# What's (not) happening? Cycling question



## Sylvia27 (Sep 9, 2005)

Hi:

I set up a 29 gallon tank on September 7 with one goldfish. (the goldfish will go back to the goldfish tank after the cycling).

I've been testing my tank on a regular basis. 
NH3NH4 and Nitrites stay at 0 all the time. 
We're now over 3 weeks.

I added a pleco a week ago, but still no changes. 

What's (not) happening? how long should I wait?

Sylvia


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## Cichlid Man (Jan 19, 2005)

That could be good news or very bad news. If the tank is healthy then there should be a slight trace of nitrate. Maybe your fish isn't producing enough ammonia to be broken down into nitrItes, then nitrAtes.
The best thing to do is just to slowly add fish one at a time or so. This way there is a lesser chance of having an ammonia spike.
Good luck!


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## Guest (Oct 7, 2005)

I set up my tank in August and it is just now showing no ammonia and high levels of nitrites. I have 3 fish. Waiting for the tank to finish cycling to add more.


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## Guest (Oct 7, 2005)

One more thing I forgot. I had to add a plant and some water from a friend's tank before my ammonia level spiked. That did the trick. I was showing ammonica levels about 5 days after I did that. It still took awhile for the ammonia levels to go down to 0. About 3 weeks. I don't know what makes it take so long. I have been waiting to add more fish since August!! It sure is teaching me patience.


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## Doodles (Oct 2, 2005)

> I set up my tank in August and it is just now showing no ammonia and high levels of nitrites. I have 3 fish. Waiting for the tank to finish cycling to add more.


You could start doing water changes. That would help the fish if they are in distress. A bit of salt will also help there gills function better from the Nitrites. (1 TBS per 10 gallons) Like cichlidman said, buying one fish at a time would be best.
How are you cleaning your tank and how often. Do you clean your filter media in tap water or rinse it really good? That can cause a tank to re-cycle. How much and how often do you feed your fish? You should try to cute beck a bit now. I would suggest feeding lightly now and try to make sure it all get's eaten.



> I was showing ammonia levels about 5 days after I did that. It still took awhile for the ammonia levels to go down to 0. About 3 weeks. I don't know what makes it take so long. I have been waiting to add more fish since August!! It sure is teaching me patience.


You ammonia levels should not take 3 weeks to convert to Nitrites to nitrates.
In total how long have you had you tank set up for? What kind of pleco do you have?
Sorry for all the questions, but it will help.


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## Guest (Oct 10, 2005)

Doodles - I have been doing 1/4 water changes weekly. I haven't cleaned the filter. I feed my fish sparingly once a day. I have had my tank since August. The NitrItes are at 2.0 and the NitrAtes are really high. I just have a regular Pleco. The fish don't seem in distress at all. They are doing just fine. The petstore (who has been in business for over 50 years and is VERY reputable) told me it could take 4-6 weeks to cycle completely. I am now at 8 weeks, but....my tank didn't do anything until I got the water and plant from a friend about 3 weeks ago. Then the ammonia rose and dropped to 0 but the Nitrites and Nitrates are still up there. The Nitrites are falling..but slowly. I thought the water changes would help, but they aren't. I started by tank with a couple tiger barbs and 2 gouramies, but lost the barbs when I did my first water change at a month. It really stressed them. The fish I have left (2 gouramies and the Pleco that I bought recently seem fine).


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## Doodles (Oct 2, 2005)

When I clean my filters weekly I just dump the yucky water out and add aquarium water back in the filter to start it up. No scrubbing anything, just getting rid of that water. Once in a while I will lightly squeeze the sponges in aquarium water when they look yucky.
Im really stumped here, I’m sorry I really don't know what's up with your tank. Im totally stumped. You seem to be doing everything right.
Did you ever test your tap water for Nitrites? That can happen! Your tank should absolutely be cycled right now. Sorry if I asked this already (long night), :-? But do you thoroughly vacuum the gravel. Sometimes dead fish, rotting food can cause things like this to happen. If the fish don't seem in destress that is really good news. Adding a plant should actually do the opposite, lower NitrItes (I think) but definitely lower NitrAtes. 
The good news is that if your NitrItes are coming down you should be setteled hopefully soon. I would keep doing the water changes, keep testing to be sure the NitrItes drop. If your NitrAtes remain high (after you have 0ppm NitrItes) then don't stress to much about that, they will come down with water changes. Can you get your hands on some Bio-spira? I think that may be helpful now. I haven't personally used it myself, just heard a lot of good things about it instantly cycling tanks that "actually" work. At this point I would still feed very lightly but don't starve the poor buggers. :-D


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## Guest (Oct 10, 2005)

Doodles - I empty the filter tank water everytime. When I first started the tank the Nitrites were 0ppm just like the ammonia before I added the fish, so the tap water should be 0ppm. I have vacuumed the gravel too. I used Stability when I first started cycling my tank. I have one real plant in there, maybe I'll get another. 
As far as feeding, they have the food eaten in less than a minute, so I know I'm not overfeeding. WHen I had a tank 15 years ago, we didn't worry about all this stuff and the fish did fine, but it's nice to know there is a correct way in order to have healthy fish.

Thanks for all your suggestions. I just wanted to be sure I wasn't missing anything and to let Sylvia know that she isn't the only one having trouble cycling!!


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