Tank cycling (why is nothing happening!!!) :(

Hey all,

I'm starting to get really frustrated with cycling, i'm so disappointed about it. It took me soo long to gradually spend all the money getting everything I needed together to get an axolotl i've wanted for about 10 years, and I just feel like its never going to happen

I've been "cycling" (if you can even call it that) for THREE WEEKS now, and absolutely nothing is happening. I initially maybe overdosed the ammonia and it wasn't going down, so two weeks ago or so I changed 25% of the water so the ammonia went down to 1ppm. Since then its just been stuck at 1ppm and nothing is changing!

I've even added some mature media someone from the forum very kindly sent to me, and still nothing. I did randomly measure the nitrite a week or so ago and it was at like 25ppm and I got really excited...but AGAIN, nothing changed after that. It didn't go up or down, its just stayed at 25ppm. And while I initially thought it was finally going through the normal cycling pattern, it cant be because the bloody ammonia hasn't gone down at all! The nitrite spike is still completely unexplained. [EDIT] I literally just tested it and its at zero again -_- WHAT DOES THIS MEAAAAN

Honestly, the most eventful thing thats happened so far is a horrible algal bloom about a week ago that took ages to go away and only did after I covered the tank with a towel. I think its gone now but honestly I cant even tell.

Why does it work out so well for everyone else and mine has to be the one that doesn't work at all?? I know cycling takes ages and I was happy to wait 4-6 weeks for it to cycle, but it hasn't even started cycling and its been 3 weeks already! I was so excited to get my axolotl before xmas and now I don't even think i'll have it by then

Do you have a heater in your tank? Cycling happens the fastest when the water temp is kept at a constant 25 celsius. When I was cycling my tank I had a heater in, and then when the cycle was finished I took it out, did a 50% water change, turned on my chiller and then added axies once the tank was steady at 17 degrees. Warmer tanks cycle much faster.

Luca1980 said:

Do you have a heater in your tank? Cycling happens the fastest when the water temp is kept at a constant 25 celsius. When I was cycling my tank I had a heater in, and then when the cycle was finished I took it out, did a 50% water change, turned on my chiller and then added axies once the tank was steady at 17 degrees. Warmer tanks cycle much faster.

Click to expand...

Hey,

Yeah I stuck a heater in around 10 days ago and put it on 25C to speed things up, nothing happened

Sorry to hear that it's not going well.

This link relates to the fishless tank cycle method I've used fro fish and axie tanks
FISHLESS CYCLING - HOW TO DO IT | Think Fish Tropical Aquarium Forum
can you work out where you are on the cycle?
Did you test your water the day after adding the mature media? What was the result? Did you add any more ammonia? What happened?
What are your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings today?

Hopefully we should be able to get you sorted in time for you to still get your axolotl in time for Christmas.

Donna001 said:

Sorry to hear that it's not going well.

This link relates to the fishless tank cycle method I've used fro fish and axie tanks
FISHLESS CYCLING - HOW TO DO IT | Think Fish Tropical Aquarium Forum
can you work out where you are on the cycle?
Did you test your water the day after adding the mature media? What was the result? Did you add any more ammonia? What happened?
What are your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings today?

Hopefully we should be able to get you sorted in time for you to still get your axolotl in time for Christmas.

Click to expand...

Hi Donna,

I was definitely being a bit of a drama queen because I was frustrated when I posted that (my local aquarium randomly got leucistic babies in and i really didn't want to miss getting one!) but two days ago i added ammonia to 4ppm and today its gone down to 1ppm and i have a proper nitrite spike! I'm so happy its actually cycling! Essentially what i've learned from this is that I have the patience of a labrador waiting for dinner...

It must have been your media that finally kick started it, thanks so much again!