It can't take as long the second time- fishless cycle log

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Current. I realized I probably wasn't shaking up the nitrate test properly. I still don't think that would account for the rising and falling levels. Still no nitrite.
 
Perhaps the bacteria that convert nitrite to nitrate were increasing in quantity simultaneously along with the ammonia to nitrite bacteria. I believe I read that the nitrite to nitrate (nitrifying?) bacteria are more efficient, as this part of the cycle takes less time.

I'm guessing the high nitrates was an error with the test. You might find that with the plants, you will always have low nitrates. This is what I am finding in my tank, way low nitrates with plants vs. before I had plants.

How long has this tank been cycling now?

Are you going to fertilize your plants? I've come to the realization that I might have to add fertilizer, but this will be a whole new world for me to research.

Did the ammonia drop yet?
 
The ammonia has dropped, haven't gotten it down all the way yet. I did start this cycle from a tank that already had a fish in it (and I removed him) so I did have something going on already. I already had nitrites and maybe nitrates I assume. I didn't test it right when I moved it and set it back up, so I don't know exactly what I started with.
I have had those plants in that tank for over a year, and I have never fertilized them. The java moss is probably the slowest growing java moss on earth, but it is growing. So, for now I am leaving it alone.
 
No change today. I did a water change on the betta just now. The betta water had .25 ammo and it had nitrites, I think 10. The 20 needed water, so I put the betta water in there. I figured it couldn't hurt it to feed it some trites. I also know my test does indeed read.
 
I'm wondering if I might be stalled. When I checked yesterday, I had no changes in ammo. I'm thinking a water change can't hurt things, right?
 
Wait, what is your ammonia at now?
I would not do a water change in the 20 gallon. It will only slow your cycle. If you are talking about the 10 gallon, then yes, change some water for the betta.

How much ammonia are you adding daily? . Did you stop adding ammonia?

I guess it still takes a while sometimes.

I had done a fish-in cycle in a 20 gallon with five 3" goldfish that I rescued from a bucket in the winter. That took 5 weeks. I kept them till June, then put them back in my dad's pond. I left the tank for three weeks without adding ammonia, but still had the filter running.
I then tested the water and the nitrates were through the roof, but the ammonia and nitrites were at zero. Amazingly... Actually the bacteria were living off the ammonia produced by the decaying algae, since the light was off... I literally spent 4 hours emptying the tank, and I rinsed the gravel in the tank water, replaced it and added all fresh water. I began a fishless cycle and it only took one week to bounce back.

Maybe because you just had a betta, there might not have been much bacteria. Goldfish have a huge bioload...

Well any nitrites or nitrates yet?
 
I haven't added any ammo since, I don't know actually, I'd have to go back and check. The ammo when I checked last was the same as in the picture. The nitrates are off the chart. I put in water from the betta, which had nitrites, otherwise, I had never seen any. I was wondering about a water change on the 20. I will do the 10 tomorrow or Sunday either way. The last thing added to the 20 was maybe 2-3 gallons of water, from the 10 gallon tank when I did the water change last week, because it was starting to get too low for the one filter to pick up.
 
Nothing added since the water the other day- these are today's readings. Didn't bother with nitrite, it's off the chart anyway.

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Looks like the ammo is at .50 today, and I added more ammo and a bit of old left over goldfish food. Might as well make use of it for something I figured. Didn't test anything else. Re-read the fishless cycling guide. I'll probably do a water change tomorrow to bring the nitrates down, add stuff back in, etc. I can't believe this is probably going to take as long as if not longer than the first time out (30 days I think, tomorrow marks 3 weeks from starting this one).
 
Sounds like its getting close now! What kind of fish will you get?
 
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Water change last night. Dosed to what should have been about 2. I don't get how I am never catching any nitrite.
I'm getting some neon and skirt tetras, possibly the glofish ones, and a few small Cory cats. Maybe a Dwarf Gourami, but I don't know about that.
 
Today- ammo looks .5 or 1, depending on how it's held, nitrite is 0. Added ammo to get it back to 4. What's up with this?
 
Wow... It is taking way too long!

Are you consistently adding small amounts of ammonia, or are you just adding a few drops and waiting days before adding more?

Could be that the bacteria is not able to steadily adapt to the fluctuations of ammonia.

Maybe it's cycled, but going through a mini cycle?

I don't know what more experienced people would say, but you might want to just stop adding ammonia until it reads 0 and the day it does go get a few fish! That way the tank will adapt to the few fish after a week with a consistent amount of ammonia. Then you can add more fish and hopefully things will be stable.

It seems like once The tank is cycled, nitrites are much more likely to stay at 0, where as ammonia can fluctuate more.

I still don't know why I got .5 ppm ammonia readings for about a month. Nearly killed my betta, causing bad fin rot. I even called the water company... But my elevated ammonia was in the tap water and both tanks...

Which brings up one more idea... Check the ammonia in your tap water, just in case!
 
I'm waiting till it goes to 1, sometimes it goes a little below depending on where I catch it, and dosing it back to 4, just like the guide says to do. There is no ammo in my tap water, or at least there was not last time I cycled this tank a little over a year ago, so there shouldn't be now. I did check yesterday, my ph did tank. Maybe that's it, but it's still converting ammo. I've been debating for a few days letting it go to zero, doing the water change, and putting in some fish. This tank took a few days over month last time, though I had a different filter, and no seeding material at all. I realized I may have a friend with some, so if I can get some, I'll probably go this way.
 
There apparently is ammo in my tap water. Weird, there was none last year, and I was able to get drops to 0. It tested between .25-.5. I'm checking to see if anyone has a cycled tank now.
 
I ended up draining it down to near nothing, refilling, getting a handful of gravel from another tank, and putting fish in. So far so good, I got them Wednesday I believe. I got one of the stickup things for ammo so I could see it right away of I walked by if I had any and change the water right away.
 
griffinej5 said:
I ended up draining it down to near nothing, refilling, getting a handful of gravel from another tank, and putting fish in. So far so good, I got them Wednesday I believe. I got one of the stickup things for ammo so I could see it right away of I walked by if I had any and change the water right away.
Click to expand...

If the PH had dropped that could be why things were stalling but you have fish now so don't worry about that lol How many did you add and what did you add? Just keep testing daily; ammonia could still show up and/or you might still get nitrites after a while so you'll want to be on top of those readings with fish in the tank. The ammonia alert things aren't very accurate so I'd test daily with the API kit anyway. Here's a link if you haven't seen it: I just learned about cycling but I already have fish. What now?! - Aquarium Advice
 
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