dereks Posted October 29, 2008 Report Share Posted October 29, 2008 I've been trying to cycle my 30 Gallon Tall. It'll be 3 weeks on the 31st and nothing seems to be happening - ammonia level has been steady at 4ppm since October 10. I have not added any ammonia since the initial dose and no nitrites have shown up either. I've got a Rena Filstar XP1 for filtration. Filter components supplied with the unit are installed. Dechlorinator was added to the water before adding to the aquarium and their is plenty of surface agitation. Temperature is set to 80F right now. Pure ammonia is being used for the fishless cycle. I've tested the tap water with different concentrations of ammonia added to see if my test kit (Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Master) was working and it is. Any ideas of what's not working? Any other thread I read about fishless cycling see nitrites fairly soon after starting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
popik Posted October 29, 2008 Report Share Posted October 29, 2008 Pour in a dose of Stability to get it started. I cycled a tank 6 months ago with ammonia and no fish and used 2X the initial dose of Stability one time and the tank was good to go in 2 1/2 weeks. The bacteria is in the air as they say but a helping hand wont hurt. Just make sure you see the entire nitrogen cycle pass...Ammonia-Nitrite-Nitrate...do a quick water change and make sure it can cycle the ammonia level from 5ppm back down to 0 in 24hrs or less. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geleen Posted October 29, 2008 Report Share Posted October 29, 2008 I've been trying to cycle my 30 Gallon Tall. It'll be 3 weeks on the 31st and nothing seems to be happening - ammonia level has been steady at 4ppm since October 10. I have not added any ammonia since the initial dose and no nitrites have shown up either. I've got a Rena Filstar XP1 for filtration. Filter components supplied with the unit are installed. Dechlorinator was added to the water before adding to the aquarium and their is plenty of surface agitation. Temperature is set to 80F right now. Pure ammonia is being used for the fishless cycle. I've tested the tap water with different concentrations of ammonia added to see if my test kit (Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Master) was working and it is. Any ideas of what's not working? Any other thread I read about fishless cycling see nitrites fairly soon after starting. Patience is required this may take up to 6-7 weeks. You will find the ammonia start to drop soon then it takes more time to get the nitrification bacteria to grow and convert to nitrate. The use of stability as per bottle instruction will speed thing up. J Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vallisneria Posted October 29, 2008 Report Share Posted October 29, 2008 Do you have any other tanks or a friend with a tank? Try adding a used sponge, some used gravel or some filter squeezings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seajays Posted October 29, 2008 Report Share Posted October 29, 2008 (edited) You can also add some Septo Bac. It will help to speed it up. But things should start happening soon. Could take 30 days or more. Edited October 29, 2008 by seajays Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Ram Posted October 29, 2008 Report Share Posted October 29, 2008 I have used the fishless method 3 times now on large tanks. It has never taken more than 14 days with no boosting from established filter media. I did however add the same amount of ammonia daily until the nitrites appeared and then dropped the ammonia back to half the original daily dose. The method I followed called for daily dosing of ammonia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boom Posted October 30, 2008 Report Share Posted October 30, 2008 Patience is the key. Keep adding ammonia, and try to get some bacteria from another source as others have suggested. Don't worry, it'll happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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