Stalled cycle?

[LaurenA]

I may be being impatient, I started set up my quarantine tank 4 weeks ago and I have yet to see Nitrite appear in the cycle.
Its a 55G tank and empty other than 3 pieces of new PVC pipe for hiding, I used RO/DI water, lights, skimmer, heater, powerhead are all running. I used 3 dead shrimp to start the cycle, pH and temp are fine.
Once I had a reading of 4ppm for ammonia (about 10 days in), I removed the shrimp and then added new ones 1 week later when I read I was supposed to leave them in there until they decompose. Ammonia is now sitting at 8ppm and has been there for about a week and a half. No nitrite yet, although I could have sworn that my test kit was something other than 0 last week but it could have been bad lighting as I did the test at night. I definitely at 0ppm yesterday.
I now have a green slime that has started, I haven't done research on that (yet) and the shrimp chunks are still hanging around albeit much smaller.
Thoughts? I refuse to be deterred. Live rock isn't easily accessible in these parts (in fact I don't actually think I have ever seen any for sale outside of trader forums) and I don't want to cycle with fish for ethical reasons.
Edit: Slime appears to be green film algae.

 

[Doob]

The first time I set up a QT same thing. Weeks went by with no reduction in toxins. Bio-spira saved the day. You have a sponge filter running so the bacteria has surface area to colonize?

 

[Untamedrose]

Make sure you have something for the bacteria to grow on.

If you cant do lr....I'd get a couple of these. http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/marinepure-ceramic-biomedia-plate.html

 

[LaurenA]

Bio, mech and chem hang on filter runs 24/7 but it's for tanks up to 250 litres and mine is 215 litres, so I'm wondering if it's a tad small.

 

[LaurenA]

Make sure you have something for the bacteria to grow on.

If you cant do lr....I'd get a couple of these. http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/marinepure-ceramic-biomedia-plate.html

Will do. We don't quite have the range of products in New Zealand so will need to hunt for something similar or wait weeks for shipping.

 

[Untamedrose]

Will do. We don't quite have the range of products in New Zealand so will need to hunt for something similar or wait weeks for shipping.

Ya but you get to live with hobbits! (I'm sorry, geek I had to...sure you have heard that one)

This is for a quarantine tank no?....so you have an another established tank already?? Thought about stealing the water some stuff from that one?

Also I remember reading that tanks really need to be open lots of air flow, to help cycling. Without something like LR, the bacteria needed for this comes from the air. Whats your surface like?

 

[LaurenA]

I have a replica of aragorns sword in the umbrella stand so you're with family
I don't have an established tank, I have a 130g waiting to be set up pending QT success. Half the hood is missing on the QT (which I was about to get replaced) the gap is about 3ft x 1ft. It used to house a wet dry for freshwater but the previous owner broke it. The power head is pointed at the front glass which agitates the water surface too, I only have one powerhead as the LFS said high flow on a sick fish won't help their stress!

 

[FishOfHex]

I may be being impatient, I started set up my quarantine tank 4 weeks ago and I have yet to see Nitrite appear in the cycle.
Its a 55G tank and empty other than 3 pieces of new PVC pipe for hiding, I used RO/DI water, lights, skimmer, heater, powerhead are all running. I used 3 dead shrimp to start the cycle, pH and temp are fine.
Once I had a reading of 4ppm for ammonia (about 10 days in), I removed the shrimp and then added new ones 1 week later when I read I was supposed to leave them in there until they decompose. Ammonia is now sitting at 8ppm and has been there for about a week and a half. No nitrite yet, although I could have sworn that my test kit was something other than 0 last week but it could have been bad lighting as I did the test at night. I definitely at 0ppm yesterday.
I now have a green slime that has started, I haven't done research on that (yet) and the shrimp chunks are still hanging around albeit much smaller.
Thoughts? I refuse to be deterred. Live rock isn't easily accessible in these parts (in fact I don't actually think I have ever seen any for sale outside of trader forums) and I don't want to cycle with fish for ethical reasons.
Edit: Slime appears to be green film algae.

Im going to assume you have another tank since you said this was a quarantine tank. I have always used a sponge filter my main tanks sump for a few weeks before adding it to a quarantine to setup biological filtration. You could always use water from the MDT to help aid in this as well. I dont recommend you use live rock or sand in a QT tank b/c if you ever had to treat a fish for either external parasite like ich the process either hypo salinity and or meds whatever you chose to use will kill off any benefits the rock offered. If you are really in a rush to cycle the tank you could always buy bacteria in a bottle, I have yet to go that route but i do know many who have. Best of luck and thank you for not killing off fish in the process of cycling a tank not many people care enough to do that.

 

[LaurenA]

Im going to assume you have another tank since you said this was a quarantine tank. I have always used a sponge filter my main tanks sump for a few weeks before adding it to a quarantine to setup biological filtration. You could always use water from the MDT to help aid in this as well. I dont recommend you use live rock or sand in a QT tank b/c if you ever had to treat a fish for either external parasite like ich the process either hypo salinity and or meds whatever you chose to use will kill off any benefits the rock offered. If you are really in a rush to cycle the tank you could always buy bacteria in a bottle, I have yet to go that route but i do know many who have. Best of luck and thank you for not killing off fish in the process of cycling a tank not many people care enough to do that.

Thank you for your help, might be able to purchase a sponge filter to run a LFS tank for a few weeks instead. Unfortunately my display tank wont be set up until I have mastered the art of the quarantine cycle. My plan was to set up the DT when I buy my first fish. Fish will quarantine for 90 days while the DT cycles.

 

[FishOfHex]

Thank you for your help, might be able to purchase a sponge filter to run a LFS tank for a few weeks instead. Unfortunately my display tank wont be set up until I have mastered the art of the quarantine cycle. My plan was to set up the DT when I buy my first fish. Fish will quarantine for 90 days while the DT cycles.

Ebay is the best place to get these for the price http://www.ebay.com/itm/Aquarium-Fi...hash=item2a54aea4c5:m:meA3lj2QLsUWhyG-J_CJnhw
I have a couple videos on quarantine setup if you are interested. If you have any other questions let me know.

 

[FishLover01]

I may be being impatient, I started set up my quarantine tank 4 weeks ago and I have yet to see Nitrite appear in the cycle.
Its a 55G tank and empty other than 3 pieces of new PVC pipe for hiding, I used RO/DI water, lights, skimmer, heater, powerhead are all running. I used 3 dead shrimp to start the cycle, pH and temp are fine.
Once I had a reading of 4ppm for ammonia (about 10 days in), I removed the shrimp and then added new ones 1 week later when I read I was supposed to leave them in there until they decompose. Ammonia is now sitting at 8ppm and has been there for about a week and a half. No nitrite yet, although I could have sworn that my test kit was something other than 0 last week but it could have been bad lighting as I did the test at night. I definitely at 0ppm yesterday.
I now have a green slime that has started, I haven't done research on that (yet) and the shrimp chunks are still hanging around albeit much smaller.
Thoughts? I refuse to be deterred. Live rock isn't easily accessible in these parts (in fact I don't actually think I have ever seen any for sale outside of trader forums) and I don't want to cycle with fish for ethical reasons.
Edit: Slime appears to be green film algae.

I think the reason your quarantine tank has stalled is because of the high ammonia content. It is up to 8 ppm. I would get it back down to 4 ppm by doing about a 25 % water change. Forget the shrimp. Just use regular pure household ammonia. Make sure you get no higher reading than 4 ppm on ammonia. If it gets higher, it basically kills any beneficial bacteria that is trying to grow. In my opinion, that's the reason for the stall. Just have patience and keep ammonia at 4 ppm and nitrites will show soon. Good luck.