T&J Posted June 16, 2008 Report Share Posted June 16, 2008 Sorry for the newbie question, but I'm halfway through cycling my 55G FW tank and it seems to be going nowhere fast. I used the Septo-Bac/Ammonia method to get it going, and initial response was positive - I loaded the tank with ammonia to ~6ppm and let the bacteria develop, it slowly dropped until after a week when it dropped sharply and nitrites really spiked. Ammonia dropped to 0, nitrites jumped from trace to 5ppm+ in the space of a few days. I added small doses of ammonia (0.5ppm) to keep the first bacterial culture healthy while the second developed. Unfortunately, the second kind of bacteria doesn't seem to be coming along. Nitrates have not increased above the 5.0ppm level that's already present in my tap water. Nitrites remain outside of my readable range (5ppm+) and have been there for a week and a half now. Is there anything I can do to get this thing going again, or am I just expecting too much? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geleen Posted June 17, 2008 Report Share Posted June 17, 2008 (edited) Sorry for the newbie question, but I'm halfway through cycling my 55G FW tank and it seems to be going nowhere fast. I used the Septo-Bac/Ammonia method to get it going, and initial response was positive - I loaded the tank with ammonia to ~6ppm and let the bacteria develop, it slowly dropped until after a week when it dropped sharply and nitrites really spiked. Ammonia dropped to 0, nitrites jumped from trace to 5ppm+ in the space of a few days. I added small doses of ammonia (0.5ppm) to keep the first bacterial culture healthy while the second developed. Unfortunately, the second kind of bacteria doesn't seem to be coming along. Nitrates have not increased above the 5.0ppm level that's already present in my tap water. Nitrites remain outside of my readable range (5ppm+) and have been there for a week and a half now. Is there anything I can do to get this thing going again, or am I just expecting too much? Looks like a bit more patients is required. This can take several more weeks. J Edited June 17, 2008 by geleen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bottomdweller_fan Posted June 17, 2008 Report Share Posted June 17, 2008 I found that higher temperatures and increased oxygenation seem to speed things up when I cycle tanks. Just a suggestion. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vallisneria Posted June 17, 2008 Report Share Posted June 17, 2008 I had a similar problem when I did my first fishless cycle. My nitrites went SOOOO high it took forever for them to start coming down. I eventually did a large water change and then added my amount of ammonia again. The cycle continued and was done about a week after the change. The tank will eventually cycle it may just take a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T&J Posted June 17, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 17, 2008 (edited) Thanks for the help, folks. I did a 50% water change yesterday and the nitrites are still above 5ppm, so hopefully that gets things going. I've got lots of oxygenation, so that should help things along as well. Just gotta have patience, I guess! I suspect that reading the articles online about people cycling their tank in 10-14 days got me impatient, haha! Edited June 17, 2008 by T&J Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seajays Posted June 17, 2008 Report Share Posted June 17, 2008 Keep feeding some ammonia, it will come down. Mine took 21-30 days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vallisneria Posted June 17, 2008 Report Share Posted June 17, 2008 I fishless cycled one of my tanks in 12 days by adding a used filter and some gravel from an established tank. My second attempt took 3 weeks or so, as it got stuck at the nitrite phase. So the time it takes varies. Just be patient and it will eventually finish. I think I've also heard that turning the temp up helps as bacteria grow faster in high temps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T&J Posted June 18, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2008 Yeah, I've been adding a small amount of ammonia daily to keep the primary culture fed and happy. I'll crank up the heater a couple notches and see if that helps, thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T&J Posted June 27, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 27, 2008 So, in retrospect, I think I initially added too much ammonia too quickly and created too large of a culture which caused my nitrite to skyrocket and kept the second culture from growing. I ended up doing a 75% water change, and rinsed out one of my filter cartridges with tap water to bring down the bacteria count. I followed that up with a 50% change to bring the nitrite down to readable levels and added a smaller ammonia dose (3ppm). I cranked up my water temperature also. Over 6 days the nitrites took a short jump upwards past 5ppm and then plunged for zero! After a small change to remove most of the the produced nitrates (down to 10ppm) I'm ready to stock my tank! Thanks again for your help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vallisneria Posted June 27, 2008 Report Share Posted June 27, 2008 To make sure your tank is ready, I would do a 90% water change(to get rid of as much nitrate as possible), fill the tank back up again and then dose the tank with ammonia(3ppm or whatever you were using), then wait 24hrs. If ammonia and nitrite are 0 after 24hrs the tank is ready. You dont' want to add fish and then get a spike in the cycle. Also, you shouldnt' have rinse the filter sponge in tap water. You don't want to reduce the bacteria. More bacteria equals faster reductions in the ammonia and nitrite. You dont' want less of that. Its not that your bacteria culture is too large, its that you had too much ammonia in the tank. Only water changes would help that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T&J Posted June 27, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 27, 2008 (edited) Also, you shouldnt' have rinse the filter sponge in tap water. You don't want to reduce the bacteria. More bacteria equals faster reductions in the ammonia and nitrite. You dont' want less of that. Its not that your bacteria culture is too large, its that you had too much ammonia in the tank. Only water changes would help that. Interestingly, my ammonia was at zero ppm with only very small amounts added for the duration of the "stall." The bacteria was turning ammonia into nitrites pretty much as fast as I could add it. If there was single reason for the delay, it wasn't the water's ammonia content. A also realize that rinsing in tap water is recommended against, but even after that, the 24h-test I did still got rid of the ammonia post-haste. Whatever the reason, what I did worked. Edited June 27, 2008 by T&J Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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