What am I doing wrong? (fishless cycle)

[Staciekarp]

Hello everyone;

I've been trying to get a cycling going on my 10 gallon aquarium but it's just not going.

I used the fishless method (adding pure ammonia). I added ammonia to the tank until my test kit (API brand) read 5 ppm. According to the guides I've read the ammonia should eventually drop and there will be a high level of nitrite in the water.

My ammonia levels have never gone under 5ppm and my nitrite and nitrate levels have always been zero. I've had this tank for around 11 weeks now. :<

I bought my aquarium at Wal-Mart and it came with came with a hood with lights, a filter and a heater which are all working and I keep them on constantly (except for the lights when I'm sleeping).

So am I doing anything wrong? Any suggestions are appreciated!

[Staciekarp]

bump

[Adastra]

Adding aeration and figuring out a way to somehow seed the tank with bacteria should help. If you don't know anyone with a fish tank, you can try asking on the forums of your local aquarium society or even an employee at your local fish store. If you explain to them what you're trying to do, they should be willing to give you a piece of filter pad or some dirty gravel to help you out. If you go when they're cleaning the tanks, try to get some of the mulm (tank scuzz) water in the bottom of the cleaning bucket since it's rich with bacteria.

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

When I cycled my tank, it took something like 40days to begin to see a decrease in the ammonia levels...

[Chicklet]

I had something similar happen in a few of my tanks back when,
They just never wanted to move to the next stage (nitrites)

I read somewhere that you can get a "stall" in your progress., from too high of ammonia levels.
The solution for me that worked.
A Hugh water change, then let it sit a very short time (an hour approx) then added ammonia only to the level of two ppm's.
The very next day my Nitrites started to appear within 1 week (less actually) after that it was finally cycled.

[Mars]

When I cycled my tank, It took about 40 days. Around 30 days everything started going, ammonia dropping, nitrites and nitrates started going off the charts. Soon (about 2 weeks) ammonia and nitrites started going down, until I had to start adding ammonia once in the morning and once at night.
Just keep testing the water and eventially you will start seeing a change. It will not happen fast.

Make sure you turn your heater up to the highest temp, and keep running your filter, and have lots and lots of patients.

Also I have read that you need to keep your lights off. Bacteria will grow faster that way. That is what I did.

Oh and almost forgot.. I bought a marimo ball from Petsmart and I stuck that in my tank without rinsing it first, I believe it had enought bacteria from their tank to help seed my tank even if a little.

[Staciekarp]

Originally Posted by Mars

lots and lots of patients.

Nooo :c!

Thank you for the replies everyone; I'll try to get some bacteria to seed my tank from the pet store and do a water change in case I added to much ammonia.. for some reason I thought I needed the lights on for the bacteria to grow better but I'll keep them off from now on.