Fishless Cycling Process is Stalled

[RiverStoneBetta]

I started the cycling process last week in my 5 gallon tank, using seed material from my goldfish tank. (Quinn's biosponge looked like it couldn't handle losing much of it's growth. Most of the bacteria is in the terra-cotta pots in that tank anyway.) When I first started, I had between 4-5 ppm ammonia, 0 nitrItes, 10 ppm nitrAtes. (There's residual from my tap water.) After the first few days, it looked good. Ammo dropped from 5 to 2 ppm, and nitrAtes rose to about 20 ppm. Now I'm at a stall. No change whatsoever. To top it all off, my water has become "dusty". I notice it mostly with the heater light, when it gets scattered. Is there any correlation?

I've asked on other forums and the only answer I get is "Just wait." I know it takes time, but with the seed material, and plenty of places to grow, the bacteria should have made a dent by now. I've always had awesome luck with cycling. Quinn's finished cycling after a week and a half, pumping out 3ppm of ammonia to nitrates in 24 hours.

Last question. I keep being told to add more pure ammonia to the mix. I don't understand why. I know the bacteria needs food, but the food is already there, and it's not converting. Why do I need to add more?

[LolaQuigs]

How long ago did your ammonia drop to 2ppm? You had a nitrate reading of 20, did you have any nitrites at all? When the ammonia drops you should see your nitrites slowly rise.

The cloudiness could be a bacterial bloom, which is a good thing and means that the nitrifying bacteria are multiplying.

Is your ammonia still at 2? And when you say it's not doing anything, do you mean it's remaining at 2 even when you don't add more?

I would bring it back up to 5 until you see a nitrite spike, then let it stay at 2 for the remainder of the cycling process.

Only add enough ammonia to keep your levels at the desired ppm.

[luluo]

The dustyness that you are seeing, do you think that maye be an algae bloom? I got an algae bloom shortly before my tank was finished cycling.

My 10 gallon tank took about 4-5 weeks to cycle. This is basically what I did, though I only added the ammonia for 3 weeks.

1) Setup tank and filtration system.
2) Dechlorninate water.
3) Add bacterial culture of choice to tank. (I used API Stress Zyme +)
4) Add 1/4 to 1/2 a teaspoon of ammonia to fishless tank daily for 10 days. **NOTE: Use only household ammonia with NO coloring agents, clarifyers or other aditives**
5) After 10 days cut dosage in half fro the next 3 days.
6) After the 3 days cut dosage again, this time to 1/4 for balance of cycle, until nitrites are at zero.
7) Whe cycle is complete do a 50% water change and add fish.

[RiverStoneBetta]

The ammonia dropped roughly 4 days after I seeded the tank. It's stayed at 2ppm since then. Nitrites spiked shortly afterwards, then sunk down to zero and nitrates began to rise. I added a bit more ammonia, which was converted in less than 48 hours, but stopped at 2 ppm again. Now that I'm talking about it, I'm wondering if something is wrong with my testing kit.

The cloudiness isn't algae bloom. I've never had an algae problem in that tank.

I've also heard that covering the tank with a towel to keep the light out. Any truth to this? Anyone tried it?

[LittleBettaFish]

What's your pH? It can sometimes crash in a cycling tank and stall your cycle. The bacteria will slow down or go dormant at a pH below 7.

[Neil D]

The foggy ness happened to my tank too. It'll go away. I know u didn't wanna hear this but; just wait.

[RiverStoneBetta]

pH is at 7.6 - 7.8 range.

Just finished testing again. Still stuck. And I ran out of nitrite test. Added more culture and some water to replace what was lost to evaporation.

EDIT: I know I'm impatient. Part of it is that I've been spoiled with cycling for a long time. I used to filled up nylon hose with colony stones from my friend's Oscar tank and rest them in my tanks for about a week. (Like injecting the process with steroids and energy drinks.) Now I have to do it the old fashioned way since he moved. This is the most boring part of fishkeeping. >.<

[Neil D]

Try changing 50% of the water?

[RiverStoneBetta]

Not yet. I'm going to wait at least 3 days to see if the added culture helps out. I don't like changing water until after the tank is fully cycled.

[Neil D]

Are you 'feeding' the tank? Do the ammonia thing and see if it helps. There may not be enough food.