Stumped on Cycling a New Tank

[Dacotua]

I have been keeping fish for years, I have two very established tanks. I have a 20 gallon tank (107 Fluval and a Sponge filter), I have a 40 Gallon tank (306 Fluval and Sponge filter).

I recently purchased a 5.5 Gallon Tank, added pool sand as a substrate, added Java Moss (From my 40 gallon), added Water Sprite from my 10 Gallon, and added my 20 Gallon Sponge filter into the tank.  (I bought a new Sponge filter and put it in my 20 Gallon Tank.)

I dosed the 5 gallon tank with Fritz Zyme 7. (This was over two weeks ago fyi). To make sure I did not kill I put 8 drops of DrTim’s Aquatics Ammonium Chloride Solution into the tank.  Not a whole bunch but just a little to get a Ammonia reading from the tank.

The next day, The Ammonia was 0ppm. The Nitrite was 0.25ppm and Nitrate was 5ppm. (This was two weeks ago).

SINCE THEN, I've been testing the tank every morning, and I get the same reading every day. 0 Ammonia, 0.25ppm Nitrite and 5ppm Nitrate.

This has been two weeks, I do not feed the tank, I do not dose anything into it. I did not do any water changes either.

A bit impatient, last night I did a 50% water change and I got 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrite and a slight tint of orange on Nitrate.

10 hours later, this morning, I tested the water ... Ammonia is at 0ppm, Nitrite at 0.25ppm and Nitrate was around (my guess) slight orange 2ppm.

I am puzzled, I have not put any food in the tank, I have not put anything live in the tank. For the life of me, I do not understand why the tank has 0.25 nitrite. The tank has Java Moss, Water Sprite and Java Fern in the tank. Water is clear and the back glass  has a slight tint of green algae growing on it. Tank has a Heater (set at 75 degrees), Hygger full spectrum light, Aquarrium Coop Medium Sponge Filter.

Any one have any suggestions? What am I missing (I'm not feeding the tank and the only time I added ammonia to the tank was the first day, none since.)

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

Hi @Dacotua! This happens sometimes and small tanks can be tricky- some people in the hobby say they are the hardest to balance but I've had the opposite experience. However, I'm wondering, why when you have good starter material (your sponge filter from another tank) why would you add ammonia? I'm thinking maybe this threw you off balance and now the tank is compensating. All of the small tanks I've started (I work with 20 gallon and under) all I do is add a sponge filter from another tank and away I go. 

[Lonkley]

Probably decaying plant matter and nitrite conversion isn't ready. 

[Galabar]

My advice would be to continue to add ammonia.  The small amount of nitrite might slow down the development of that type of bacteria.

[Dacotua]

On 1/27/2024 at 1:19 PM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

Hi @Dacotua! This happens sometimes and small tanks can be tricky- some people in the hobby say they are the hardest to balance but I've had the opposite experience. However, I'm wondering, why when you have good starter material (your sponge filter from another tank) why would you add ammonia? I'm thinking maybe this threw you off balance and now the tank is compensating. All of the small tanks I've started (I work with 20 gallon and under) all I do is add a sponge filter from another tank and away I go. 

I added ammonia because I wanted to be 100% sure the tank was safe for shrimp.  Without any Ammonia producing fish/shrimp in the tank, the "established" filter BB would not have any food. I needed to add something so it wouldn't die off.  Everyone says you can add a sponge filter from an existing tank and go, but I like to check and verify. I'm not going to throw a bunch of cherry shrimps in that tank to have them die because the tank isn't ready. I put a sponge filter in the new 5.5 gallon tank from one of my other tanks that has had the filter for over a year.  I always test and verify before I do anything. I'm just verifying my "fishless" cycle is complete, but I still get nitrite readings.

EDIT: Just checked my water again, this time I got 0 Ammonia, 0.1ish Nitrite, and 5ppm Nitrate. Nitrite went down for the first time in two weeks. Perhaps my tank finally decided to cycle. Going to add a couple more drops of Ammonia and see what the readings are in the morning.  I just want to know for sure before I go and put in 10-15 cherry shrimp into the tank. I don't want to poison them.

 

Edited January 28 by Dacotua

[Galabar]

I think you are moving along perfectly.  Add the extra ammonia, wait for ammonia and nitrite to hit 0, and you should be all set.

I think if more folks took these extra steps, we'd see a lot less posts on here about fish death... 🙂

 

Edited January 28 by Galabar

[Dacotua]

Last night I put in 4 drops of ammonia and tested the tank. It read 0.25ppm Ammonia, 0.1ish Nitriate and 5ppm Nitrate (Then went to bed). Today I just checked the small tank, got 0ppm Ammonia, 0ppm Nitrite, and 5ppm of Nitrate.

Looks like it took two weeks to cycle with a "seasoned" sponge filter from a well established tank. I'd say, never trust just a sponge filter to "instant" cycle a tank. This is the first time I tried to "Instant" cycle a tank with a sponge filter and it didn't quite work out to be instant for me.

In the past, I had a 60 gallon tank crack, I replaced that tank with a 40 gallon breeder. I moved all my plants, put in NEW pool filter sand, and my season Fluval 306 filter. On that tank, it instant cycled with all my fish. (I had no choice on that one because the 60 cracked). I checked that tanks water religiously for a good 3 weeks.

My theory is that the motorized canister filter just turned over the tank much more. The sponge filter just couldn't turn over the 5 gallon aquarium over fast enough. Who knows.

I just knew I wasn't going to throw fish into the new tank with a seasoned sponge filter until the water conditions were correct. Everyone on the net has said that throwing in a sponge filter into a new tank instant cycles it. Thru my own personal experience, I would say this is not the case. You should check your water daily as it may or may not "instant" cycle your tank. My medium sized aquarium coop sponge filter that was in my seasoned tank for over a year, took two weeks to cycle my new 5.5 gallon aquarium.

Just be careful guys 🙂

 

[Galabar]

I totally agree.  Adding ammonia and testing is a great way to avoid killing your fish.  I'm setting up a new tank right now the exact some way.  Fish will be added after the tank can process a set amount of ammonia.

I've used some old filter media and some a small amount of gravel from another tank.  I'm guessing that two weeks will be about right...

Edited January 29 by Galabar

[Galabar]

On 1/28/2024 at 6:06 PM, Galabar said:

I totally agree.  Adding ammonia and testing is a great way to avoid killing your fish.  I'm setting up a new tank right now the exact some way.  Fish will be added after the tank can process a set amount of ammonia.

I've used some old filter media and some a small amount of gravel from another tank.  I'm guessing that two weeks will be about right...

I noticed a small amount of brown algae on the gravel this morning, and, sure enough, I'm now measuring nitrite and nitrate in the tank.  Ammonia is down slightly.  4 days is pretty quick, but I did use some established media.  We'll see how long it takes for the nitrite to go away... 🙂

[Dacotua]

Took mine two weeks with a sponge filter from a established tank. I didn't get a instant cycle like people say the did.  I hope your tank cycles quickly for you too. Mine would cycle off the ammonia quickly, it was Nitrite that took forever to go to zero. Guess the Nitrate population wasn't enough for 2 weeks.

 

[Supermassive]

I added an entire 250ml bottle of Seachem Stability to 8 gallons of water over 2 weeks and it didn't cycle. That is supposed to be enough for 1000 gallons. I also squeezed a sponge into the filter and added pre cycled ceramic media and it still didn't cycle for a couple weeks.

[Galabar]

Yes, nitrite cycling can take a long time.