Fishless Cycle Stalled

[Zpgrimm]

Hello All,

My tank has been up and running for a little over a week now and I think my cycle is stalled. For the first five days I have been using Stability not knowing the bacteria needed something to eat so, I tossed in a couple of raw shrimp which raised the ammonia ppm to around 3. A little less than 48 hours ago I introduced the recommended dose of Microbacter and 48 hours later my nitrite readings are at 0 which indicates to me no colonies are forming(Ammonia levels are constant at 3pm). Does anyone have insight on this?

Thanks!

 

[IslandLifeReef]

The ammonia hasn't been converted to nitrite yet. Bottled bacteria works for some, and not for others. Just be patient, 48 hours is nothing when starting a tank. The cycle could take 4 to 6 weeks, maybe even longer. Test ammonia every day or two to see it spike. Once it spikes and starts going back down, then test for nitrite. Once nitrite goes to 0ppm, do one more ammonia test to just be sure your water is ok, if you haven't already, take the shrimp out, and test for nitrates.

 

[Zpgrimm]

Thanks for your help. I took the shrimp out when I hit 3ppm, should I put another raw one in or should i just wait?

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Give it some time. This is one of the first steps in learning patience with your tank. If you started with dry rock it could take up to 6 weeks to properly cycle. Actual live rock is much quicker and usually results in no cycle at all. Bottled bacteria has sped up my past cycles with dry rock, but never like live rock does.

I would remove the shrimp now that you are above 2ppm ammonia. Higher than that starts to get toxic and could kill off the bacteria. If that did happen I would suggest a small water change to get it back under control. Test daily and wait for your ammonia to fall. You should see nitrite rise at this point. Then you can dose some pure ammonium chloride (preferred) or add another shrimp for 24 hours. Once your tank can remove 2ppm ammonia in 24 hours, or the shrimp doesn't cause an ammonia spike, you are safe.

 

[User1]

Pretty much what everyone is saying. It is part of the cycle process and not a lot that you can do to make it go faster. Depending on how you started the cycle or if you added a bottle of bacteria say like Dr. Tim's - it will still take time. Basically you are a tick over 2 PPM Ammonia which is what people strive for using Dr. Tim's instead of fish (live or dead). So now you are testing every other day only for Ammonia. Just Ammonia, nothing else. You want it to reach 0. Once it reaches 0 then test for Nitrite. It should be reading something. Let the tank go for another day or two, test Ammonia and Nitrite again. Ammonia should be 0 and Nitrite lower than previous reading.

Once Both are 0 then you can dose Ammonia back to 2ppm and it should process it in under 24 hours. Once that happens test Nitrite again, you want 0, then test for Nitrate. More or less the cycle - search and a few posts lay it out much better than my quick post. But more or less dose Ammonia to 2.0 PPM, wait till 0, test Nitrite, wait a day or so, test Nitrite again, 0, then dose Ammonia back to 2.0 ppm, process under 24 hours = good.