Sooo Frustrated!!! Why Won't It Cycle!!!!!

dejay

dejay

Member
GRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!! :mad: I'VE HAD MY 55 SW TANK UP AND RUNNING OVER A MONTH NOW!!! IT HAS LIVE SAND, BOUT 25-30 LBS OF LIVE ROCK, AND HAS HAD 3 BLUE DAMSELS THERE WERE JUST REPLACED WITH 1 CLOWN, AND 2 DIFFERENT TYPES OF DAMSLES. I GO AND HAVE MY WATER TESTED LIKE ONCE EVER 3 OR 4 DAYS. EVERYTIME ITS BEEN OFF THE CHARTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND THEY SAY MY ONE... WHAT'S IT CALLED..... THE PURPLE TEST TUBE... THEY SAID THEY'VE NEVER SEEN ONE SO HIGH!!!!!!!!!
GRRRRRRR!!!!!!!! I CAN'T STAND IT. THERE IS THIS AMAZING FISH THAT I'M WATING TO BUY THAT THEY WON'T HOLD FOR ME, AND I KNOW THEY'RE GOING TO SELL IT BEFORE I CAN GET MY $#^@&& TANK CYCLED!!!! THEN I HEARD ABOUT THIS LIFE SAVER CALLED BIO SPRIA OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT, YOU KEEP IN IN THE FRIG AND ITS TO CYCLE A TANK LIKE OVERNIGHT??? WELL IT WAS $30.00 THAT I SHELLED OUT CUZ I'M GETTING PISSED AT THIS... I PUT IT IN LIKE 3 DAYS AGO, HAD MY WATER TESTED TODAY....... AND GUESS WHAT............. SAME THING!!!! OFF THE CHARTS!!! ANY :help: WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!
 
ohioreef

ohioreef

Member
What are your water parameters? Especially ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, pH and SG?
If you provide those the people on this board will be able to help you out a lot easier.
 
flipmodez5

flipmodez5

Member
Well there can be a couple of problems with your tank. First when your tank was cycling, did you see brown algae all over your tank??? then it turned to green algae and then it was gone??? If not then that means that you have poor lighting. If you have good lighting then the other problem I can think of is from uneaten food that is just lying on the bottom of your sandbed...do you have any cleanup critters??? I dont like hermit crabs so I usually go wit 23 Nassarius snails, 3 peppermints and 3 camel backs, and if you want a small horseshoe crab...I'd also make sure that during the cycle process you were adding the right amount of calcium and iodine...if not then you'd never get the tank cycled...also make sure your doing water changes like every week (about 10%) unless you have really good filtration....
hope this helped :)
 
dejay

dejay

Member
I was told don't touch the tank untill its has cycled. No water changes, no filter changes, no cleaning the sand, no nothing. I did get some I think red slime alge...? I posted it on here and someone sent me a link to another post. It was a VERY long post but it said to cut back on feeding and to turn your lights off ... sure enough 2 days later it was all gone. I notice when I leave my lights on for most of the day then that redish/brownish alge comes back. So I have no idea.. I'm just VERY frustrated!
 
scotts

scotts

Active Member
DJ, I understand you are frustrated but more information would help. How long was your tank set up before you put the damsels in? What hapened to the damsels, did you take them out or did they die? From what I understand your cycle will not actually start until you start it. Many people do this by adding a raw shrimp and this will add amonia (sp) to your tank that will get your cycle started. More questions but I have to get going right now.
Scott
 
schneidts

schneidts

Active Member
Sounds to me like your tank is cycling right now.:thinking: The cycle is not complete until ammonia, nitrates, and nitrites all reach zero...you won't have any fish live until this happens. I think it might be a good idea to see if you can bring those fish back to the lfs until these levels are at zero...there are alot of good books out there with lots of good info on saltwater fish keeping.
 
trentfish

trentfish

New Member
de jay,
You may try throwing a actnic light in your hood, the appearance may not be appealing if you don't have a single bulb, but it helped me out. I used about 2 gallons of distilled water, and added chlor out, along with some yellow tail damsels and a domino. DON"T BUY ANYTHING EXPENSIVE. Damsels are heardy, they can take the pressure in most water conditions. be patient bro. I cycled in around 2 weeks. with the eclipse system. LIVE ROCK WAS A GOOD IDEA TOO
 
trentfish

trentfish

New Member
p.s. dejay, don't over feed. a small pinch every other day with damsels is good. wasted food, and fish waste equals ammonia. ammonia equals trouble.
 
pacopetty

pacopetty

Member
Patience grasshopper, one must have patience be fore they ever achieve success!
Mine did the same thing as yours is doing. Sometimes the cycle just takes longer to develope and end. I did the Bio-spira thing too, $35 here, and it didn't do anything for my tank either. Just wait it out.
Oh yea, you've come to the right place for info, these guys are great.
Welcome to the board and good luck!
 
beaslbob

beaslbob

Well-Known Member
1) don't feed your fish. ammonia and nitrItes will be 0.0 in a week.
2) add plant life. then everything will be much better.
the worse thing you can do is somethine anything. especially when the bacteria is building up in a new system. Just let it be. And it will be better
 
frazier

frazier

New Member
I had the same problem.. I went back to old faithful!!! I use stress zyme every week. People tell me I have the cleanest looking tank they have seen in along time. My Dad does the same thing. Stress zyme is Awesome. It truly has made a difference in my 55 gal. tank. My fish are all healty and happy!!
 
caillou

caillou

Member
patience is the key to this hobby. My 75 cracked and jumped to a 90 over two months ago and I'm not adding anything yet (that i didn;t already have)
 
dejay

dejay

Member
I had 3 blue damsels in like 24 hours after I first put my tank up. I had them in there for about 3 weeks. They acted great. Then I bought live rock and I wanted to get them out before I put the live rock in cuz i've heard catching a damsel is the hardest thing to try to do. Even without live rock in a empty tank it took me like 20 min. lol. Well then I put in the live rock and I went to the LPS. They said you HAVE to have fish in there to complete your cycle. Cuz their waste and everything really helps out the cycle. So my best friend was about to trade in a maroon clown, black and white striped damsel, and a yellow and black striped damsel. I bought all 3 of them off of him for 15 bucks. I've put them in and I took a water sample up to my LPS and they said that the fish wouldn't last till morning. So I was flipping out... I came home and tried to catch them..... IMPOSSIBLE!!! So I gave up and said well, if their going to die, then that's just whats going to happen. But that was like 3 days and all 3 are doing fine. I DO have 2 100% Antinic (spelling) lights. And I just bought some kinda of seaweed. So now I'm just wating... HEY EVERYONE BE SURE TO LOOK FOR MY NEW POST I'M BOUT TO PUT UP CALLED " What kind of Lion Fish is this? " I need everyone to tell me what the hell kinda Lion this is. This is why I'm wanting my tank to cycle A.S.A.P. Cuz I HAVE to get this Lion Fish!!! I'll be includeing pics. Thanks for all the help people.
 
frazier

frazier

New Member
daughter broke dvd drive on computer getting it fixed but I could send you a multimedia picture from Cell phone. Need email address
 
toughguy80

toughguy80

Member
DeJay the problem is you keep creating <sp> a new cycle. First time you did it was with the first set of damsels. 2nd time was with adding LR and the last one was with the fish you just bought. I had the same situation. I used a raw shrimp to begin the cycle then about 2 weeks later I added LR and levels shot back up. It's been about 2 more weeks now and it's finally starting to come back down. I bet if you leave everything alone it'll go down naturally. :yes:
 
ukcats

ukcats

Member
Just give it time and let the tank cycle... From what it sounds like it will be a couple of weeks. The rock sent your tank into another mini cycle...now the new fish sent it on ANOTHER mini cycle...you need to wait it out or you will end up killing anything that is not called a Damsel.
 
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