[TimeKeeper2131]

Hi everyone,
I’ve been doing a fish in cycle for about a month now. I’ve been following this tutorial: CYCLING: the two-sentence tutorial
My fish is doing well but I have had NO development of nitrite or nitrate according to my API master test kit. As of right now, I have no ammonia either… I have added some API quick start in hopes it would at least add some bacteria…. Parameters are as follows:

Housing: 10 Gal with silk plants and ceramic hidey spots
How many gallons is your tank? 9ish (room left at top)
Does it have a filter? Yes - aequeon S
Does it have a heater? Yes, auto
What temperature is your tank? 76F
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? No
Does your Betta have tank mates? What kind? No

Food:
What food brand do you use? Fluval bug bites, omega 1 flakes (red cap), omega 1 freeze dried blood worms
How often do you feed your Betta? How much? Twice a day M-F (2-3 good sized flakes or worms) Sat morning and Sun evening for a 24 hr fast



Water Parameters:
What are your water parameters?

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
pH: 8.4 (another problem I’m trying to address)

Maintenance:
Weekly 25% water changes unless ammonia gets to 0.25 ppm
Seachem prime dosed daily (2 drops per gallon)
Half a large Indian Almond Leaf
1 ten ml dose of API quick start last weekend plus 5 ml at a mid week water change.

What am I doing wrong?!?!?!?!

 

[BettaloverSara]

A betta in a 10 gal creates very little ammonia so cycling can sometimes take a while. I never really worry about my tank being cycled or not as long as the levels are healthy for the fish. If you are patient it will happen eventually but don't stress, your fish will be fine

 

[jasminezhang]

A betta in a 10 gal creates very little ammonia so cycling can sometimes take a while. I never really worry about my tank being cycled or not as long as the levels are healthy for the fish. If you are patient it will happen eventually but don't stress, your fish will be fine

i'm in a very similar situation as the original poster! will too frequent water changes prevent the cycling from happen? i do a 50% water change weekly, which is around how long it takes for the ammonia to reach 0.25ppm. i'm wondering if every time i do a water change, it's taking out that ammonia and not letting it cycle to nitrite and then to nitrate. i use Seachem Prime though so ammonia poisoning is not a concern - but i think i remember reading though that too much Prime without water changes will lower the oxygen? so overall i'm just confused about when i should be doing water changes to keep the tank safe but also still cycling

 

[BettaloverSara]

i'm in a very similar situation as the original poster! will too frequent water changes prevent the cycling from happen? i do a 50% water change weekly, which is around how long it takes for the ammonia to reach 0.25ppm. i'm wondering if every time i do a water change, it's taking out that ammonia and not letting it cycle to nitrite and then to nitrate. i use Seachem Prime though so ammonia poisoning is not a concern - but i think i remember reading though that too much Prime without water changes will lower the oxygen? so overall i'm just confused about when i should be doing water changes to keep the tank safe but also still cycling

Prime evaporates after 24 hours so it would only become an issue if you severely overdose the prime. FWIW I have never personally heard of a fish dying from prime overdose. I wouldn't ley my ammonia get over .25 just for the sake of cycling. The levels staying in the safe zones are more important than achieving a cycled tank faster. But that's just my opinion.

 

[jasminezhang]

Prime evaporates after 24 hours so it would only become an issue if you severely overdose the prime. FWIW I have never personally heard of a fish dying from prime overdose. I wouldn't ley my ammonia get over .25 just for the sake of cycling. The levels staying in the safe zones are more important than achieving a cycled tank faster. But that's just my opinion.

thank you for replying! you're right, i never let the ammonia reach above 0.25ppm out of fear for my fish (i monitor every day). also i realized (but correct me if this is wrong) that changing the water won't crash the cycle, the beneficial bacteria will keep developing in the filter media, it just might take longer, but having the right filter media setup and not messing with it is what keeps the cycle going