Having difficulties w/ cycling.

Cahand

Cahand

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I followed all of the cycling tips for my new axolotl tank and it is not working.

I have all of the plants, sand and everything in there, I added ammonia, and I added all of the correct amount of chemicals, but the ammonia nitrate and nitrite are all staying at 0. Does that mean it is done, or did I do something wrong?
Should I add more ammonia (I used brine shrimp)


Help!
 
Someone else should answer besides me, but I'm cycling my tank as well and I'm using pure ammonia. Like you get in the cleaning section or at a hardware store. (In needs to be pure ammonia, not with perfumes or other chemicals etc)

Use 4 drops per 10g until nitrite peaks, then use 2 drops per 10g. You can look up more information about it by googleing 'how to cycle an aquarium without fish' or similar.
I don't like using fish because it seems cruel. : ) Good luck!
 
If it was cycled you would have a reading of nitrate. What kind of test are you using? Liquid test kits are recommended, the strips can be inaccurate. If you used liquid tests try again. If it's the same results, perhaps you need to add more ammonia.
 
I am using the liquid testers. I test about twice a week.

So pretty much I should continue to add ammonia until the Nitrate rises.
Should I use something other than Brine shrimp?
 
Cahand said:
I am using the liquid testers. I test about twice a week.

So pretty much I should continue to add ammonia until the Nitrate rises.
Should I use something other than Brine shrimp?
Click to expand...

I added in pure ammonia from ace hardware store. I bought the ace brand for about $1.50. Since I have well water I ended up adding a quarter of a small spoon to the water to get a reading of 3.0. Plus removed the filter from my HOB. People on city water seem to need only 4-5 drops in 10 gal tank to get them started.
 
Brine shrimps wont be very effective, a bottle of pure ammonia (check the ingredients, should ONLY be ammonia, nothing else) will do the job fantastically!
And yes you need to keep it to 4ppm everyday until nitrAtes appear then keep it 1ppm or under until you add your axies, but dont add any ammonia the day your moving your axies and test to see if ammonia and nitrite are 0 fist.
Also when your tank has finished cycling, the nitrAte will probably be too high (40ppm is the max but the lower the better) so do a partial water change until it reads less than 40ppm
 
Oh my gosh, you guys helped me so much! Thank you ( :

Very appreciated!
 
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