guppy07

Thanks all for posting and giving advice!

This morning I went and got an air pump. I read how important they were. Petsmart said, "nope you don't need to worrie about it." But now I have one putting little O2 bubbles into my tank.

I also was asking questions about my ammonia. I was using pad test. This morning I also got a liquid test kit. I came back to test ammonia and there is none present! That is good because that means that is is not ammonia in my tap water, but I am back at square one with the tank cycle.

So here is a question for ya'll. I have put bacteria supplement to boost the bacteria colonies and there is no bacteria in the tank! Can I just start putting pure ammonia to get this started or should I do some % of a water change.

Let me know

jsalemi

What size is your tank? And are there any fish in it yet?

Be sure to read this article about the cycle: http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm

guppy07

Joe,

Please read thread called my "first post/first question"

It will pretty much explain everything.

In any case 10 gal. no fish (still trying to get the nitrogen cycle going)

jsalemi

You'll need to test for all three chemicals in the cycle, since they'll each spike in turn. Your tank is fully cycled when ammonia is 0, nitrites are 0, and nitrates are some value above 0 (usually around 10 - 20ppm for a stable tank).

0morrokh

You can start putting ammonia in right away. You don't need to do any water changes until you're going to add fish.