I am going insane

[Niku-M]

So I've been trying to cycle my small tank for over 2 weeks now, and it still hasn't totally finished. I figured my tank would cycle much slower because of cold water but I didn't expect for it to take too long.

The readings have been steady lately: 0 ammonia and about 3,3 nitrites, which is high on my chart (but not highest). My nitrates are over 100 and yeah, keep increasing off course.

I could really use some advice now, is this normal for a tank to stay on these levels for so long and should I just wait or is something like a water change advisable (haven't done that for 2 weeks).

[Lady Hobbs]

Two weeks is not uncommon at all and cold water is probably not helping. Have you not a heater for it?

[Chrona]

How cold's the water? Room temperature water at about 60-65 degrees will take FOREVER to cycle. Bacteria growth grows exponentially as you go up in temperature. You need a heater, and crank it up to 82-85

[Owen Stubbs]

Welcome to the "endless cycle" club!

Out of curiosity, are you doing fishless, and if so, how much ammonia are you adding? Are you past the nitrite spike (seems like it with the nitrates)?

[Niku-M]

Haha Owen thanks, I've seen some of your thread and yeah, this sucks :(

Yes I am doing fishless cycle, and adding a few drops of ammonia (using a teaspoon now) every day. I've had an ammonia spike which went down quite fast and I also had a spike in nitrites, they have gone down but seem to stay at this level now. Maybe I'm just impatient hehe. I don't have the time to check my water today but I'll see tomorrow if it maybe has gone down.

I'll see about what I can do about heating the tank, although I'm not going to put it up too much because I'm afraid my plants will wither. And really, it's getting boring enough without fish anyway. ;)

Btw, I guess my nitrates are so high because I'm cycling for almost 3 weeks now, this means that even though some nitrites still linger in the cycle all the other stuff has been cycled through I guess. I'm worried how to get it down later.

[Niku-M]

I was thinking, could there be some feedback mechanism that prevents further growth of nitrite eating bacteria when nitrate levels are extremely high?

I tested my water today and found out that my nitrite levels might have been closer to 0,9 all this time (I might have waited too short, or just haven't seen right. I'm sure it's 0,9 today).

Would it maybe be a good idea to do a water change to lower nitrates and see what happens?

[Lady Hobbs]

I still think if you had enough heat in your tank and adding some aeration it would finish up for you. People plant angel and discus tanks all the time and both fish require warmer temps without harm to plants.

[Nautilus29]

it took me 3 to 4 weeks to cycle my 10g and I had a heater. Just give it time.

[Niku-M]

Thanks for all your responses, I'll be more patient and try to get some air / heat in the tank to see what happens. Maybe it'll finish anyway in a few days.

I would be GLAD because waiting for almost a month without fish is boring :(

[Chrona]

Wait, you already had a nitrite spike? It went down afterwards? How long did the nitrite spike take and did you seed the tank with any bacteria from another tank?

[Lady Hobbs]

Now I'm getting confused. Two days ago you wrote you'd been cycling 2 weeks, then you wrote 3 weeks and today you wrote 1 month. Two-3 weeks would be about right but a month would be a different story.

[Niku-M]

The nitrite spike lasted about 3 days at it's highest level, then went down rapidly and then stayed at the level I mentioned. But 2 days ago the nitrites went to 0 (I think because of rising temperature, the weather got really good). it was the same yesterday so a did a series of water changes to get the nitrates down and I added my fish! They seemed comfortable within hours and are looking very good. So I think everything turned out all right.

I'm sincerely sorry Hobbs to make you confused. :( It's my weird (bad) perception of time, I have a log of my tank so I could check how long it actually took. Right now, it's exactly 3 weeks.