Aquarium Cycling Issues

[AKBlueJacks]

I feel like one of the best moves I made when I started back into the hobby a few years back was to order an active sponge filter online. I set my 55 gallon tank up with a new hang on the back filter and started running the filter. Then I ordered the active sponge filter. It took a few days in the mail, but the same day it arrived I put the sponge filter in my tank along with 4 juvenile cichlids and a couple small loaches. Instant cycle from the start. Now every tank I have has at least two filters. If I ever start up a new tank I fill it with fresh dechlorinated water and drop in a used bacteria loaded sponge filter from one of my other tanks. I have never had an ammonia reading when I test. Well worth the money I spent on it.

 

[Drstrangelove]

1) how much ammonia do you add to the tank every day? How long do you go in between adding ammonia? (The actual amount you are dosing would be good.) If you have stopped dosing since January, please identify when and for how long.

2) how often do you change or clean the filter media and exactly how do you do that?

3) how often do you change the tank water and exactly how do you do that?

It sounds like the process isn't working as expected and my brain keeps thinking there's something missing that's actually short circuiting the cycle. The above might clarify that.

Personally, I've had tanks lose power for up to 3 days and didn't lose my BB. That was in a 75 and a 55, so those are pretty similar yours. The tanks essentially sat untouched until the power came back on.

It certainly can take a while for a cycle to mature, so there's the chance that testing isn't properly reflecting conditions in the tank, as well.

 

[Hidan]

Just use Seachem Stability (bottled bacteria) and it will shorten your cycle or get some used media (sponge or ceramic rings) from a friends setup tank to speed up the process.

My choice would likely be the small danioes such as zebras

I had horrible luck with Danios, who died quickly. I hear mollies are hardy & cheap and often the fish of choice for a cycle.
The fish that helped me complete my cycle were 2 Dwarf gouramis.
And yeah putting in a couple of fish will probably stop your parents from shutting off the filter.

Either ways, best of luck and hope it all works out for you.

 

[duanes]

If your tap water provider uses chloramine as a disinfectant, and you rinse with it, you can get false readings for ammonia and nitrate.
Same goes for using tank water to rinse, any ammonia in the tank can cause a false reading, because of residual dried onto the tube, remember you are dealing in parts per million.
Working as a chemist I would rinse each tube 3 times with DI water in between any tests, and when done testing for the day, let the tubes stand upside down on a paper towel to drain and dry.
A gallon of DI goes a long way, especially because most tubes are only 10mls, even with 3 rinses you barely use a spoonful of DO water rinsing.

 

[imabot]

1) how much ammonia do you add to the tank every day? How long do you go in between adding ammonia? (The actual amount you are dosing would be good.) If you have stopped dosing since January, please identify when and for how long.

I added around 4.0 ppm of ammonia 8-9 days ago. It hasn't changed so I didn't add any ammonia in after that.

1)
2) how often do you change or clean the filter media and exactly how do you do that?

3) how often do you change the tank water and exactly how do you do that?

It sounds like the process isn't working as expected and my brain keeps thinking there's something missing that's actually short circuiting the cycle. The above might clarify that.

2) I changed it out about 3 weeks ago when I got the matrix. I haven't cleaned it out except for the intake filter and that I do with a quick rinse in tap water.

3) I change it every time i restart due to a crash with a siphon.

 

[skjl47]

cycle my aquarium for a few months now but it eventually fails. Usually, it begins converting a little ammonia to nitrites and then the nitrites dissapears and the ammonia stops falling.

Hello; The cycling process should not take a few months.

family members turned off the filter for the whole NIGHT

This stopped the cycling process

hello; The cycling process does not depend on a filter running. Even without a filter the beneficial bacteria (bb) should become established on solid surfaces in the tank. On the glass, the substrate and other surfaces. To my thinking turning off a filter will not stop the cycle process in the rest of the tank, especially if only for one day.

In an established cycled tank with a population of fish the balance between the bb population and the ammonia made by the metabolism is fairly stable. In that situation a turned off filter would cause the ammonia produced by the fish (and other things) to stay in the tank and not pass thru the filter. This likely would allow a build up of ammonia in the tank as the bb in the tank itself are not numerous enough to deal with all the ammonia. So a slight ammonia spike might happen. I do not gather your tank is established with a complete cycle however.

There might be a little bit of the test kit chemicals in the water since I notice the water is very slightly tinged blue or some other un natural color before I add in the drops.

Hello; Evidence your techniques for doing water quality tests are not correct.

media for the most part remained submerged

Hello; Bear in mind that media you may buy as "biomedia" for the bb to colonize is not the only place that the bb will be found on. In an established tank there is a likely hood that media in a filter will have a decent population of bb because of the constant flow of tank water past it. Biomedia can be pretty much any non toxic surface. I have used glass marbles and filter carbon as biomedia.

aquarium usually ends up stopping the cycling process mysteriously around this point.

Hello; Have you considered that someone may be putting something in the tank? Or perhaps some toxic substance is getting into the tank by some other means? I have had tanks poisoned before. Are pesticides or other such things used in the house?

added around 4.0 ppm of ammonia 8-9 days ago. It hasn't changed

Hello; Another possible clue that the test kit procedure may have flaws or that the test kit chemicals are out of date?

3) how often do you change the tank water and exactly how do you do that?

3) I change it every time i restart due to a crash with a siphon.

Hello; This statement is confusing to me and I do not think it answers the question Drstrangelove is asking.

The "every time I restart" part is not clear to me what you mean. Also what do you mean by "a crash with a siphon"?

 

[Drstrangelove]

I added around 4.0 ppm of ammonia 8-9 days ago. It hasn't changed so I didn't add any ammonia in after that.

The suggested rate is 3 ppm of ammonia daily. So, 4 ppm every 9 days is far below the amount recommended. I'd put in more ammonia and not stop doing that unless the readings fell well below 2-3 ppm.

https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/cycling-and-you.224559/

2) I changed it out about 3 weeks ago when I got the matrix. I haven't cleaned it out except for the intake filter and that I do with a quick rinse in tap water.

This would kill BB ("a quick rinse in tap water.") Use tank water to rinse biological filters. Sometimes, it's okay to use tap water with filters that are meant to be primarily mechanical, but only dechlorinated tap water should be used around bio filters unless you're okay with removing the BB.

Also, I don't understand what "changed it out" means. When mechanics "change out" something, they remove the whole item (filter, pump, engine, transmission), and install a new one.

If you removed all the previous bio media, as in "change out the filter", then you basically restarted the process. So, probably I don't understand what it is that you "changed out."

3) I change it every time i restart due to a crash with a siphon.

So, your water hasn't been changed since January? If that's what you mean, then you might have mineral deficiencies in the water that are inhibiting BB growth. Topping off the tank due to evaporation might be enough but I think no changes over 3 months is possibly a risk.

 

[imabot]

I had horrible luck with Danios, who died quickly. I hear mollies are hardy & cheap and often the fish of choice for a cycle.
The fish that helped me complete my cycle were 2 Dwarf gouramis.
And yeah putting in a couple of fish will probably stop your parents from shutting off the filter.

Either ways, best of luck and hope it all works out for you.

I read that Dwarf Gouramis are more sensitive to water quality. Did you start it up with them in there? I'm thinking 3-4 mystery snails, 2-3 mollies and later on in the cycle a dwarf goruami. I read that it reduces the ammonia levels if I put a lot of plants in. I found a good deal on them and pm'd the guy

 

[imabot]

Hello; Have you considered that someone may be putting something in the tank? Or perhaps some toxic substance is getting into the tank by some other means? I have had tanks poisoned before. Are pesticides or other such things used in the house?


Hello; Another possible clue that the test kit procedure may have flaws or that the test kit chemicals are out of date?

The "every time I restart" part is not clear to me what you mean. Also what do you mean by "a crash with a siphon"?

1) Occasionally, we clean with Windex or some cleaning product near it.

2) I checked the chemical dates and they were for 2019. I test mostly for ammonia and nitrites. I put the tube on the filter waterfall and fill it half way. If I fill it above, I dump out the excess. Than I drop the chemicals into the tube, put the cap on, and shake for 5 seconds.
Than I wait 5 minutes and compare to the chart.

3) I meant restart to a crash. For the crash with a siphon, I meant each time it stops cycling I change out the water with a siphon (50-60 percent) and refill with de-chlorinated water.

The suggested rate is 3 ppm of ammonia daily. So, 4 ppm every 9 days is far below the amount recommended. I'd put in more ammonia and not stop doing that unless the readings fell well below 2-3 ppm.

https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/cycling-and-you.224559/



This would kill BB ("a quick rinse in tap water.") Use tank water to rinse biological filters. Sometimes, it's okay to use tap water with filters that are meant to be primarily mechanical, but only dechlorinated tap water should be used around bio filters unless you're okay with removing the BB.

QUOTE]

So it's a myth that above a certain ammonia level the BB can't convert them to nitrite anymore? I read that on the guide for cycling. The intake filter is purely mechanical. I've also changed the water around 1-2 weeks ago.

 

[skjl47]

I meant restart to a crash. For the crash with a siphon, I meant each time it stops cycling I change out the water with a siphon (50-60 percent) and refill with de-chlorinated water.

hello; Sorry but I still am a bit confused. You are doing a fish-less cycle meaning no live fish in the tank, right?
If you are sure the cycle is crashed then for some reason the bb either never started to colonize in the tank or some event has killed them off.

If the bb are truly all dead and this has happened more than one time, then it likely is time for a complete tear down of the tank. That this has gone on for several months is an indicator something is wrong.
I guess I would take everything out and give it a good cleaning. Gravel, equipment and all. I would probably give everything, including the tank, at least a good rinsing and maybe a soak in a bleach solution. If a bleach solution is used have some water treatment such a PRIME to dose the tank when it is set up again.
Keep an eye out for what shows up during the cleaning to check for a foreign object. Something is killing off the bb if your conclusion that the cycle has crashed is correct.

Should you take this path please let us know the steps you take and the materials you use. That will help me at least in trying to decipher this issue.

May I also suggest that you give more complete answers to questions from Drstrangelove. I have noticed you sometimes picking only one part to answer and not commenting at all on the others. That leaves us with incomplete information and makes it harder to offer good suggestions.

For example it is still not clear to me if you have considered the use of DW or DI water to clean the test vials. My suspicion being that your test results are skewed and not reflecting the true water conditions.

Good luck