Tomorrow, Jan 11, 2010 will be my 14th day of fishless cycling in my 36 gallon corner bow tank. I continually measured my ammonia levels and nitrite levels which have been the same for a week now. My ammonia reads between 4.0 & 8.0 (hard to tell due to the color cards that are used to measure the readings with the test kit). The green color for the ammonia reading have been the same for the week. Also took levels of the nitrites and it is still coming out zero.


Took some gravel, about a cup from my office 2.5 gallon tank and also a piece of driftwood from the 2.5 gallon tank on the 6th of Jan and placed it in my 36 gallon tank. The reading have been the same and looks like bacteria is no building in my tank. Everywhere else I read, people have been getting nitrite reading on the 10th day.



At this point, I have the heater set to 90 degrees. Should I do a 25% or 50% water change? Should I still wait it out a bit longer before trying something else?



Help is greatly appreciated



Thanks



Rich

If you added the gravel and ornament on the 6th, I'd give it a few more days. Patience is the hardest part of cycling a tank.

I agree with Rychek, give it some more time.


I can't tell from your posts, but have you had to add ammonia to maintain the ppm? You will not see any significant Nitrite until the ammonia eating bacteria builds up. If the ammonia level is holding steady, you don't have a good ammonia eating bacteria colony yet.

I have not added any additional ammonia to maintain the ppm. It has been steady since my first dosage to get it between 4.0 & 8.0. The green color that I had from day one is still the same. The PH is around 7.6.


Might try and purchase a live plant or rock from the pet store. Any objections, thoughts?



Thanks



Rich

Sorry to just pop in on this one but I think the addition of a live plant would just throw you off because it would use the ammonia, nitrate, and/or nitrate as food, making things harder to monitor for you. You also shouldn't have to do any water changes during a fishless cycle and doing so might just slow you down.

Again, sorry to pop in...I'm sure these guys have you covered much better than I ever could but I thought I'd say at least say hi and welcome to the forum!

TG

You read my mind Tommy. Leiteone, you'd be better off adding more source bacteria than adding plants. Live plants would only make readings harder to interpret.

Leiteone,


You are using pure/clear ammonia, right? If your ammonia has cleaning agents or perfumes it will not work properly.

Lumpydogs,


The ammonia bottle states Clear Ammonia. On the rear of the bottle it says Contains No Phosphorus. The ingredient is Ammonia Hydroxide only. I had 2 other friends use the same kind to start their tank but one buddy just went to purchase the eco-system bacteria stuff because he could not get his nitrites up (my same problem). But my other buddy had success with it but constantly adding bacteria from his already established tank.



At this point it might be the ammonia like you said. See if I can get some gravel or a squeeze of a filter sponge from my local fish store



Thoughts?



Thanks



Rich

I think I can finally stop panicking. Finally got some nitrites showing up so I should be getting close now. When I get the nitrites down to 0 and the ammonia I did read somewhere that I should do a 50% water change and change the carbon? What about the sponge and the bio cubes?


Thanks for you patience and my constant nagging regarding my nitrites build up. I really appreciate it.



Please let me know your thoughts on the questions above



Thanks again



Rich

Rich, I am glad to hear that your tank is finally coming around. The Nitrite spike will take several days, keep calm. I would do a partial water change. 50% sounds like a lot to me, but not bad. The water change is primarily to reduce the Nitrate level that will build up during the Nitrite spike. Fish can tolerate a much higher ppm of Nitrate than Ammonia or Nitrite. Replace the carbon is a good idea. I would not replace or clean the filter/sponge. It should still be clean with only ammonia added to the tank. Also the filter/sponge may have a very significant amount of good bacteria built up on it.


Make sure to test your ammonia ppm and not let your tank run out of it. Before your cycle is over, you will be adding a small amount of ammonia on a daily basis.



Great job on sticking with it and not giving into temptation.



Keep posting updates. We need to build up this thread with as much information and positive experiences as possible.