Tank Cycling

[eple]

Currently day three from having added flakes into a 180l tank and I haven't got a single reading yet, not even for ammonia.

Bought 22g of Sena flakes that were 50% off due to being half a year past their sell-by date. Also have frozen mosquito larvae, but don't know whether I should be using those for cycling.

Should probably mention that the tank has been up from scratch for five days with a bunch of live plants. Cranked the temperature up to 30C yesterday with no change. And I added a lot of flakes. Mostly crushed, some bigger. So there's quite a lot of it covering the substrate. This I did because I wondered whether the plants are using it up to that extent. Still no readings for ammonia.

For what it's worth, I've also been adding Seachem Stability every day since setting it up, which may well have been a waste. Also haven't done any water changes yet.

 

[Luca1980]

Forget the flakes - that is one of the most unreliable and inaccurate ways to cycle a tank and most foods are now designed to not release any/or very little ammonia. Get a bottled ammonia source (like 'Dr Tim's') and follow the instructions - takes all of the guesswork out of it. Invest in an API liquid test kit.

 

[eple]

Forget the flakes - that is one of the most unreliable and inaccurate ways to cycle a tank and most foods are now designed to not release any/or very little ammonia. Get a bottled ammonia source (like 'Dr Tim's') and follow the instructions - takes all of the guesswork out of it. Invest in an API liquid test kit.

Yeah, that seems to be the case.

If I can't find a bottled ammonia source from a local fish store, what should I settle for with food cycling?

Figure ordering a bottle would take weeks.

 

[Luca1980]

if you have a reliable local aquarium supply store, or even just a good pet store then bottled ammonia shouldn't be hard to find at all. I always use Dr Tim's when I am setting up a new tank.

Dr Tims Aquatics 60ml Ammonia Chloride - Aquarium Fishless Cycle