Lone-Racher
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Hi, fairly new to the hobby (I kept cold water fish many moons ago), and I’m convinced that something is preventing bacterial growth in my tank.
I have a 112ltr tank, and I’ve rebooted twice already after trying to cycle for about 4 months now. Originally I had a sump type filter which resulted in standing water at the rear of the tank which wasn’t helping matters... so cut a long story short and for easier reading I’ll start from my latest attempt which began about 5 or 6wks ago.
So... I now have an external canister filter filled to the brim with biohome ultimate, biohome sponges, and eheim biomechanical media. It’s overly large for my tank but I figured overdoing it was better than under doing it. (No chemical media)
Ph has been steady at 7.4-7.6
Temp always between 26-30Celcius
Dechlorinated with prime
Currently 2ppm ammonia (dr.tims)
Never have I had any nitrites or nitrates in all the months of trying!!!
I’ve previously used dr tims one and only, seachem stability, bacterial balls, and another good one but I can’t remember the name now. (I get some brief water cloudiness from the bacteria which soon disappears)
I have had minor drops in ammonia and topped back up between 2-4ppm
I haven’t done any water changes, only topped up with dechlorinated water as evaporation can drop levels quite a bit.
I did clean everything with a 10% bleach solution prior to this attempt, I thoroughly rinsed and air dried everything for 2 days before refilling.
I also have a good air pump and two large air stones in the tank on constantly.
I’m using api test kit (I have tried another Brand to verify results)
There must be something seriously wrong for no cycling to happen through all three attempts over the last 4months... Facebook forums can’t help me, can anyone on here shed some light???
(Also it’s not planted and doesn’t contain any driftwood/bogwood, only plastic plants and resin type ornaments on a fine sand substrate)
I can’t believe I’ve had a fish tank for over 4months and not one fish!!
I have a 112ltr tank, and I’ve rebooted twice already after trying to cycle for about 4 months now. Originally I had a sump type filter which resulted in standing water at the rear of the tank which wasn’t helping matters... so cut a long story short and for easier reading I’ll start from my latest attempt which began about 5 or 6wks ago.
So... I now have an external canister filter filled to the brim with biohome ultimate, biohome sponges, and eheim biomechanical media. It’s overly large for my tank but I figured overdoing it was better than under doing it. (No chemical media)
Ph has been steady at 7.4-7.6
Temp always between 26-30Celcius
Dechlorinated with prime
Currently 2ppm ammonia (dr.tims)
Never have I had any nitrites or nitrates in all the months of trying!!!
I’ve previously used dr tims one and only, seachem stability, bacterial balls, and another good one but I can’t remember the name now. (I get some brief water cloudiness from the bacteria which soon disappears)
I have had minor drops in ammonia and topped back up between 2-4ppm
I haven’t done any water changes, only topped up with dechlorinated water as evaporation can drop levels quite a bit.
I did clean everything with a 10% bleach solution prior to this attempt, I thoroughly rinsed and air dried everything for 2 days before refilling.
I also have a good air pump and two large air stones in the tank on constantly.
I’m using api test kit (I have tried another Brand to verify results)
There must be something seriously wrong for no cycling to happen through all three attempts over the last 4months... Facebook forums can’t help me, can anyone on here shed some light???
(Also it’s not planted and doesn’t contain any driftwood/bogwood, only plastic plants and resin type ornaments on a fine sand substrate)
I can’t believe I’ve had a fish tank for over 4months and not one fish!!