and let it drop to around 1ppm before dosing it again.

My Nitrites began to spike above 5ppm and every time my Ammonia dropped to around .25ppm, I would dose up to 4ppm. I have never seen 4ppm of Ammonia drop to 0ppm within 12 hours. It was recommended that I do a 50% water change to bring the Nitrite levels down...which I did.

I went out of town last weekend, came back on Sunday afternoon and tested. My results showed 0ppm for Ammonia and Nitrites and 5ppm for Nitrates. I thought that was good, so I dosed Ammonia back to 2ppm to see if it would process it over night. When I woke up in the morning, the Ammonia only dropped to around .25ppm and I had 0ppm Nitrites and still only 5ppm Nitrates.

So we get to yesterday and the Ammonia was still at .25ppm, so I dosed back up to 2ppm and when I just tested now, it's only down to 1ppm, 0ppm Nitrites and still 5pm Nitrates.

I had the tank at 87 degrees with an airstone, but dropped it down last night to 78 because I thought maybe the water was too warm and there wasn't enough oxygen. The tank is now very cloudy (which I am assuming is a bacterial bloom).

I don't know what to do from here. It just seems like the Ammonia bacteria just aren't processing. I'm really wanting to add some fish since I've been going at this for over two months now.

Any ideas or advice will be greatly appreciated!!

Hi. How long as it been since your last water change. Water changes are important when cycling because the ph will drop over time as the buffering capacity in the water drops.

Check your ph value. If ph drops too low the cycle will stop. Do another water change. Hold back on adding ammonia. Leave the tank to fall to 0 ammonia 0 nitrite and a reading of nitrates. Just dose 2ppm ammonia or better still just 1ppm. You are not far from done but you are adding too much ammonia.

 

[Just Another Fish Guy]

Hi. How long as it been since your last water change. Water changes are important when cycling because the ph will drop over time as the buffering capacity in the water drops.

Check your ph value. If ph drops too low the cycle will stop. Do another water change. Hold back on adding ammonia. Leave the tank to fall to 0 ammonia 0 nitrite and a reading of nitrates. Just dose 2ppm ammonia or better still just 1ppm. You are not far from done but you are adding too much ammonia.

Hello!

My last water change was two weeks ago. I have only done one because I didn't think they were necessary when doing a fishless cycle; plus my pH is 8.2 and I haven't seen it drop below that during this entire cycle. Do you think I should do a water change today?

As of this morning:

Ammonia - 1ppm
Nitrites - 0ppm
Nitrates - 5-10ppm

 

[Caliban07]

Hello!

My last water change was two weeks ago. I have only done one because I didn't think they were necessary when doing a fishless cycle; plus my pH is 8.2 and I haven't seen it drop below that during this entire cycle. Do you think I should do a water change today?

As of this morning:

Ammonia - 1ppm
Nitrites - 0ppm
Nitrates - 5-10ppm

Yes do a water change and leave it for 2 days. Take your readings then. Dose 2ppm ammonia and take it from there.

 

[Just Another Fish Guy]

I will do that today. When do you think I can add fish and when do you think the cloudiness will subside?

 

[bud29]

I would probably do a water change, dose up to 4 ppm ammonia, test in 24 hrs, and then if things don't look better after testing I would do a very large water change and transition to a fish-in cycle. It will get some fish in your tank after having waited 2 months, and perhaps it will go a bit better than the fishless cycle.

 

[Just Another Fish Guy]

I did a very large water change last night...at least 70%. The bacteria bloomed definitely got cleared up and the Ammonia reading went down a bit. As of this morning:

Ammonia - .50ppm
Nitrites - 0ppm
Nitrates - <5ppm
pH - 8.2
Temp - 78*

I will test again later today and hopefully the Ammonia has gotten down to 0ppm. I think once all Ammonia is out, I will just add my first group of fish and then just go from there.

What would you guys recommend as a good first group? Maybe 8-10 Zebra Danios?

 

[Just Another Fish Guy]

Picked up 6 Zebra Danios and a small Pleco today. Still reading some Ammonia, so I'll need to keep my eye on things over the next couple day sand do any water changes that will be necessary.

 

[Just Another Fish Guy]

picked up 6 zebra danios and a small pleco today. Still reading some ammonia, so i'll need to keep my eye on things over the next couple day sand do any water changes that will be necessary.