Tank not cycling?

Good morning fellow enthusiasts.

I'm currently cycling a new 29g freshwater and am now 1.5 weeks since setup and am experiencing what I think is a weird situation. I'm using a powerhead on a sponge filter for filtration that turnsover the water 5.5 times per hour and have a airline attached (measured flow myself). Tank is heated at 78f and is salted @ 1tbsp per 5 gallons (rounded up to 30g). Substrate is large grained sand which I chose for future plant additions. Currently there are no plants in the tank. Even though there aren't any inhabitants yet I have temporarily borrowed the light from a Aquatop Nanosky 7 gallon (spam filter is not allowing me to link but should be top result in a google search) and am running it almost 24/7 in hopes of growing algae. On day 2 or 3 I added enough fertilizer for a heavily planted 60 gallon tank yet see NO signs of algae growth of any kind.

My concern is that I have 0 ammonia/nitrites/nitrates. Maybe it's too early in the cycle for ammonia/nitrites to start showing up, idk. Day 1 I added half of a bottle of this Fritz Turbo Start 700 (spam filter again so no link, sry) per instructions from Aquarium Co-op. 2 days into the cycle I put 1/4 of a catappa leaf in hoping for it to decay and add ammonia (currently shows no sign of decay). About 4 days into the cycle I rinsed the sponge from my established 20g into the new tank, have added 2 sinking carnivore pellets and a sinking algae wafer (both of which have dissolved and scummed up the surface of my water). Last night I performed a 30% water change to get rid of all the mix of surface skum and dog hair that's found its way into the tank (am still working on getting glass cut, could use suggestions). I always use dechlorinator and am using test strips for testing. I know the test strips have not been comprised as they show readings from my other tanks.

Do I just need to be more patient or did I do something wrong? All advice is appreciated, thank you.

I would raise the temp to 80-82. I wouldnt do any water changes if you are showing no signs of ammonia in your tank. Your dechlor will most likely neutralize the ammonia in the water. You'll need ammonia in order to start the first process of the cycle. Maybe go pick up some goldfish to help you, stop water changes and let nature take its course. The cycle will not start without ammonia in there.

I've always done fishless cycles by adding pure ammonia into a tank.

Hope this helps

Will

Will I am wrote:I would raise the temp to 80-82. I wouldnt do any water changes if you are showing no signs of ammonia in your tank. Your dechlor will most likely neutralize the ammonia in the water. You'll need ammonia in order to start the first process of the cycle. Maybe go pick up some goldfish to help you, stop water changes and let nature take its course. The cycle will not start without ammonia in there.

I've always done fishless cycles by adding pure ammonia into a tank.

Hope this helps

Will

I didn't consider the dechlorinator... damn. That makes so much sense, thank you. Do you recommend any specific brand of ammonia I can pick up at a home depot or lowes?

You are looking for ammonia with no pufumes or soap in it. I forgot what ingredients to look out for as a bottle will last you years. I do remember, that the only place I could find it with no additives was ace hardware in auburn. I'll try to take a pic of my bottle. I've had it for 5yrs or so. You also need a dropper that can be bought from any pharmacy.

Fish might be the easiest way to go

Fritz Turbo start 700 is suppose to contain the nitrifying bacteria you need to jump start your tank.

that said you will need to supply the bacteria with some food.. if it works you may not see any spikes in Ammonia or nitrite.

Here's the best fishless cycling article I know of...page 2 shares what type of ammonia to get. I've used this method and it works great but it is slow. Do you have any established media in your tank? It helps to kick start the process if you can put in part of cycled sponge or biomedia bag.

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I'd let your tank sit for atleast 24hrs if you put in dechlor. I use prime so it's supposed to nutruelize ammoniz, nitries and nitrates. Not very good for trying to cycle a tank... Just a heads up.

keep in mind that total ammonia is what we see when we test(NH3+NH4= Total ammonia)

Prime and other conditioners turn NH3 to NH4 (ammonium) which is less harmful to the fish.
the NH4 is available for the nitrifying bacteria to consume.
so Prime does NOT affect the cycling of the tank.

again..fritz turbo smart 700 add nitrifying bacteria I am unsure if it is one of the 'shelf' stable additive which can take a couple weeks to become active or if it is indeed live bacteria which are readily available for an immediate cycle

Star Rider is correct.
I am unsure all of you water parameters are at zero. I would think by 1.5 weeks you'd see nitrites in there.
I've always used stability by seachem to jump start cycles.
I'd go get some gold fish feeders and throw them in there. Keep dosing with your Fritz

With the addition of all the bacteria this tank is already well seeded. This tank is at the stage where fish could be added. Slowly of course, starting with just a couple , then increase every few days continuously checking parameters.

Turbo start is a live bacteria product that is kept in the fridge and has a shelf life up to 3 months. Thus the concentration of bacteria is very high.

I think if you look at it, it's easy to see why the tank isn't "cycling". Let set the stage:

Bacteria goes into water with chlorine in it.. This can kill bacteria.
Bacteria goes without food for 4 days. May have hindered the bacteria.
Food and filter squeezings go in. This helped. 30% water change removed some of those. and 30% of any free floating bacteria you had. Hopefully some has colonized on the filter media etc.

As far as algae. Algae needs to find a way into your tank. With chlorine water etc. You have to wait for algae spores to find their way into your aquarium before algae can start to grow. You do need fertilizer in there to keep it growing. But it physically has to find it's way there. Most likely the sponge filter squeezing has brought this over now.

Lastly, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate are measured in parts per million. That being said, you could have all of those things going on in your aquarium at levels that are not detectable yet. To put it in perspective, lets say your dog goes to the bathroom in your car. You'd smell it right away and find it soon. Conversely if your dog went to the bathroom in the far corner of the house. You might find it the next day etc. The dog had the same amount of waste. But in a bigger space it's hard to find or would measure a lesser amount. The waste to space ratio is different from a car to an entire house. Much like an aquarium. 1 pellet in a 7 gallon tank, is much more potent than a tank that is more than 4 times larger.

What you need to cycle a tank:
A source of beneficial Bacteria.
A source of food for the bacteria.
Patience.
A test kit to measure so you can see when you're producing nitrates and no longer have ammonia and nitrite.