Way I found to fix a stalled fishless cycle....

[ppo8820]

I have been cycling a tank for about 2 months and even though it was processing ammonia in 24 hours, it had Nitrites off the charts and they werent budging. Well, I have been patient, but I was over it.

Also, I had white gravel with live plants and I decided I despised the white gravel and wanted a dark, plant ready substrate. So, here is what I did:

-Emptied all water from tank. Kept last bucket of old tank water and put all live plants, fert tabs, and filter media in it. Took out white gravel, and added Floramax in Midnight.

-Filled it back up and used a cheap dechlorinator instead of Prime. Waited for water to clear a bit and re-scaped the tank with my plants and rocks. (MUCH better with black substrate).

- Then I tossed filter media back in and let it run 45 minutes. Then I tested and there was 0 ammonia, but still 2ppm Nitrites. I figured they would climb again and I would be in same situation, so I added a whole bottle of Safestart plus I had in my cupboard before the "trites" could climb again.

- Then I added 7-8 drops of ammonia for the bacteria to eat since I do not have any fish in this tank.

- Tested this am. .25 Nitrites (vs off the charts like before) and 0 ammonia. Added some more ammonia and a bit more safestart.

- Tested tonight only 8 hours later and barely any Nitrite, ammonia not detected. I added some more ammonia.

Nitrates at 10ppm.

I figured I would share my little ordeal so anyone else with a stalled cycle who has lost patience can try a different method. Im sure it would have eventually cycled on its own, but since I wanted to change the gravel, I decided to try something a little different. Hope this helps someone! I will keep you posted on any changes.

 

[Mebbid]

With unmeasurable nitrites, it's hard to tell if your cycle was actually stalled or not. When doing a fishless cycle there is a HUGE backlog of nitrites that can just take forever for the bacteria to catch up with, especially when you keep dosing ammonia into the tank. I would say that's a more likely thing than actually stalling and a 100% water change all on its own would have probably fixed your problem.

 

[ppo8820]

I thought so too, but it started climbing within hours of new water and substrate, and once I added the safestart, the Nitrites started to decline. I have no doubt they would have just kept rising like before if I didnt add the TSS.

I know you are against the bottled bacteria, but this brand works. Ive tried them all, and this is the only one that provides results.

 

[aqua_chem]

With unmeasurable nitrites, it's hard to tell if your cycle was actually stalled or not. When doing a fishless cycle there is a HUGE backlog of nitrites that can just take forever for the bacteria to catch up with, especially when you keep dosing ammonia into the tank. I would say that's a more likely thing than actually stalling and a 100% water change all on its own would have probably fixed your problem.

I agree, it was probably finishing up its cycle and would have finished whether you changed the substrate or did the Macarena in front of the tank for good luck. The water change probably just took out most of the nitrite backlog.