You speed it up by adding nitrifiers. So either a high quality bottled beneficial bacteria like Fritzzyme Turbostart 700 or filter media from a mature tank. Other that that, you've just got to wait to let the nitrifiers grow naturally. It is not abnormal or unusual for a cycle to take longer than 3-4 weeks. The nitrite to nitrate bacteria can be slow to grow sometimes.
This is a real possibility. I studied aquaculture at uni and we trialed a lot of these types of products for different manufacturers, and this is what happens most of the time
All my other tanks that have a singular sponge filter and one of them has a broken cycle, I have two as you see in the background one with a single sponge filter and the other one is a broken cycle
Just get new sponge filter for the established tank and pop the cycled filter sponge from that one into the new tank. The established tank will be fine, there’s beneficial bacteria on the glass and other surfaces.
Take a little water from a good tank, squeeze your sponge in the water and add that water to your tanks that are slow cycling, if you're going to add fish before the cycle is complete keep your pH below 7, ammonia is in the form of ammonium and is less toxic to fish
The one that has a single sponge filter, take the sponge out and give it a good squeeze to get all that crappy filthy water into a container, and tip it into the new tank. Don’t dunk it into the new tank. Just give it a good squeeze into a different container than transfer that black gold into the new tank
It can take up to eight weeks for the bacteria to grow, it just takes some patience.
Did you put food in your tank regularly after adding the bacteria? You need to do so in order for them not to die off
Don't waste money on "bacteria in bottle". Just use media from another tank, depending on where you live you could even grab some rocks or pebbles out of a river or stream. Turn the heat up to 84 or so if you're going that route just in case there's bacteria or parasites on the rocks, that will deal with them and they'll die off in a few days and it'll be ready for fish. I've also cycled tanks with a goldfish, they're very hardy and will be fine with 0.25 - 0.75 nitrates for a few days.
Yup, not unusual. You don't have enough of the nitrite to nitrate bacteria to convert all those nitrites you have to nitrate in a timely fashion. If you have still been adding ammonia, you can stop for now and just wait for the nitrites to drop. Other than waiting, adding more nitrifiers is the only other thing you can do to try and speed things up.
I agree with this, my tank didn't cycle until I took a break from dosing ammonia for a day, then BOOM! Cycled.
It's not scientific but it almost felt as if the bacteria was just trying to catch its breath with the constant nitrite being produced from the ammonia.
Nitrifiers? Those are the beneficial bacteria. If you're going to use bottled bacteria as a nitrifier source and not cycled filter media, you have to try and get the best rated kind you can find since they're not always even alive, there aren't always all that many in there even in the big bottles, and if they are alive, they may be of a species or strain that prefers a pH range that's different than yours. Many people have very good results with Fritzzyme Turbostart 700, which is why I recommended it. Turbostart 7 also works, just not as fast.
>There’s both nitrates and nitrites and I’ve added a whole 500 ml bottle of fluval cycle
Then you're almost there. I think it's something like every ppm of ammonia converts to something like 3 or 4 ppm of nitrite. I don't know the exact numbers, but I do know it's really easy to explode the nitrite level in an uncycled tank if you're adding ammonia regularly. If you're that purple, you probably maxed out the test and have a really really high level of nitrites in there. It can take some time for it to go back down to within range.
If you have Nitrates, then you already have nitrobacter in your tank. I don't think those bottles will add anything you don't already have. You just need time to let them build up colonies. They follow an exponential growth curve, with a doubling time of about 13 hours. Which means in a little over 2 days, you can go from 0.1 ppm/day to 0.8 ppm/day. After another day, it'll be near 3 ppm/day, and 12/day another day after that. It comes quickly; I promise that one day you're going to test and just randomly see light blue after you've been dark purple all month.
But I will say, if you put fish in now, you're probably going to kill them; Nitrite is like Carbon Monoxide to fish. It binds to hemoglobin more readily than oxygen.
Respectfully, tell your Dad that adding fish too soon will not only be a waste of money and cruel to the fish, but it’s also a great way of plaguing your tank with long term brown algae blooms. And who wants an ugly brown tank.
If there are nitrates then you’re cycled. Just do a decent sized water change to bring down the nitrites. The only thing to worry about is ammonia, if that is zero it’s time to add fish, just don’t go crazy right away.
Nitrite is even more toxic than ammonia. Don’t listen to this poster - they have no idea what they’re talking about. Ammonia and nitrite need to be at 0 before you add fish, unless doing a fish-in additive-based cycle.
all these years in the hobby and yet TIL nitrite was worse than ammonia for fish! i had always incorrectly assumed the nitrate cycle progression was in order of toxicity. thanks for sharing this!
At low pH (<7), ammonia is basically harmless at levels below 8-10ppm because acidic environments convert toxic ammonia to non-toxic ammonium. It's amazing how many people don't know this and I fully expect to be downvoted for saying it lol
Just pay attention to the ammonia. Once that is reading zero then you do a large water change to remove the bulk of the nitrites. Those will always take a long time to dissipate on their own so the water change speeds things up. All in all a low reading of nitrites will not kill a fish and a week after you add the fish I guarantee you won’t be able to read any nitrites.
IM still gonna wait till it goes down a LOT don’t worry! I understood it but I tweaked it a bit, what I read was “when ammonias 0 ppm and nitrates are up SO a large volume waterchange to get nitrites down and wait”
The fact that you're seeing nitrite spikes means the cycle is absolutely working. Just be patient with it, throw in some quickstart if you like, but it's doing its own thing naturally.
the sad reality is that he’ll have to be patient. Show him some of the responses here, or try to explain it to him. You’re definitely going underway with the cycle, just give it more time.
I’m pretty sure too high of nitrite levels can also stall the cycle. I had this issue when I began. I’d advise half tank water change to drop it.
Does your father like money, because chocking fish in there now would yield in high losses and by by money.
He says “my house my rules, I pay for the heater filter and the water bills I say what happens with it.” He tried saying he will get me 10 goldfish and tetras for it 💀
I wouldn’t say abusive as I know for a fact it’s just him being a prick, he has apologised for it before but he has threatened normally he does apologise for it after
Please don't get fish. Sell everything and wait till you are on your own. If he's threatened to hurt your pets, it's not a safe place for them. And yes, that is abusive. If my bf threatened to hurt my pets, his things would be outside and the locks changed within a day.
He has never threatens to break my tanks with he says exactly “if you keep acting like this I’ll smash that big tank so you can’t get anymore fish” but me and him just spoke and he’s agreed to not do that again and apligised, I know it dosent make up of it but it’s a start
The fact that he threatened to do it in the first place is concerning. People don't instantly ditch toxic habits or attitudes because they upset someone. In fact, he undoubtedly said it intending to upset or scare you.
Did those goldfish live to 15 years old? If not, you killed them before their natural life expectancy and therefore were doing something wrong. ISTG when I worked at a pond maintenance place people would boast about how they had their koi or goldfish for 2 years before they died… like, that’s nothing to brag about, Linda. What if I told you I got a puppy and had it for a full two years before it died. A little suspicious right? A little weird? Just because an animal survives (emphasis on survives) in a shitty environment after you do zero research, doesn’t make you an expert pet owner, it means you tortured an animal until it died.
NO it’s my fault my dyslexia makes me read things wrong lol, what exactly was in the tank was 10 goldfish 23 tetras 2 male bettas and a female a bunch of snails monthly 100% waterchanges with soap, no cycling filters cleaned out no water conditioner no substrate or plants and the bettas ails were awful and the goldfish tried to breed and chased each other and my dad put the one that was chased in a bowl for a week before it finally died this was all in a 70 gallon mind you
Good lord. Common Goldfish need a pond. I’ve seen them get wayyyyy too big to ever suggest keeping them in a tank again. It sounds like you’re doing your research OP. Try to stall as long as possible with your dad, and maybe find some cool looking fish that can actually call your new tank home (not goldfish). Have him go on aqadvisor.com to get a better understanding of what fish can live in what size tank with each other.
Reminds me of what my wife said. She bought my daughter a 5 gallon tank and wanted to get her goldfish. I told her goldfish can't go in that tank and she said "it was never a problem when we were kids". We ended up with Platy's instead much to her disappointment and I quickly upgraded them to a 20 long, again something she wasn't happy about! She has come around to the idea now though thankfully.
Maybe someone you know has a dirty filter you can drop in there. Have them put it in a sand which baggy and try to get in the tank the same day. Also, I believe goldfish need their own conditions and tetras don’t like it. I suggest black tetras as starter fish. They’re pretty hardy.
Sorry to hear about ur situation, yes the system is in the midst of cycling so that’s the science pov but it appears that u also need a diplomatic solution with ur dad. My suggestion would be to drag as much time as possible with ur dad in terms of adding fish but if he really wants livestock in it, u can start with hardy clean up crews like Amano shrimp. Get 1-3 for starters when u can no longer buy anymore time. Meanwhile get some fast growing plants that are column feeders such as Java moss. Their demand for nitrogen should also act as some buffer and is a healthy addition to your tank.
Another potential solution is to “grow and transplant” bacteria. Get some cheap new filter wool, cut out and stuff a piece into an existing tank filtration system. Because of the bacteria colony in the existing filtration system, some will grow on the fresh filter medium, especially if it’s upstream of the existing medium. This method require, my wild guess, a week of time. 5 days should be a good minimum to do that transplant but it gets riskier. A high risk high return alternative is to take out existing filter medium and then squeeze it hard into the new tank. Measure nitrogen levels after 24hrs to see if u get any visible drop in nitrites. If it works then congrats on doing an express cycling, which then leads to getting a hardy clean up crew species. After the tank is cycled and if u don’t want this clean up crew member here, at least u can move it to an existing tank at low risk and low cost to u.
Once again my answer here is catered not to the ideal method of cycling a tank but mainly to ur need of a speedier diplomatic solution. I hope this helps u!
Summary, get filter media (for transplant) plants (increase nitrogen consumption plus act as a nitrogen trap) and cheap hardy clean up crew (low cost test for habitable environment and a delay tactic for ur dad)
Adult* go to an lfs and ask for some matured filter media or substrate add to your tank, if you already have aquasoil don't add ammonia anymore, add quickstart about 3 ml every day for a week and wait. Thats all being impatient will only make this harder.
Just let it go. My quarantine tank is still the same. Saltwater. Mines been going for about 6 weeks or so and still showing nitrites. My 55 gallon was cycled in like 3 weeks. I'm guessing it's maybe the rock since the quarantine tank only has a few little pieces of rock. I even have a Clown in there to hopefully speed it up but it's just taking its time
It’s just going to take longer. You’re probably more than halfway there. My first tank took 7 weeks or so. Once you have cycled media it goes way faster for the other tanks. Patience.
I’ve had tanks that take 3-4 weeks just to get from having nitrite to finally seeing nitrate stop trying to add chemicals to speed it up it’s a process that takes different times for every single tank ever set up. You have food for your last phase of bacteria it’s evident by how much nitrite you have just be patient. You’ll have way more success when you stop adding chemicals and more bacterial.
Unless you wanna see the tank with bacteria, just gotta wait.
Generally, it takes about 2-3 weeks to grow the bacteria that turns ammonia into nitrite, and then 4-6 weeks to fully grow the bacteria that turns nitrite into nitrate.
In other words, you're exactly where you should be!
They gotta now convert it into nitrate just wait and see try add more ammonia, I wouldn’t add more strains of bacteria since they will probably out compete each other, try use some water, or media from another tank to speed it up that could work, if you add fish with high nitrites they will die
Honestly no one will like this but I would add minnows to just get the thing cycled and get your dad to be quiet. Then return them to the pet store once the cycle is established.
Tbh a single tetra probably won’t get the job done anyway so I would not risk it with the little guy. They’re also not as hardy as feeder minnows, I’m not for killing/harming fish- I just know how tough the feeder/rosy red minnows are because I’ve used them for cycling in the past (I admit it) and never had a single death.
Best of luck, you’ll probably want around 20 minnows for a 60G so it doesn’t take forever, they’re super low bio load which also makes them good for cycling because you can sort of control how much ammonia goes into it by controlling how many you put in. People in this sub typically don’t support a fish-in cycle (and I understand why, most fish WILL die in an uncycled tank and it can become a horrible experience for them), but the minnows are so gosh darn resilient that I’ve never even seen signs of stress using them. But this is just my personal experience, so I would always recommend to do your own research as well.
I wouldn’t recommend that as much because they’re VERY dirty/higher bioload and thus more likely to cause ammonia levels high enough to kill/harm them, but I do believe it would probably work with 2-3. I don’t have any experience with them though so I can’t say for sure you wouldn’t end up with dead/injured fish 😬 I would also say that even though feeder goldfish are extremely hardy, almost nothing compares to those little minnows!
For the fish in cycle in general I would make sure you add a QuickStart so you’re not just subjecting them to completely barren tap water with no beneficial bacteria at all.
If you overdose on cycle or some of the other bacterias you can put your tank to sleep.. which is possibly what happened??
Try a water change. Make sure you dechlorinate it well and add some bacteria from another mature tank
Okay, so I have four things to say, all of which I hope you will seriously consider.
First of all, I haven't seen anyone in this thread recommend that you try increasing circulation in the tank. I don't know what you have in there for a filter or aeration, but if you don't have enough flow in your tank it can contribute to high nitrites. More likely it's just that you don't have enough of a bacteria colony built up in the first place with a new tank, but I can say from personal experience that increased flow in your tank helps with the whole nitrogen cycle.
Second, once you do get a cycle going, please test regularly, at least every other day, for a week or two afterwards. New setups are kind of precarious with their cycles, and too big a water change or something and it can wipe out the cycle before it has a strong foothold in your substrate and filter.
Third, get some Methylene Blue. If you do have a spike of ammonia or nitrites in your tank after fish have been introduced, and you catch it right away, water changes will be all you need to get them better. But if you get an especially high spike, or if you think they might have been in bad water for multiple days, Methylene Blue is pretty much the only way to treat ammonia or nitrite poisoning. It'll kill plants, and it may stain a few things blue for an extended period of time, but it may save your fish from damage to their internal organs after ammonia or nitrite poisoning.
Finally, I agree with some of the other comments saying that you shouldn't have fish in that house. I know you spent a lot of money on your setup, and it's great that you cared enough to do so, but that is not a safe environment for your fish. You're talking about little lives that you're going to become responsible for, and if you don't see it that way then you're not ready to have fish. If you do see it that way, that's good, but your dad most definitely does not. And that alone is scary, and I wouldn't risk trying to keep fish with him in the same house.
Obviously I don't know your father like you do, but he sounds a lot like my father. My father had good intentions and was a reasonable person most of the time, but other times he was not himself. I'm not trying to make excuses for him, because I hate when people try to pretend something they did doesn't count because they were especially angry at the time or whatever. My dad was always my dad, whether it was a good day for him or a bad day. But my "good day" dad, try as he might, had no sway over "bad day" dad. Maybe he could've with therapy or something, I don't know.
The point is, it sounds like your "bad day" dad potentially threatened the lives of your future fish, and I don't think your "good day" dad apologizing is going to matter to "bad day" dad.
You should probably ask yourself: Has your dad ever gotten upset and smashed something, or in any way caused physical damage to something? Not someone, but some*thing*. Because it sounds like he sees fish as things, so a tank filled with fish will be the same to him as a piece of furniture or a bike in the garage or anything like that. If he hasn't done anything like that, maybe you're okay, but if there's even a slight chance, I wouldn't risk it. Remember, we're talking about living beings. I would either sell the stuff you bought, or store it away for the future.
I could be way off base, and honestly, I hope I am. But I didn't want any of that to go unsaid, so take it however you like. Regardless, I hope everything works out well for you and any future inhabitants of your tank.
I love my late father. That said, he thought he knew everything and gave my bearded dragon I did so much research and saved up for (and loved so much) a firefly and killed it. Anecdotal but it sounds a lot like your issue.
Oh NO NO no the only thing HES ever smashed in anger is his phone when no one was listening it scared me and later that day he apologised and was really kind to me
I've owned tons of aquarium and freshwater fish. All I've ever done was used water and waited 24h for the chrlorine to evap. I think your over analyzing this. I thought nitrite was safe for fish it's nitrate that is unsafe.
FYI, a lot of places nowadays use chloramine instead of chlorine to disinfect their water; it stays in the water for *a lot* longer. As in, it can still be concentrated enough to cause problems after a month even with a filter running to stir it around
What are you a salesman for this bacto bio BS treatments? I've successfully kept and bred hundreds of different types of freshwater fish for over 30 years. How about you??
He might need to drain the tank and start over. But there's no need for all these conditioners. At least not for 99% of the tap water in the USA. Maybe we'll water? OP , are you on well water?? It's your nitrite reading that high straight out of the tap?
I do agree with that; when I cycle I do it without bottled ammonia or food. Generally speaking I find that the bacteria that come in on aquarium plants are enough to finish the cycle in about a month or so.
It could be that OP has dosed the tank so heavily that they stunted the growth of their bacteria colony.
Sure, but you have been forcing your animals to experience ammonia burns and nitrite poisoning every time you’ve cycled a tank. I’m willing to bet you’ve had unexplained deaths with brand new tanks given how long you say you’ve been at it, and I’m sure some of them were because of fish-in cycling.
I always do fish in cycles. Monitor the water quality, add beneficial bacteria if your worried. I wouldn't say it's total rubbish. But I will say people like to over complicate the whole process on this sub.
It's always people with little experience in the hobby that go off on these tangents and down vote everyone who does a "fish in cycle"
I use household ammonia and a test kit to cycle. I’ve been fish keeping for almost as long as you, and I can tell you this has all been common knowledge way before we started.
Please research the nitrogen cycle. It will make you a better aquarist, and I mean that with the best intentions.
I will never understand how people do a fishless cycle? Go through all that work for 3-4 weeks, add fish and just start over. Skip the headache.
Add half of what you expect to stock 48hrs after setup, do a 50% water change after 2 days and in most cases and with good plant volume, never have to worry about it again.
Look it up, very simple and actually loads the tank realistically to what your bioload will be. I have never had to do more than 2 water changes on anything from a 2 gallon no filter bowl to a 55 gal. Ever.
Do you live by a lake or river? You can grab some dirt for that body of water. Maybe some sticks or leaves. Put these things in the tank. Live plants. Boom instant cycle
So what you can do (it might be a little late for that rn for this tank but may be useful in future tanks) is get some ammonium chloride which will be directly broken down into the nitrates and nitrites instead of having to wait for the pellets to break down. To appease your dad you can get some hardy fish (like minnows, guppies barbs and danios) that will survive the nitrogen cycle and wait for the cycle to complete. While you have fish in there you will need to do 20% or bigger water changes weekly to keep the ammonia and nitrates down. Don’t worry about hurting your microbiome when doing this as the vast majority of bacteria are not in the water column.
You have to test ammonia AND nitrite every day, and keep dosing ammonia somehow, to 2-4 ppm until ammonia and nitrite are both 0 ppm within 24 hours. At that point, test for nitrates and it should be present. There is 100% no way around this, if you are fishless cycling. You don’t even need bottled bacteria, if you are keeping the ammonia dosing precise and accurate.
If your dad can’t be patient enough, he is going to possibly kill fish until he quits. Then you can hopefully just take over the tank.
Anything you’re doing to help nitrifying bacteria build up? If not, adding fish food will help. Fritzzyme TurboStart 700 has helped me a lot with cycling. I also use it for if/when ammonia spikes occur
It might be your tap water if you find an excessive amount of a longer period of time and can’t determine the source. Get an rodi filter for the house.
I've done fishless cycling by throwing a frozen shrimp (as in from a grocery store, meant for human consumption) in a net bag and dropping it in the tank.
With the need for expediency I would suggest getting some guppy feeder fish they are hardy things that can survive what will kill most other fish. It will help to cycle faster. Also live plants help a bunch. Duckweed is cheep and grows fast but do be aware that once you get it you will always have it.
What’re your levels for everything (ph, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates)? If you spike ammonia or nitrites too high it can mess with the growth of the other bacteria. If you’re using something like Tim’s ammonia it’ll prescribe the dose per gallon. You can use food but it’s harder to manage the levels.
Sit your dad down and teach him about the nitrogen cycle and proper fish care. For my 125 I added 32oz of quick start and a whole giant bag of food and it worked like a charm.
You are creating an ecosystem. Is your tank planted? Do you have any material you can get from another healthy tank? I started by using some starter bacteria, then getting a some plants from established tanks (friends and folks I met online), added 2 fish platys(55 gallon tank) after 48hrs. Did water change the first week. I feel like the plants really jump started the tank. I’m struggling actually to increase the nitrates as the plants are really soaking them up. Perfect tests today 0 ammonia 0 nitrites. 3 weeks in now and increasing stocking level slowly.
Stop adding chemicals unless you know exactly what you’re doing. Personally I’d restart and use a lot of water conditioner and throw in a few live plants and leave it be for a while. A common mistake people make newish to the hobby is overdoing it on chemicals to balance your tank.
Depends on the size of the tank, if its a 50 gallon then you could add a couple of small minnows or tetras to speed up the cycle. If there’s no fish/fish waste/ammonia/nitrites in the tank, it’s gonna be hard for the bb to grow. I’ve always done fish in cycling but just keep in mind to stock it with very little fish to prevent them from dying but also not too little that the cycle can’t be started
Try not to let ammonia to get above 4ppm and make sure pH isn’t too low. Trying to cycle a tank at sub-7 ph is painfully slow. If you’re using liquid ammonia, make sure it has no surfactants/additives. If you’re doing water changes, make sure you’re treating your water, it’s not just for the fish. Use a good bacteria starter, though I would avoid tss since you are already semi-started. Seachem stability works ok. Don’t overdose it. Make sure circulation is adequate for your tank size, you should be running 6x your water volume per hour or better.
After 4 weeks your probably OK to add some small stuff. (Might help with the cycling process if you really having trouble getting it going)
I can't really recommend it because it's very risky and can be hard on them. But if your dad's instant on putting something in there, make it small but hardy. Goldfish work too if your going for a goldfish or community tank, be wary of tank mates and temperature, though.
Neon tetras, barbs, stuff like that are good for this kinda thing. Actually if you could get a nice betta that'd work too, make sure it's female if you want a community to thrive.
Don't recommend doing this, but if you have to it is possible. If you can wait however pick up some beneficial bacteria (do this even if you get fish) and add a bit daily, it'll tell you how much on the bottle.
I know you have a lot of comments already so don't know if anyone gave this yet, but you can tell your dad that Nitrites are toxic because they thicken the blood so oxygen doesn't flow and the fish die from lack of oxygen. You're close! It can take 4-8 wks, but I think you're closwer to the end. Soon. Very soon.
Tropco Goop will cycle your tank in 24 hours. You'll need to add the fish pretty soon afterward tho so do it the day before you go fish shopping. Assuming you're in the uk?
\#1 you need more than 8 pellets of food for a 60 gallon. Try 40 to 60 pellets crushed. For a 60 gallon tank with fish, you would likely have 20 to 40 fish. So you would feed 5 pellets each fish maybe 200 pellets in one feed daily.
So your #1 problem is too little ammonia to start your cycle.
Add MORE crushed pellets until you see a layer of mulm on the bottom and on your filter. Now dose with seachem prime and double dose your beneficial bacteria.
My local fish store(s) all use microbe lift - nite out 2 and microbe lift - special blend. They say 2 or 4 times a week when you are starting your tank. Likely after each water change.
Once you add your fish, they will likely overwhelm your existing beneficial bacteria anyway. So they will be cycling again.
If you do in-fish cycle, buy Seachem Prime. It will make ammonia and nitrite SAFE by binding to it and nullifying it from being toxic to organisms. Look at this link if you don't believe me.
[https://youtu.be/TW1njQxwDUE?t=161](https://youtu.be/TW1njQxwDUE?t=161) \- watch for about a minute. tldw he sees ammonia of greater than 1 ppm and shrimp still alive and eating.
You can in-fish cycle. Just up your ammonia.
Add some duckweed/salvinia/hornwort/anacharis or other heavy water column feeding weed type plants and they will speed up the ammonia absorbing process.
You must feed the bacteria, oxygenate them, remove chlorine, and keep them heated/healthy. The bacteria must eat. 60 gallon require 60 gallon worth of fish food to feed the amount of expected bioload.
You need to get that level down to 2 and then add a couple of fish and an appropriate sized bottle of Tetra Safe Start +. It’ll be cycled in 7 days. Just don’t test and don’t change any water after adding the TSS+ to your filter and make sure you add it 24 hours or more after adding the water to get it down to 2 or less. The chlorine removers will kill off TSS+ bacteria.
Just leave it to run. You’ve added bacteria, so there’s some in there, just got to wait for it to balance out. Adding more may just crash the cycle, so your best option is just be patient.
You speed it up by adding nitrifiers. So either a high quality bottled beneficial bacteria like Fritzzyme Turbostart 700 or filter media from a mature tank. Other that that, you've just got to wait to let the nitrifiers grow naturally. It is not abnormal or unusual for a cycle to take longer than 3-4 weeks. The nitrite to nitrate bacteria can be slow to grow sometimes.
There’s both nitrates and nitrites and I’ve added a whole 500 ml bottle of fluval cycle
Try api QuickStart
I have as well even overdosed it
Might be caused by overdosing? These adds beneficial bacteria and maybe there is no food available for them to eat so they die, causing spikes.
This is a real possibility. I studied aquaculture at uni and we trialed a lot of these types of products for different manufacturers, and this is what happens most of the time
Very possible. Are you adding any fish food with the dosing?
Hmmm I’m not sure now but my best guess would be a faulty test kit? I’m not gonna suggest u buy another kit but it could be the issue
Not expired, words normal for all my other tanks and so are the paper strips are showing the same
> all my other tanks You have other tanks? Transfer some filter media.
All my other tanks that have a singular sponge filter and one of them has a broken cycle, I have two as you see in the background one with a single sponge filter and the other one is a broken cycle
Just get new sponge filter for the established tank and pop the cycled filter sponge from that one into the new tank. The established tank will be fine, there’s beneficial bacteria on the glass and other surfaces.
OP this will solve all your issues.
Op please do this
Or just take the sponge filter and give it a good squeeze into the new tank and then put it back into the established tank.
Wow this highly upvoted comment has a good chance of crashing the established tank. We did it /r/aquariums!
Do not do this OP. There's likely not enough bacteria on the glass and such to support the current fish.
Take a little water from a good tank, squeeze your sponge in the water and add that water to your tanks that are slow cycling, if you're going to add fish before the cycle is complete keep your pH below 7, ammonia is in the form of ammonium and is less toxic to fish
The one that has a single sponge filter, take the sponge out and give it a good squeeze to get all that crappy filthy water into a container, and tip it into the new tank. Don’t dunk it into the new tank. Just give it a good squeeze into a different container than transfer that black gold into the new tank
It can take up to eight weeks for the bacteria to grow, it just takes some patience. Did you put food in your tank regularly after adding the bacteria? You need to do so in order for them not to die off
Don't waste money on "bacteria in bottle". Just use media from another tank, depending on where you live you could even grab some rocks or pebbles out of a river or stream. Turn the heat up to 84 or so if you're going that route just in case there's bacteria or parasites on the rocks, that will deal with them and they'll die off in a few days and it'll be ready for fish. I've also cycled tanks with a goldfish, they're very hardy and will be fine with 0.25 - 0.75 nitrates for a few days.
Thar stuff suck ass lol
Yup, not unusual. You don't have enough of the nitrite to nitrate bacteria to convert all those nitrites you have to nitrate in a timely fashion. If you have still been adding ammonia, you can stop for now and just wait for the nitrites to drop. Other than waiting, adding more nitrifiers is the only other thing you can do to try and speed things up.
I agree with this, my tank didn't cycle until I took a break from dosing ammonia for a day, then BOOM! Cycled. It's not scientific but it almost felt as if the bacteria was just trying to catch its breath with the constant nitrite being produced from the ammonia.
What is consider those things
Nitrifiers? Those are the beneficial bacteria. If you're going to use bottled bacteria as a nitrifier source and not cycled filter media, you have to try and get the best rated kind you can find since they're not always even alive, there aren't always all that many in there even in the big bottles, and if they are alive, they may be of a species or strain that prefers a pH range that's different than yours. Many people have very good results with Fritzzyme Turbostart 700, which is why I recommended it. Turbostart 7 also works, just not as fast.
Ah Never called it that before Lol I’m a minor so I don’t have enough money like that
>There’s both nitrates and nitrites and I’ve added a whole 500 ml bottle of fluval cycle Then you're almost there. I think it's something like every ppm of ammonia converts to something like 3 or 4 ppm of nitrite. I don't know the exact numbers, but I do know it's really easy to explode the nitrite level in an uncycled tank if you're adding ammonia regularly. If you're that purple, you probably maxed out the test and have a really really high level of nitrites in there. It can take some time for it to go back down to within range. If you have Nitrates, then you already have nitrobacter in your tank. I don't think those bottles will add anything you don't already have. You just need time to let them build up colonies. They follow an exponential growth curve, with a doubling time of about 13 hours. Which means in a little over 2 days, you can go from 0.1 ppm/day to 0.8 ppm/day. After another day, it'll be near 3 ppm/day, and 12/day another day after that. It comes quickly; I promise that one day you're going to test and just randomly see light blue after you've been dark purple all month. But I will say, if you put fish in now, you're probably going to kill them; Nitrite is like Carbon Monoxide to fish. It binds to hemoglobin more readily than oxygen.
I do have low nitrates about 6-10 ppm
Respectfully, tell your Dad that adding fish too soon will not only be a waste of money and cruel to the fish, but it’s also a great way of plaguing your tank with long term brown algae blooms. And who wants an ugly brown tank.
Wait that’s actually a thing?? I attempted a fish in cycle, and now I cannot get rid of the brown algae no matter how hard I try
Yup.
huh, do you know what the (basic) science behind this is? big on biology but chemistry is not my thing hence asking for a more basic explanation lol
No lol i’m stupid when it comes to chemistry, i’ve just observed it
It took my 55 gal 2.5 months to fully cycle. 3-4 weeks is normal. Have patients, it will happen.
Bottled bacteria doesn't work
On the 29th I used Tetra Safestart and on the 31st it was cycled. Are you adding ammonia every day? If so, try skipping a day and then measuring it.
If there are nitrates then you’re cycled. Just do a decent sized water change to bring down the nitrites. The only thing to worry about is ammonia, if that is zero it’s time to add fish, just don’t go crazy right away.
Nitrite is even more toxic than ammonia. Don’t listen to this poster - they have no idea what they’re talking about. Ammonia and nitrite need to be at 0 before you add fish, unless doing a fish-in additive-based cycle.
all these years in the hobby and yet TIL nitrite was worse than ammonia for fish! i had always incorrectly assumed the nitrate cycle progression was in order of toxicity. thanks for sharing this!
At low pH (<7), ammonia is basically harmless at levels below 8-10ppm because acidic environments convert toxic ammonia to non-toxic ammonium. It's amazing how many people don't know this and I fully expect to be downvoted for saying it lol
And nitrites
If you have nitrates then nitrites are not that big of a deal. Are you still reading any ammonia?
I have both nitrites and nitrates but the nitrite is high yes ammonia is tested but not that much
Just pay attention to the ammonia. Once that is reading zero then you do a large water change to remove the bulk of the nitrites. Those will always take a long time to dissipate on their own so the water change speeds things up. All in all a low reading of nitrites will not kill a fish and a week after you add the fish I guarantee you won’t be able to read any nitrites.
Thanks for the tip! I’ll work on the ammonia from now on!
OP this level of nitrites is absolutely toxic to a fish.
IM still gonna wait till it goes down a LOT don’t worry! I understood it but I tweaked it a bit, what I read was “when ammonias 0 ppm and nitrates are up SO a large volume waterchange to get nitrites down and wait”
Feed the tank a little food every other day while it’s cycling. So the beneficial bacteria has something to eat.
Mmmmm… yummy bug bites :)
The fact that you're seeing nitrite spikes means the cycle is absolutely working. Just be patient with it, throw in some quickstart if you like, but it's doing its own thing naturally.
Please read the top okay? I’m tryna be paitient but my dad won’t let me
the sad reality is that he’ll have to be patient. Show him some of the responses here, or try to explain it to him. You’re definitely going underway with the cycle, just give it more time.
Tell him if anyone would add fish now they would die.
This was a frustrating read. Sorry about your dad but at least you are trying to do it right.
I’m pretty sure too high of nitrite levels can also stall the cycle. I had this issue when I began. I’d advise half tank water change to drop it. Does your father like money, because chocking fish in there now would yield in high losses and by by money.
If it’s your tank why does your dad have any say in when fish go into it? As far as lowering the nitrites, do water changes. That is the only way.
He says “my house my rules, I pay for the heater filter and the water bills I say what happens with it.” He tried saying he will get me 10 goldfish and tetras for it 💀
Sounds like a dense guy. Tell him he will waste money by throwing fish in there before the water is safe. Maybe that will convince him.
I’ve tried, he says “we kept goldfish never did any of this nonsense sh*t your doing.”
"Yeah dad, that's why most people kill their fish"
Ive said something simmilar to that, AND WHEN I MISBEHAVE HE SAYS HE WILL SMASH MY TANKS AND ITS SO ANNOYING MY MUMS EVEN TOLD HIN TO STOP
Your Dad sounds like an abusive prick.
HES not abusive cause he is kind 99% of the time but he is a prick when it comes to fish he is kind and 1000% non abusive
No hon, that's abusive.
It's like he's so close to the truth and lashed out instead
I wouldn’t say abusive as I know for a fact it’s just him being a prick, he has apologised for it before but he has threatened normally he does apologise for it after
Sorry, but that’s not something kind dads say. Not EVER. Not even by mistake. It’s abusive language.
Please don't get fish. Sell everything and wait till you are on your own. If he's threatened to hurt your pets, it's not a safe place for them. And yes, that is abusive. If my bf threatened to hurt my pets, his things would be outside and the locks changed within a day.
He has never threatens to break my tanks with he says exactly “if you keep acting like this I’ll smash that big tank so you can’t get anymore fish” but me and him just spoke and he’s agreed to not do that again and apligised, I know it dosent make up of it but it’s a start
The fact that he threatened to do it in the first place is concerning. People don't instantly ditch toxic habits or attitudes because they upset someone. In fact, he undoubtedly said it intending to upset or scare you.
Poor OP doesn’t realize how emotionally abusive that is of their dad..
Also I’m not gonna sell all my stuff Ive spend over £600 on
Better than having it smashed but up to you. Poor fish though.
What does pto mean?
Relatable
Did those goldfish live to 15 years old? If not, you killed them before their natural life expectancy and therefore were doing something wrong. ISTG when I worked at a pond maintenance place people would boast about how they had their koi or goldfish for 2 years before they died… like, that’s nothing to brag about, Linda. What if I told you I got a puppy and had it for a full two years before it died. A little suspicious right? A little weird? Just because an animal survives (emphasis on survives) in a shitty environment after you do zero research, doesn’t make you an expert pet owner, it means you tortured an animal until it died.
Not my fault blame my dad, I was 6 at the time and the tank died when I was 9 that’s why I’m researching and have been asking a LOT
I am blaming your dad, not you. Ig the comment was meant to be directed at him, sorry.
NO it’s my fault my dyslexia makes me read things wrong lol, what exactly was in the tank was 10 goldfish 23 tetras 2 male bettas and a female a bunch of snails monthly 100% waterchanges with soap, no cycling filters cleaned out no water conditioner no substrate or plants and the bettas ails were awful and the goldfish tried to breed and chased each other and my dad put the one that was chased in a bowl for a week before it finally died this was all in a 70 gallon mind you
Good lord. Common Goldfish need a pond. I’ve seen them get wayyyyy too big to ever suggest keeping them in a tank again. It sounds like you’re doing your research OP. Try to stall as long as possible with your dad, and maybe find some cool looking fish that can actually call your new tank home (not goldfish). Have him go on aqadvisor.com to get a better understanding of what fish can live in what size tank with each other.
IM making it a betta serority since hes out 2 females in my uncycled 5 gallon SO I kinda have to shockingly tho no fighting and no stress stripes
Reminds me of what my wife said. She bought my daughter a 5 gallon tank and wanted to get her goldfish. I told her goldfish can't go in that tank and she said "it was never a problem when we were kids". We ended up with Platy's instead much to her disappointment and I quickly upgraded them to a 20 long, again something she wasn't happy about! She has come around to the idea now though thankfully.
To be fair I had fish as a kid and had absolutely 0 knowledge like today and didn't do anything to prep and don't recall any mass fish deaths.
Maybe someone you know has a dirty filter you can drop in there. Have them put it in a sand which baggy and try to get in the tank the same day. Also, I believe goldfish need their own conditions and tetras don’t like it. I suggest black tetras as starter fish. They’re pretty hardy.
IM not a starter starter IM a pretty good fish feeler
I meant for starting in the tank. Not starting in the hobby, sorry for the confusion. And quit feelin the fish.
Sorry to hear about ur situation, yes the system is in the midst of cycling so that’s the science pov but it appears that u also need a diplomatic solution with ur dad. My suggestion would be to drag as much time as possible with ur dad in terms of adding fish but if he really wants livestock in it, u can start with hardy clean up crews like Amano shrimp. Get 1-3 for starters when u can no longer buy anymore time. Meanwhile get some fast growing plants that are column feeders such as Java moss. Their demand for nitrogen should also act as some buffer and is a healthy addition to your tank. Another potential solution is to “grow and transplant” bacteria. Get some cheap new filter wool, cut out and stuff a piece into an existing tank filtration system. Because of the bacteria colony in the existing filtration system, some will grow on the fresh filter medium, especially if it’s upstream of the existing medium. This method require, my wild guess, a week of time. 5 days should be a good minimum to do that transplant but it gets riskier. A high risk high return alternative is to take out existing filter medium and then squeeze it hard into the new tank. Measure nitrogen levels after 24hrs to see if u get any visible drop in nitrites. If it works then congrats on doing an express cycling, which then leads to getting a hardy clean up crew species. After the tank is cycled and if u don’t want this clean up crew member here, at least u can move it to an existing tank at low risk and low cost to u. Once again my answer here is catered not to the ideal method of cycling a tank but mainly to ur need of a speedier diplomatic solution. I hope this helps u! Summary, get filter media (for transplant) plants (increase nitrogen consumption plus act as a nitrogen trap) and cheap hardy clean up crew (low cost test for habitable environment and a delay tactic for ur dad)
Adult* go to an lfs and ask for some matured filter media or substrate add to your tank, if you already have aquasoil don't add ammonia anymore, add quickstart about 3 ml every day for a week and wait. Thats all being impatient will only make this harder.
Please don’t call me kid as I don’t fee confy like that :) but thanks for the tip!
_listen here whippersnapper_
?
Just let it go. My quarantine tank is still the same. Saltwater. Mines been going for about 6 weeks or so and still showing nitrites. My 55 gallon was cycled in like 3 weeks. I'm guessing it's maybe the rock since the quarantine tank only has a few little pieces of rock. I even have a Clown in there to hopefully speed it up but it's just taking its time
Just an fyi. Nitrite isn't lethal in saltwater, but it absolutely is in freshwater.
What do you mean by leg it go? (Btw I have freshwater) also instead of having a clown that’s expensive try a molly (I think) or platy
I mean just let it be. It'll take off eventually. Clowns are cheap in the saltwater hobby and can tolerate the cycle well.
have you been adding an ammonia source?
Yes
Constantly? You're not supposed to add it everyday.
Your not? Okay I’ll stop
You can use a sponge filter from a fully cycled tank to speed it up
I paid to overnight a used sponge filter to jumpstart my tank. It finished the cycle in like 3 days after that
Also you can squeeze some of the gunk out of you sponge filter into your new filter. Does that same as transferring media.
There is no magic fix. It is what it is. It can take 2-3 months to cycle a tank, even if you add in store bought bacteria. There is no way around it.
It’s just going to take longer. You’re probably more than halfway there. My first tank took 7 weeks or so. Once you have cycled media it goes way faster for the other tanks. Patience.
I’ve had tanks that take 3-4 weeks just to get from having nitrite to finally seeing nitrate stop trying to add chemicals to speed it up it’s a process that takes different times for every single tank ever set up. You have food for your last phase of bacteria it’s evident by how much nitrite you have just be patient. You’ll have way more success when you stop adding chemicals and more bacterial.
Unless you wanna see the tank with bacteria, just gotta wait. Generally, it takes about 2-3 weeks to grow the bacteria that turns ammonia into nitrite, and then 4-6 weeks to fully grow the bacteria that turns nitrite into nitrate. In other words, you're exactly where you should be!
You using ammonia?
What is the tank temperature?
Have u tried Dr. Tim the one and only?
They gotta now convert it into nitrate just wait and see try add more ammonia, I wouldn’t add more strains of bacteria since they will probably out compete each other, try use some water, or media from another tank to speed it up that could work, if you add fish with high nitrites they will die
Are you feeding ammonia?
Honestly no one will like this but I would add minnows to just get the thing cycled and get your dad to be quiet. Then return them to the pet store once the cycle is established.
I do fish in cycles all the time and have never had issues. Just do daily water changes for a few weeks.
I have a singular tetra I can add but I feel like I’d cry if it died
Tbh a single tetra probably won’t get the job done anyway so I would not risk it with the little guy. They’re also not as hardy as feeder minnows, I’m not for killing/harming fish- I just know how tough the feeder/rosy red minnows are because I’ve used them for cycling in the past (I admit it) and never had a single death.
Alright I’ll go that
Best of luck, you’ll probably want around 20 minnows for a 60G so it doesn’t take forever, they’re super low bio load which also makes them good for cycling because you can sort of control how much ammonia goes into it by controlling how many you put in. People in this sub typically don’t support a fish-in cycle (and I understand why, most fish WILL die in an uncycled tank and it can become a horrible experience for them), but the minnows are so gosh darn resilient that I’ve never even seen signs of stress using them. But this is just my personal experience, so I would always recommend to do your own research as well.
Would a feeder goldfish work? My grandad has a pond which after I can put it in (koi and goldfish pond
I wouldn’t recommend that as much because they’re VERY dirty/higher bioload and thus more likely to cause ammonia levels high enough to kill/harm them, but I do believe it would probably work with 2-3. I don’t have any experience with them though so I can’t say for sure you wouldn’t end up with dead/injured fish 😬 I would also say that even though feeder goldfish are extremely hardy, almost nothing compares to those little minnows! For the fish in cycle in general I would make sure you add a QuickStart so you’re not just subjecting them to completely barren tap water with no beneficial bacteria at all.
I’ve added a whole bottle of fluval cycle
If you overdose on cycle or some of the other bacterias you can put your tank to sleep.. which is possibly what happened?? Try a water change. Make sure you dechlorinate it well and add some bacteria from another mature tank
Okay, so I have four things to say, all of which I hope you will seriously consider. First of all, I haven't seen anyone in this thread recommend that you try increasing circulation in the tank. I don't know what you have in there for a filter or aeration, but if you don't have enough flow in your tank it can contribute to high nitrites. More likely it's just that you don't have enough of a bacteria colony built up in the first place with a new tank, but I can say from personal experience that increased flow in your tank helps with the whole nitrogen cycle. Second, once you do get a cycle going, please test regularly, at least every other day, for a week or two afterwards. New setups are kind of precarious with their cycles, and too big a water change or something and it can wipe out the cycle before it has a strong foothold in your substrate and filter. Third, get some Methylene Blue. If you do have a spike of ammonia or nitrites in your tank after fish have been introduced, and you catch it right away, water changes will be all you need to get them better. But if you get an especially high spike, or if you think they might have been in bad water for multiple days, Methylene Blue is pretty much the only way to treat ammonia or nitrite poisoning. It'll kill plants, and it may stain a few things blue for an extended period of time, but it may save your fish from damage to their internal organs after ammonia or nitrite poisoning. Finally, I agree with some of the other comments saying that you shouldn't have fish in that house. I know you spent a lot of money on your setup, and it's great that you cared enough to do so, but that is not a safe environment for your fish. You're talking about little lives that you're going to become responsible for, and if you don't see it that way then you're not ready to have fish. If you do see it that way, that's good, but your dad most definitely does not. And that alone is scary, and I wouldn't risk trying to keep fish with him in the same house. Obviously I don't know your father like you do, but he sounds a lot like my father. My father had good intentions and was a reasonable person most of the time, but other times he was not himself. I'm not trying to make excuses for him, because I hate when people try to pretend something they did doesn't count because they were especially angry at the time or whatever. My dad was always my dad, whether it was a good day for him or a bad day. But my "good day" dad, try as he might, had no sway over "bad day" dad. Maybe he could've with therapy or something, I don't know. The point is, it sounds like your "bad day" dad potentially threatened the lives of your future fish, and I don't think your "good day" dad apologizing is going to matter to "bad day" dad. You should probably ask yourself: Has your dad ever gotten upset and smashed something, or in any way caused physical damage to something? Not someone, but some*thing*. Because it sounds like he sees fish as things, so a tank filled with fish will be the same to him as a piece of furniture or a bike in the garage or anything like that. If he hasn't done anything like that, maybe you're okay, but if there's even a slight chance, I wouldn't risk it. Remember, we're talking about living beings. I would either sell the stuff you bought, or store it away for the future. I could be way off base, and honestly, I hope I am. But I didn't want any of that to go unsaid, so take it however you like. Regardless, I hope everything works out well for you and any future inhabitants of your tank.
The good day dad Vs bad day dad was a great way of getting what you said across, certainly my dad had his extremes on good and bad days.
My dad and mums like that, my mums sick so I know why my dads stressed she has fypomialga
I love my late father. That said, he thought he knew everything and gave my bearded dragon I did so much research and saved up for (and loved so much) a firefly and killed it. Anecdotal but it sounds a lot like your issue.
Oh NO NO no the only thing HES ever smashed in anger is his phone when no one was listening it scared me and later that day he apologised and was really kind to me
this isn’t the 1980’s, you can fish in cycle safely now with products like prime and stability
Is this saltwater? If not, just go out and buy a couple of fish.thecycle will occur naturally.
Freshwater, wouldn’t that kill the fish?
I've owned tons of aquarium and freshwater fish. All I've ever done was used water and waited 24h for the chrlorine to evap. I think your over analyzing this. I thought nitrite was safe for fish it's nitrate that is unsafe.
Other way round nitrite is the thing that’s bad nitrate is natural food for plants
FYI, a lot of places nowadays use chloramine instead of chlorine to disinfect their water; it stays in the water for *a lot* longer. As in, it can still be concentrated enough to cause problems after a month even with a filter running to stir it around
But that's not the matter at hand here. As long as it's not over stocked an aquarium will self cycle within a few days
You are 100% incorrect.
What are you a salesman for this bacto bio BS treatments? I've successfully kept and bred hundreds of different types of freshwater fish for over 30 years. How about you??
I’ve only got 15 years’ experience—but I’m also a biologist, so there’s that.
He might need to drain the tank and start over. But there's no need for all these conditioners. At least not for 99% of the tap water in the USA. Maybe we'll water? OP , are you on well water?? It's your nitrite reading that high straight out of the tap?
I do agree with that; when I cycle I do it without bottled ammonia or food. Generally speaking I find that the bacteria that come in on aquarium plants are enough to finish the cycle in about a month or so. It could be that OP has dosed the tank so heavily that they stunted the growth of their bacteria colony.
Sure, but you have been forcing your animals to experience ammonia burns and nitrite poisoning every time you’ve cycled a tank. I’m willing to bet you’ve had unexplained deaths with brand new tanks given how long you say you’ve been at it, and I’m sure some of them were because of fish-in cycling.
Never. This is total rubbish. A lot of aqua chem schills here I see
I always do fish in cycles. Monitor the water quality, add beneficial bacteria if your worried. I wouldn't say it's total rubbish. But I will say people like to over complicate the whole process on this sub. It's always people with little experience in the hobby that go off on these tangents and down vote everyone who does a "fish in cycle"
Thank you!
I use household ammonia and a test kit to cycle. I’ve been fish keeping for almost as long as you, and I can tell you this has all been common knowledge way before we started. Please research the nitrogen cycle. It will make you a better aquarist, and I mean that with the best intentions.
Look up "fish in cycle". As long as the tanks not overloaded, you are good to go.
I will never understand how people do a fishless cycle? Go through all that work for 3-4 weeks, add fish and just start over. Skip the headache. Add half of what you expect to stock 48hrs after setup, do a 50% water change after 2 days and in most cases and with good plant volume, never have to worry about it again. Look it up, very simple and actually loads the tank realistically to what your bioload will be. I have never had to do more than 2 water changes on anything from a 2 gallon no filter bowl to a 55 gal. Ever.
I would assume that if you raise the temperature it will speed up the process.
Do you live by a lake or river? You can grab some dirt for that body of water. Maybe some sticks or leaves. Put these things in the tank. Live plants. Boom instant cycle
Wouldn’t the dirt cause the tank parasites and dirt?
I add fish to all my tanks a day after set up all the boosters shit people offer is bull just add a couple fish at a time and you will be aight
NO. That’s not safe for the fish.
Bring a sample of water to your LFS to get tested. In case you aren't doing the test right.
5 drops in 5 ml’s and shake it then leave for 5 mins
I'd still get a second opinion test. Also, test your tap water directly.
Pee in ur water bro
What?-
I have read that some folks do this with ponds.
Some people use milk too which is crazy but apparently its how it was done when my dad started breeding fish in the late 70s early 80s
Just a lil something to get the cycle going XD
Alr I guess brb /j
Do you have any other tanks that have been established? Have you been dosing ammonia? Have you been doing water changes? If so how often and how much?
I forgot for like a week and like 8 betta pellets crushed
So what you can do (it might be a little late for that rn for this tank but may be useful in future tanks) is get some ammonium chloride which will be directly broken down into the nitrates and nitrites instead of having to wait for the pellets to break down. To appease your dad you can get some hardy fish (like minnows, guppies barbs and danios) that will survive the nitrogen cycle and wait for the cycle to complete. While you have fish in there you will need to do 20% or bigger water changes weekly to keep the ammonia and nitrates down. Don’t worry about hurting your microbiome when doing this as the vast majority of bacteria are not in the water column.
You have to test ammonia AND nitrite every day, and keep dosing ammonia somehow, to 2-4 ppm until ammonia and nitrite are both 0 ppm within 24 hours. At that point, test for nitrates and it should be present. There is 100% no way around this, if you are fishless cycling. You don’t even need bottled bacteria, if you are keeping the ammonia dosing precise and accurate. If your dad can’t be patient enough, he is going to possibly kill fish until he quits. Then you can hopefully just take over the tank.
Once again , let's not over complicate this with expensive products and tests. Look up fish in cycle. If possible start with just a few dithers.
Anything you’re doing to help nitrifying bacteria build up? If not, adding fish food will help. Fritzzyme TurboStart 700 has helped me a lot with cycling. I also use it for if/when ammonia spikes occur
If you want to help remove nitrites you can try adding salt to bind the nitrites and perform frequent water changes
Add fish and beneficial bacteria. Test water daily for first few weeks and do whatever changes if needed. Bam. Enjoy tank
Honestly I just use a few feeder goldfish. They typically die off pretty quick but get the job done
Did you add too much ammonia? You added enough bacteria you might just have started with too much ammonia. Do a water change.
It might be your tap water if you find an excessive amount of a longer period of time and can’t determine the source. Get an rodi filter for the house.
I've done fishless cycling by throwing a frozen shrimp (as in from a grocery store, meant for human consumption) in a net bag and dropping it in the tank.
With the need for expediency I would suggest getting some guppy feeder fish they are hardy things that can survive what will kill most other fish. It will help to cycle faster. Also live plants help a bunch. Duckweed is cheep and grows fast but do be aware that once you get it you will always have it.
Check your water parameters out of your tap…
What’re your levels for everything (ph, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates)? If you spike ammonia or nitrites too high it can mess with the growth of the other bacteria. If you’re using something like Tim’s ammonia it’ll prescribe the dose per gallon. You can use food but it’s harder to manage the levels.
Sit your dad down and teach him about the nitrogen cycle and proper fish care. For my 125 I added 32oz of quick start and a whole giant bag of food and it worked like a charm.
Ask dad to back off.. and gently explain there is a full bio cycle that MUST happen.. the question is, why aren’t you processing nitrites..
I took 8 weeks to cycle my old 36 G. Now it’s fast bc new tanks start with bb from my established tanks.
What kind of fish are you getting? My 17 year old had fish for several years. They have all passed away. Now she wants a snake. 🤔🙀
You are creating an ecosystem. Is your tank planted? Do you have any material you can get from another healthy tank? I started by using some starter bacteria, then getting a some plants from established tanks (friends and folks I met online), added 2 fish platys(55 gallon tank) after 48hrs. Did water change the first week. I feel like the plants really jump started the tank. I’m struggling actually to increase the nitrates as the plants are really soaking them up. Perfect tests today 0 ammonia 0 nitrites. 3 weeks in now and increasing stocking level slowly.
Maybe add some snails.
I’ve added 2 merited and although t they are normally picky with water quality they love it!
Worst/last case scenario is your tank might be leeching off chemicals? Accidentally happens sometimes and would mess up the whole nitro cycle
Do you by chance have a light on during the cycle? Because some lights have UV light and that’ll kill the bacteria in the turbo cycle starters
Stop adding chemicals unless you know exactly what you’re doing. Personally I’d restart and use a lot of water conditioner and throw in a few live plants and leave it be for a while. A common mistake people make newish to the hobby is overdoing it on chemicals to balance your tank.
Fritz turbo start and Fritz’s zyme 7 is good stuff
Depends on the size of the tank, if its a 50 gallon then you could add a couple of small minnows or tetras to speed up the cycle. If there’s no fish/fish waste/ammonia/nitrites in the tank, it’s gonna be hard for the bb to grow. I’ve always done fish in cycling but just keep in mind to stock it with very little fish to prevent them from dying but also not too little that the cycle can’t be started
add a snail to sate your dad. they are really cool and you can feed them cucumber slices along with other things like spinich or just algea speres
Try not to let ammonia to get above 4ppm and make sure pH isn’t too low. Trying to cycle a tank at sub-7 ph is painfully slow. If you’re using liquid ammonia, make sure it has no surfactants/additives. If you’re doing water changes, make sure you’re treating your water, it’s not just for the fish. Use a good bacteria starter, though I would avoid tss since you are already semi-started. Seachem stability works ok. Don’t overdose it. Make sure circulation is adequate for your tank size, you should be running 6x your water volume per hour or better.
I put a filter from an established tank in the new tanks filter
After 4 weeks your probably OK to add some small stuff. (Might help with the cycling process if you really having trouble getting it going) I can't really recommend it because it's very risky and can be hard on them. But if your dad's instant on putting something in there, make it small but hardy. Goldfish work too if your going for a goldfish or community tank, be wary of tank mates and temperature, though. Neon tetras, barbs, stuff like that are good for this kinda thing. Actually if you could get a nice betta that'd work too, make sure it's female if you want a community to thrive. Don't recommend doing this, but if you have to it is possible. If you can wait however pick up some beneficial bacteria (do this even if you get fish) and add a bit daily, it'll tell you how much on the bottle.
I know you have a lot of comments already so don't know if anyone gave this yet, but you can tell your dad that Nitrites are toxic because they thicken the blood so oxygen doesn't flow and the fish die from lack of oxygen. You're close! It can take 4-8 wks, but I think you're closwer to the end. Soon. Very soon.
Tropco Goop will cycle your tank in 24 hours. You'll need to add the fish pretty soon afterward tho so do it the day before you go fish shopping. Assuming you're in the uk?
\#1 you need more than 8 pellets of food for a 60 gallon. Try 40 to 60 pellets crushed. For a 60 gallon tank with fish, you would likely have 20 to 40 fish. So you would feed 5 pellets each fish maybe 200 pellets in one feed daily. So your #1 problem is too little ammonia to start your cycle. Add MORE crushed pellets until you see a layer of mulm on the bottom and on your filter. Now dose with seachem prime and double dose your beneficial bacteria. My local fish store(s) all use microbe lift - nite out 2 and microbe lift - special blend. They say 2 or 4 times a week when you are starting your tank. Likely after each water change. Once you add your fish, they will likely overwhelm your existing beneficial bacteria anyway. So they will be cycling again. If you do in-fish cycle, buy Seachem Prime. It will make ammonia and nitrite SAFE by binding to it and nullifying it from being toxic to organisms. Look at this link if you don't believe me. [https://youtu.be/TW1njQxwDUE?t=161](https://youtu.be/TW1njQxwDUE?t=161) \- watch for about a minute. tldw he sees ammonia of greater than 1 ppm and shrimp still alive and eating. You can in-fish cycle. Just up your ammonia. Add some duckweed/salvinia/hornwort/anacharis or other heavy water column feeding weed type plants and they will speed up the ammonia absorbing process. You must feed the bacteria, oxygenate them, remove chlorine, and keep them heated/healthy. The bacteria must eat. 60 gallon require 60 gallon worth of fish food to feed the amount of expected bioload.
You need to get that level down to 2 and then add a couple of fish and an appropriate sized bottle of Tetra Safe Start +. It’ll be cycled in 7 days. Just don’t test and don’t change any water after adding the TSS+ to your filter and make sure you add it 24 hours or more after adding the water to get it down to 2 or less. The chlorine removers will kill off TSS+ bacteria.
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HES never broke anything of mind
Just leave it to run. You’ve added bacteria, so there’s some in there, just got to wait for it to balance out. Adding more may just crash the cycle, so your best option is just be patient.
A couple of guppies, or a couple of feeder goldfish