failing to cycle tank

Question
QUESTION: I bought a 180 litre tank about 1 year ago, and still cant get it to cycle, I have tried everything I can think of to establish it, Read everything I could find, tried every product available both to reduce the ammonia and to increase the bacteria.

After a bit more research I decided that I was maybe adding to much of everything to try to sort it out, so tried to do it naturally. I did a 100% water change and cleaned everything in the tank and new filters etc! I decided to use a product called nutrafin cycle which i thought would speed up the process? I am now doing a 10-15% water change every 2nd day and cleaning the gravel & glass weekly, The glass gets bad with green algae.

We have lost a lot of fish along the way, but 2 angels 2 tetras and 1 gouramis have stayed with us!

I am managing to keep the ammonia below 1
The PH has always been low (6 or below),
We have never had nitrite or nitrate readings they have always been 0

I changed the filter to a fluvel u4 as we started to blame the old filter

The tank was 2nd hand when we inherited it, but we rather foolishly replaced all the filters and cleaned everything out as it was filthy when we got it (didnt know any better at the time

Any advice on getting the cycling process going would be much appreciated

Regards kat

ANSWER: Kat,

 When cycling a tank I always do it naturally. Even though products claim to cycle a tank in less time, I have yet to find one that works. When you do the cycling, are you doing it with or without fish? I always do it without anything in the tank but the filter and heater if needed.  If you are doing water checks and the reading are coming out perfect then it means the tank has cycled. When you first set up a tank with the filter gravel and water the cycling begins. Within a week or so the first bacteria bloom starts. This is the bacteria that is not good. In another week or so the next bacteria bloom is the goos stuff. Once that happens continue to let the tank run with no fish. While you are doing this check the water for ammonia, nitrates, and nitrites. If after 4 days it is reading good, meaning none of them are present then it is safe to say the tank has cycles. When rinsing out the old filter, or replacing it all together do the following. Take some water out of the tank. If you are rinsing off the filter then just clean it out in that water. Once done you can add the filter back in the tank but do not add the water back in. If you are replacing it, let the media float in the tank for a couple of days. In doing it this you are trying to prevent the filter from trying to start the cycle process all over again. If after you try all of that and it doesn't work, or if things get worse let me know.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I have 5 fish, 2 Angels 2 Tetras and 1 gouramis

I completely cleaned out the tank and started again using only nutrafin cycle and doing small 10% water changes every 2nd day, im now on week 5 and still reading ammonia when i test it, the ph is 6 or below and both nitrite and nitrates are at 0,

Should it be cycled already or should i keep going with it?

Many thanx kat x

Answer
Kat,

  When doing the water changes, replace 25% to 50% of the water daily until the ammonia is at zero. I don't think its a cycling problem but a filter problem. When you completely clean out a tank then you start the cycling process all over. I would stop using the Nutrafin cycle since it doesn't work and it adds chemicals to the tank that has fish in it. Since you have fish in the tank it is very important that you are testing the water everyday, and that the water changes are done depending on the water readings. I think that if you stop using the chemical cycler, test the water daily and do the water changes all should work out. You have to do the water changes because there are fish in the tank. If this had been a fish-less cycle, you would not have to do the daily water testing. Good luck with the tank. If after 2 weeks, the cycle has not finished or you have more questions or problems let me know.