Seems like my tank is taking 4 Ever to cycle

[NEWfishBIGpond]

I have had my tank for a month now and fish have been in the tank since the beginning. For the past couple of weeks my ammonia levels have been as zero, so I have been watching the nitrite levels closely. I do a little less than 30% water changes weekly which keeps the nitrites around .25 ppm. I haven't seen them much above that because of my water changes. The fish seem happy and have good color, so it seems like the tank is healthy, but I have been expecting to see the numbers dip towards zero and stay. This isn't the case. As of late my tank always seems to be a little cloudy which I thought was the nitrates starting to take over but when I test for nitrates its always at zero, which I thought would be the case because the nitrites never even got to zero. Anyhow, my question is am I being inpatient or am I doing something that could be preventing this cycle from taking place. I always treat the water for chlorine and Chloramine before I add the tap water, but now I am wondering if I'm not letting sit long enough and that is killing the bacteria....I don't know. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[unwritten law]

Just stick with it...It can tank up to 8 weeks or more.

 

[Ravenstar]

When you say you "treat the water for chlorine and chloramine before you add the tap water," does that mean you put the chemicals in your tank and then add tap water to your tank?

 

[Joeyb1731]

patience is key, your taking a little longer to cycle because you need to protect your fish from nitrites so you need to do water changes which in turn will make your cycle take a long time, I did the same thing, nitrite part of the cycle took me almost a month by itself,this is the reason really for a fishless cycle, because you let the tank cycle without doing the water changes and you leave ALL the bacteria in their, when you do water changes you are taking out good bacteria that will finish your cycle, if your really impatient just watch the levels and dont do a water change until your nitrites are almost at 1.0 ppm but dont let them go over that, its a little risky, but so is a fish in cycle so if u feel daring, give it a shot, it might speed it up a little.

 

[simplyfish]

Sounds like you are doing fine, I have done a couple of fish-in cycles and this sounds normal to me.

The cloudiness is another thing that I would always expect at some point or another, even if Parameters are pretty close to perfect. This can sometimes go and come back a couple of times before really settling down.

If you are keping Nitrites low, as you are, then alls good, I would expect it to take at least another 4 weeks for all to settle down. Even then don't push the bio-load up too quickly.

 

[NEWfishBIGpond]

Thanks for the replies...sorry for the delayed response.

--To answer one of the reply questions, I add the treatment to the chlorinated water while the tap water is in the bucket, and I am waiting for it get adjusted to the right termp. Then I add it to the aquarium.

--Well good news!!!! I tested my water tonight and my nitrite levels are at zero for the first time. My tanks cloudiness is gone and it is clearer than it has been since I first started cycling. I hope I am officially on the last leg but I will test a couple more times this week.

If I am clear then I will probably just add the few rummy noses I initially lost, but will take it slow and monitor the levels as I go. Thanks for everyones replies!

 

[FroggyFox]

btw cloudyness while cycling is a GOOD thing because its usually a bacterial bloom a party of bacteria in a cycling tank is a beeeeeeeeautiful sight!

And for anyone reading this, yes that first cycle takes a TON of patience but it is so worth it