Cycling problems

[TheMainer]

I have been trying to cycle my 75g tank for at least a couple weeks. I have been adding ammonia when necessary to bring it up to 5ppm. There are still NO nitrites in the tank. The ammonia seems as though it's going down (i have done a couple water changes because I felt there was too much ammonia in the tank). Any thoughts? The only thing I can think of is that when I added some water there was still some chlorine in it even though I have been using Stress Coat.

Right now I just have sand in the tank. Thinking I might add my plants and rocks to see if it makes a difference. Rather confused.

Using XP3 and Emperor 400 filters with a good amount of biological filters (ceramic rings and stars).

Any thoughts or ideas are welcome. Figure I will just keep doing the ammonia thing and hope for the best.

 

[TLH]

If you have another tank switch some gravel or media around,or squeeze the sponge into your 75g.Have you got any mates you can pinch some off to kick start the effect?It will happen in time anyway.Leaving the top off so it's open to the air(or aerating heavily)for a couple of days will help.

There is really no point in doing water changes until you get fish in there or plants.

 

[FroggyFox]

"keep doing the ammonia thing" I hope you aren't actually doing anything for now. The best way I've found is that once the ammonia is at about 5ppm you should just leave the tank alone and do your tests every other day or so. Once ammonia gets down low, say 1 or 2 ppm you can add a little more ammonia. (then of course after ammonia starts dropping from 5ppm to 0ppm after 24 hours you dont have to test for ammonia anymore, just add that amount every day to keep the cycle going and start testing every few days to watch your nitrite level go up and then drop to 0) This way you wont get that level of ammonia up too high and then you wont have to worry about water changes (as TLH said they slow things down immensely). A high level of ammonia or any chlorine at this point is going to put you back at square one with your cycle.

What temperature are you keeping the tank at? Higher the better (as long as its not over 85F or so) Any higher temps than 85 or lower than 65 is probably going to have a negative effect on your bacteria colony. Higher temperatures (in the 82-84 range) will help speed up the bacteria colonizations rate.

Adding plants is a great idea...chances are good that they'll bring some bacteria in with them to help jump start your cycle. Same as TLH said if you can seed this tank with media or gravel from an established tank that'd help out also.

 

[TheMainer]

Unfortunately this is my first tank, so I don't have anything else I can use to help jump start it. I have my tank at 82 degrees right now. I only add ammonia when it drops below 5ppm. I usually test every other day. I will wait it out for the week and if still no luck, I might get some plants.

 

[Fantail_Lover]

Do you think there is any bacteria growing? What do you mean you have a bio-filter? Do you mean like a bio-wheel?

The best way to jump start the cycle is to goto your LFS and ask them for Biozyme (or something like it). Its basically very small flakes of bran with static bacterial growth on them that react when placed in water. Then they will live off of the ammonia in the tank, assuming of course that your adding any. 5ppm seems like alot of ammonia in tank water, even for cycling.

The best thing to remember is to just be patient.

-Xan

 

[TheMainer]

I was going with 5ppm because that is what is suggested when cycling. I hope there is bacteria growing, it just doesn't seem like there is. By bio-filter, I mean I have two bio wheels plus rings and stars, so there should be a place for bacteria to grow. I guess I might have been adding too much ammonia when it dropped below the 5ppm. We will see what happens.

 

[Orion]

Like froggy sugested, once it is at 5ppm, don't add anymore untill it drops to around 1 or 2 ppm. You may be retarding the growth of the other bacteria by keeping the ammonia at or around 5ppm for so long. I wouldn't let it drop all the way to zero though.

You could ask your LFS for a handfull of gravel to help seed the tank. I don't think most of the 'instant cycle' products actualy work. Bio-Spira is the only one that I've heard of that really does work. It's a little pricey, but if your LFS carries it you may want to look into it before you get too much more frustrated.

 

[FroggyFox]

If your ammonia is going down at all it means there is bacteria present...patience is the key 82 sounds great.

(edit: Orion posted same time...yeah...what he said! hehe)

 

[TheMainer]

Thanks. Not really frustrated, more like curious. It just seemed weird to me that over a couple days that the ammonia would drop some but no nitrites would show up. I will try waiting longer before I add more to see if it helps. Probably look into getting some plants in there as well. Thank you all for the suggestions.