Why wont my tank cycle? Fluval Flex 9

[Hobbit]

Okay, mine doesn’t smell like farts AT ALL. Wouldn’t it be crazy if this whole time the issue is that your conditioner stinks (😜) and fails to get rid of chlorine, and therefore no beneficial bacteria can grow???

If I were you I would get a new conditioner ASAP. And then start using that Seachem stability again! Oh I am sooooo curious if that’s the answer.

[Schwack]

Water conditioner, at least Seachem Prime, dechlorinates using sodium thiosulphate. Sulphur smells like farts/rotten eggs. It's totally normal. 

If I were in your shoes, I'd drop the weekly water changes. It sounds like you've already got fish in the tank, so you may want to dose the tank with something to temporarily ionize the ammonia/nitrite, like Seachem Prime/API equivalent. I'd reduce their feedings dramatically and let it ride for a few weeks. Assuming all the necessary ingredients are present, tanks want to cycle. You've got the ammonia to kick the whole thing off, your best bet might be getting out of nature's way for a while. Maybe see if you can pick up another handful of cycled media or grab some plants from the coop/your LFS and keep the rockwool on em for a while.

Do you know if your water is treated with chlorine or chloramine? You might want to pick up a 2mL syringe to use exclusively for dosing your water conditioner. You'd be able to get much more precise with it, although in your shoes I'd be more concerned about under-treating than over.

Edited March 16, 2021 by Schwack

[Hobbit]

11 hours ago, Schwack said:

Water conditioner, at least Seachem Prime, dechlorinates using sodium thiosulphate. Sulphur smells like farts/rotten eggs.

API uses the same active ingredient. However, sodium thiosulfate itself is odorless—you only get the sulfur smell if it breaks down. My API conditioner has NO rotten egg smell, and it’s not a new bottle. I’ve been using it for a year at this point (keeping it in the fridge). Some amount of breaking down is probably totally normal, but I wonder if @Fishingfool’s bottle is broken down to the point of being useless.

Edited March 16, 2021 by Hobbit

[Schwack]

Every bottle of Seachem Prime I've ever used has had an eggy smell to it. I'm guessing the API conditioner is functionally the same. It sounds like it's a luck of the draw sort of thing, combined with exposure to air in the bottle.

I found a discussion from a few years back where someone actually contacted Seachem about the smell. Unless they're using an extremely old bottle, I'd put money on it being a particularly smelly batch.

[Hobbit]

Man, you’re probably right... in Fishingfool’s shoes I would still get a new bottle. Something weird is happening in that tank and I would be grasping at straws at this point! 😆

[Fishingfool]

Alright, so today is water change day.  I also lost a cherry shrimp yesterday that I got last Saturday.  

I tested my water that I pulled out of the tank, which included the dead partially pulverized shrimp.  Estimated about 2.5 gallons pulled.

Ammonia ~4 PPM

Nitrites and nitrates 0.

 

I did buy a new bottle of SeaChem Prime to try out.  Even though above shows smell doesnt mean much, this bottle of SeaChem barely has a smell to it.  I had to take several deep inhales to get a scent of it.  

If my little dropper is accurate, it's roughly 2 droplets per gallon of SeaChem.   I only need no more than .3 ml for this water change.

We'll see how well this works out.  I'm going to add some of SeaChem Stability again since I have a spike of ammonia from the added shrimp.

 

 

[Fishingfool]

So here we are, 3/31. I'm still in the same spot.  Ammonia 1-2 PPM with 0 nitrites and nitrates. I tested with new test strips also. Seems pretty closer except according to the strip, my ammonia is about 4 PPM. I understand strips are less accurate though.

 

Starting last week, I've been using a syringe to add SeaChem Prime. It's basically .1ml per gallon. Which is about 3-4 drops. Without a doubt, I was overdosing with API Conditioner early on. Not sure what effects that might be.

 

I'm also adding SeaChem Stability, half capful. Even though it doesn't seem to be doing anything. I already have it. Might as well use it.

 

Today, I trimmed off a lot of the dead to melted leaves. Hoping to reduce the ammonia from decaying leaves. As you can see, I do have quite a bit of algae now. I think it's hair algae? I do like the look of it on my rocks. Looks more natural. I haven't been dosing in a few weeks now. Just whatever root tabs from Jan.

The fish seem to be fine. The shrimp seem to be fine. They haven't made a dent at all in the algae. Want to pick up an Otto to help. The plants seem to be doing fine. I did remove the clump of dwarf hairgrass on the left. Wasn't completely dead but a lot were and it was too hard to separate the few living strands.

Edited April 1, 2021 by Fishingfool

[Hobbit]

I’ve been so curious about how you’e doing! I don’t have any new ideas, but I appreciate the update. 😄 Hopefully the algae will help use up the ammonia at least!

[Fishingfool]

Well a bit of an update, sort of.

I'm still doing weekly water changes.  As of today, the test strip on my tester showed pink for nitrates before I did the change!  It wasnt pink enough for 20 PPM(1st marking) but it finally changed colors.  I also tested ammonia with a test strip and it looked very promising.  Slightly different shade than 0.

So I tested the water with my API freshwater kit.  Ammonia is barely .25 PPM. It's somewhere between 0 and .25 PPM.  Great!  Nothing for nitrites.  And nothing for nitrates........  So I assume I have some nitrates now but below 5 PPM for the API kit to not pick up.  

Crazy this tank started back in early Jan and here we are at the end of April and finally seeing signs of going the right direction.  At the way it's going, I'm thinking I should be able to do bi-weekly changes soon.

I think it's just about time to replenish the root tabs but I may wait until I see signs of distress of the plants?

Edited April 29, 2021 by Fishingfool

[Hobbit]

Yaaay!! Progress!! That’s great to hear.

I personally would wait for the plants to show distress before fertilizing more—your plants look GREAT as is. I wonder if you’re showing such low nitrate because your plants are just gobbling it up.

I’m very excited that your cycle is finally ramping up!

[Fishingfool]

I forgot to mention. I added 2 Otto's about 3 weeks ago to help with the algae. They did a great job on my rocks and leaves. Then 1 died about a week later. This other one seems to be doing well still,

[Hobbit]

It’s really common to lose otos around a week after getting them. There’s a few theories as to why it happens, but just know it’s probably nothing you did. Just make sure this one doesn’t run out of algae. That would be one reason to add more fertilizer! 😊