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December 14th, 2007
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| | Fish Bum
| I am cycling with pure ammonia
I have been putting pure ammonia in for a week now. I have a 10 g. I am not supprised that I am not getting nitrites yet but what I have read said that I should put 5 drops in every day until I get a nitrite reading then drop it down to 3 a day till I get nitrates then water change and the i can put a couple of fish in. Well my concern is I am putting the ammonia in but the ammonia reading on my API liquid test kit is 8.0+ It cant get any more green, if it could I think it would  Any way is this normal. Should I stop adding ammonia and just wait or should I just keep on keepin on? Let me know what ya'll think!
Thanks,
Mike | 
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December 14th, 2007
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| | Fish Keeper
| i say just wait eventually the bacteria will break it down. Patience is key! | |
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December 14th, 2007
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| | Fish Bum
| so no more ammonia and wait or keep on with the ammonia and wait? | |
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December 14th, 2007
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| | Fish Keeper
| no more | |
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December 14th, 2007
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| | Fish Keeper
| Quote:
Originally Posted by guppy07  I have been putting pure ammonia in for a week now. I have a 10 g. I am not supprised that I am not getting nitrites yet but what I have read said that I should put 5 drops in every day until I get a nitrite reading then drop it down to 3 a day till I get nitrates then water change and the i can put a couple of fish in. Well my concern is I am putting the ammonia in but the ammonia reading on my API liquid test kit is 8.0+ It cant get any more green, if it could I think it would Any way is this normal. Should I stop adding ammonia and just wait or should I just keep on keepin on? Let me know what ya'll think!
Thanks,
Mike | Hi Mike, Sound like you have to much Ammonia. Would do a water change to get it down to 2.0 max, or you will be waiting a long time for the bacteria to brake it down. Have you added the live bacteria to the tank yet? | |
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December 14th, 2007
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| | Fish Keeper
| Mike, did a copy an past of the way i cycle, skipped day1&2, as you are cycling the tank skip the bit about getting the tank water ready,as this method discribed here is for a filter cycle.
Day 3
Check your ammonia levels. Due to natural dieoff, you will probably get some sort of reading. You want to achieve at least 1ppm, so if the levels are not there yet, add a drop of ammonia and test again. It only takes a minute amount of ammonia to get to 1ppm, so take it slowly, one drop at a time. Swish it round and test after every drop. Once you are at 1ppm, you can relax. Take a note of how many drops you added to get to 1ppm, as you will need this figure later. The bacteria will now start to go to work.
Day 4 onwards
Test your ammonia every day. The levels will drop over time. It may take up to a week or more to reach 0ppm, so be patient. When you have reached 0ppm, add ammonia again, to get back to 1ppm. If your ammonia levels on Day 3 were 0ppm, add the same number of drops you added initially. Otherwise, experiment. Don’t worry if you go over 1ppm, it just means it will take a day or so longer. Relax! Keep notes. Now, every time your levels drop to 0ppm, you will be adding ammonia to get back to 1ppm.
Once your bacteria are clearing 1ppm down to 0ppm in 24 hours, start checking the levels every 12 hours. Once they are clearing 1ppm in 12 hours, you can start testing for nitrites (what the bacteria are converting the ammonia to in the nitrogen cycle). You want your bacteria to be able to achieve 0ppm of ammonia and 0 nitrites in the same amount of time, so test 12 hourly. When your ammonia is 0.0 in 12 hours, start feeding it every 12, get a nice big colony of bacteria up and running. It will only take a day or so for the bacteria to come up to speed, bless them. At this stage, you can get your tank water ready. Mix up more than enough to fill your tank, and get your decorations ready. Clean the tank and all fake decorations as above. As soon as the ammonia and nitrites are clearing in 12 hours, you’re there!
Congratulations! You have now cycled your filter without smelly prawns, ugly diatom blooms or stressed fish, and all in less than a couple of weeks! | |
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December 15th, 2007
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| | Fish Bum
| Hey guys thanks for all the tips. Sounds like I have a bit of an excess. Here is my plan. Do a big water change like 30-40%. Then check ammonia levels. If they are at 1-2 PPM I am good if not I can bring try to bring them up a bit by your method, peterpiper. What do you mean about adding live bacteria? Obviously by the question I have I probably have not but wanted to know what you were talking about. I have added Topfin bacterial supplement that I was told by petsmart would help but am finding out that is not really the case. The bottle says that it helps new tank syndrome and helps introduce beneficial bacteria but I don't really think it is doing much except for keeping my water pretty cloudy. Speaking of which can I use something to clear my water up or should I wait till the cycle is over then try something. Let me know what you think of my plan. Thanks to everyone who has helped so far. | |
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December 15th, 2007
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| | Fish Master
| Thanks a lot for taking the time to write this really informative post, Pete. I know it's copy/paste, but you must have written it some day, and I find it very helpful and clear. Quote:
Originally Posted by Peterpiper Mike, did a copy an past of the way i cycle, skipped day1&2, as you are cycling the tank skip the bit about getting the tank water ready,as this method discribed here is for a filter cycle.
Day 3
Check your ammonia levels. Due to natural dieoff, you will probably get some sort of reading. You want to achieve at least 1ppm, so if the levels are not there yet, add a drop of ammonia and test again. It only takes a minute amount of ammonia to get to 1ppm, so take it slowly, one drop at a time. Swish it round and test after every drop. Once you are at 1ppm, you can relax. Take a note of how many drops you added to get to 1ppm, as you will need this figure later. The bacteria will now start to go to work.
Day 4 onwards
Test your ammonia every day. The levels will drop over time. It may take up to a week or more to reach 0ppm, so be patient. When you have reached 0ppm, add ammonia again, to get back to 1ppm. If your ammonia levels on Day 3 were 0ppm, add the same number of drops you added initially. Otherwise, experiment. Don’t worry if you go over 1ppm, it just means it will take a day or so longer. Relax! Keep notes. Now, every time your levels drop to 0ppm, you will be adding ammonia to get back to 1ppm.
Once your bacteria are clearing 1ppm down to 0ppm in 24 hours, start checking the levels every 12 hours. Once they are clearing 1ppm in 12 hours, you can start testing for nitrites (what the bacteria are converting the ammonia to in the nitrogen cycle). You want your bacteria to be able to achieve 0ppm of ammonia and 0 nitrites in the same amount of time, so test 12 hourly. When your ammonia is 0.0 in 12 hours, start feeding it every 12, get a nice big colony of bacteria up and running. It will only take a day or so for the bacteria to come up to speed, bless them. At this stage, you can get your tank water ready. Mix up more than enough to fill your tank, and get your decorations ready. Clean the tank and all fake decorations as above. As soon as the ammonia and nitrites are clearing in 12 hours, you’re there!
Congratulations! You have now cycled your filter without smelly prawns, ugly diatom blooms or stressed fish, and all in less than a couple of weeks! | | |
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December 15th, 2007
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| | Fish Keeper
| Wish it was my work! But I take no credit, It is the work and the will to share of someone on a forum that is for seahorses and sea dragons. As the sea horses that we get in Australia are mostly captive breed, their immune system is not the same as wild one's. So some of the hitch hikers on LR can give some problems as can mixing CD with WC. So some chose to use bleached rock not LR, cycle with Ammonia, then add coral etc. I have the link, if you would like to have a look.. Just didn't want to post it, in-case I'm not aloud to do that here.
Mike, Please check that the ammonia that you are using is only ammonia and water. It should be clear with no other additives, if you are using cloudy Ammonia, or Ammonia with additives you will need to stop and clean everything and start again. The Live bacteria should be at your LFS, JUST CHECK THE USE BY DATE! Hope this helps
Pete
Ok I keep thinking of things to add, Once your tank has cycled, and if you don't add your fish within a day or two of your readings reaching 0 as per the cut / past, you will need to add some ammonia to keep the bacteria alive until you add the fish, as the good bacteria will die off if it gets no ammonia, from you or the fish. This would make your tank go into another cycle when you add your fish. Hope thats clear... its been a long week. please let me know if I'm not clear enough.
Last edited by Peterpiper; December 15th, 2007 at 05:44 AM.
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