Bare Bottom QT tank stuck cycling

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Hello everyone.

I started 2 quarantine tanks 4 weeks ago. Both 20 gallon long tanks. One for fish the other for corals/inverts. The one for fish is bare bottom, no rock/sand just a sponge filter.. In both i added 2 ounces of dr tims one and only. I dosed 2PPM of dr tims ammonium chloride in the fish QT and i put in a chunk of raw tilapia in the invert QT. The invert QT has dry rock and sand. After 3 weeks my ammonia on the invert QT is basically 0 and the nitrites are 5+. However my fish QT is still stuck at 2ppm ammonia. After week 3 i changed the sponge filter for a canister filter (i put the sponges in the canister filter) thinking that maybe there wasn't enough surface area since it is a bare bottom with not rock/sand. I also added another bio bottle from petco/topfin. One week later ammonia still reads 2ppm. Nitrites/Nitrates 0. I started adding seachem seed on week 4. So far nothing.

The invert QT still showing 5ppm nitrites but at least it is progressing. I have added some sponges and extra rocks in the invert QT to let them seed and hopefully be able to put them in the fish QT within a few weeks if nothing changes.


I'm also cycling 2 main tanks that i just started. a 20 gallon cube and a 40 gallon cube. For the 20 gallon i added 2ppm of dr tims ammonium chloride and for the 40 i added a piece of tilapia.

Any other thoughts?
 
Ok so stop putting in the seachem seed and get some fritz? I can order some tonight!

Fritz and biospira are just very reliable for cycling. You can still add seed but given how cheap a bottle is for those two, I'd just do that and not have to worry.
 

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