Cycling problem!

J

jordan

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i have been cycling my tank now for 18 days, and i have a high ammonia, no nitrites and no nitrates. Can anyone tell me whats wrong, because at this rate my tank will take super long to complete its cycling. Any help or tips would be greatly appreciated.
 
I'm also having a problem with cycling.

Mine's been going for about 9 days and these are my readings:

PH - 7
Ammonia - 0.50
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 5.0

So far I haven't seen any Nitrite - why am I getting a Nitrate reading but no Nitrite?

Is it because I have added bacteria (cycle and active bacteria)? I didn't think that the bacteria would work, but it seems like it is.

So far I've put two cubes of frozen brine shrimp in my tank.

What sort of PH is correct for axolotls?

Am I doing this correctly?

Sorry that I don't have any answers for you Jordan - I'm just as confused as you with this cycling process!
 
What product are you guys using as a dechlorinator?

Have you added anything like ammo lock or a similar product?
 
you can dechlorinate water by either running a air stone in the bucket or container of water if you need it fast or you can leave the water in the container for a couple of days and the chlorine will come out we used these methods in marine tanks for sea horses for top the tanks up so get rid of chlorine was very important hope this helps
 
I'm using AquaPlus, which is to remove chlorine, chloramine and protects scales and fins (stress coat)

I haven't added any ammolock products, only dechlorinator, salts and bacteria.

Do you think my readings are right Cynthia?
 
Paul, this method only works if your local water treatment center uses chlorine. Most now use chloramines, which are easier to come by. Chloramines must be chemically treated.

Casey, I think your readings are probably about right, it's just taking a little longer to cycle. This will happen if it's cold, or you didn't have any bacteria to start with. The nitrates could have come from your ordinary tap water too. Did you do a baseline reading of your water before you started cycling?
 
i am using Aqua Safe. My readings are ammonia 4, nitrite 0, nitrate 0. I am on day 18! There has to be something wrong.
 
Cycling aquaria normally takes about 30 days but it can run 60 days or more in some circumstances (I personally have had tanks cycle in as short a time as two weeks and as long as 90 days). Unless the bacterial cultures contain Nitrospira then they will not increase the speed of the cycle. In addition, commercial bacterial cultures often contain nitrates which can be why there is a reading of nitrate without every showing signs of nitrite.

Ed
 
Jordan and Casey - If you have no axolotls in the tank you are cycling you could try adding a heater to the tank. I have found that this can help things along sometimes. I try to bring the temperature up to between 80 and 85. Again don't do this when there are axolotls in the tank.
 
sorry i did forget to mention that this is the method we have been told to use over here in west australia i did not know about the other countrys in the world sorry for any miss info
 
Is there any way to introduce the tank to nitrite? That would really help.
 
Nitrite will occur naturally as the second step of the cycle.

Ed
 
well yea i know that but its coming up on day 20 and i have seen no trace of nitrite at all so there has to be some way to speed up the process.
 
In my experience the more you mess with it the more it causes problems.
Before chytrid became so wide spread, mixing a slurry of water and moist dirt and filtering it through a coffee filter would give a cycle a huge jump start as the bacteria that feed on the wastes are found in the soil in much larger numbers.

Ed
 
Ok everybody, im going to give you the data i have collected, all of it, from day 4 to day 19 of my cycling. It starts at day 4 because that is when the ammonia just started.
Day 4- .25 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 0 nitrate
Day 5- .5 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 0 nitrate
Day 6- 1.5 ammonia, 0 nitrite 0 nitrate
Day 7- 2 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 0 nitrate
Day 8- 1 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 0 nitrate
Day 9- 3 ammonia, 0-.25 nitrite, 0 nitrate
day 10- 2 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 0 nitrate
Day 11- 1.5 ammonia, 0-.25 nitrite, 0 nitrate
Day 12- I didn't run tests
Day 13- 4 ammonia, 0-.25 nitrite, 2.5 nitrate
Day 14- I ran no tests
Day 15- 4+ ammonia, 0 nitrite, 0 nitrate
Day 16- 4 ammonia, i didn't test for nitrite or nitrate
Day 17- 2 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 0 nitrate
Day 18- I ran no tests
Day 19- 3-4 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 5 nitrate
Now do you see the problems my cycling must be encountering? Please help me because i don't want to have to cycle forever.
 
Hi everyone,

just a hint on chemical dechlorinators: in our german forum we don't use any of these products because most of them contain iodine which may trigger a metamorphosis on axolotl. To dechlorinate drinking water just fill the bucket with high water pressure (means let the water flow fast into the bucket, i'm not english...), leave it be for some time before you fill it into the tank or use an airstone.
As for your ammonia readings: there is a product in the market called "zeolith"; its some kind of stone used in ponds etc. These stones work as a catalyst on ammonium.

Greetings, Daniel
 
yea i can't get one of those, my readings today are killing me. This is day 20 and my readings are this, 8 ammonia!, 0-.25 nitrite, and 5 nitrate. PLEASE SOMEONE MUST KNOW HOW TO FINISH OFF THE AMMONIA!! THIS IS DAY 20!!!!! AMMONIA SHOULD BE THERE AND GONE IN LIKE 1.5 WEEKS! ITS COMING UP ON 3 WEEKS AND THE AMMONIA HAS REACHED AN ALL-TIME HIGH JUST NOW!!! HELP ME! THANKS!!
 
As I said above, cycling can occur rapidly or take much longer (actually 60 days is not that uncommon a length of time for a full cycling). You have to be patient.

Ed
 
Jordan, just be happy that your ammonia is going up now. Not every cycle is going to be a cookie-cutter copy. My tank took almost 3 months to cycle. Quit freaking out.

Daniel, as I said previously, this ONLY works on chlorine, and not on chlorine compounds. Few dechlorinators have iodine in them. Most of us here stick with products that we are sure work. Iodine also will not make most axolotls morph, as they have lost the ability to morph through selective breeding.
 
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