Cycle not working

[Madonia]

Hi all. I have a 130g tank that I started on 9/5. I added RODI, dry rock, salt, and dr Tim’s one and only (4 oz bottle).

I added ammonium chloride to bring ammonia level to 1.0ppm. I tested ammonia everyday and it still read 1.0ppm. On on Tuesday I added a 100ml of Microbacter start XLM.

the tank still has an ammonia level of 1.0ppm. It’s day 5 of the cycle. Nitrates haven’t budged, they are approximately 3ppm.

why is this cycle not working?

I added another 50ml of microbacter tonight.

 

[Roachbeef19]

Here's the chart

 

[brandon429]

Nitrates = the cycle is working. Give it about two weeks total wait now, then change out as much water as you can stand to change and you will be cycled, the ammonia test kits you are using tend to show free ammonia. Your cycle won’t fail, only the cheap testers make it look that way. Nitrate is proof the machinery is working

 

[LeftyReefer]

Except that I wouldn't trust the positive nitrate test result yet. I sincerely doubt that you have 3ppm nitrates in that tank on day 5. Nitrate tests don't work when there are nitrites present.... if your nitrite test is reading anything other than 0, then your nitrate test may not be correct. Don't worry about nitrates yet, just keep checking ammonia and nitrites daily. When both of those have risen and then fallen back down to 0 on your test kit.... then start testing for nitrates.

I wouldn't worry, it sounds like your cycle is going fine. Soon you should see the ammonia start to drop, when that happens, you can be sure the cycle is underway. As Brandon mentioned, once the cycle starts, it isn't likely to fail or stall, so you don't have much to worry about.