JstJake

I think i've made a mistake on the very first day of my cycle

Ok so I'm 100 odd miles away from home right now so I don't have 'direct' influence over my tank. Luckily my girlfreind does! Heres the problem, I asked her to find how much ammonia solution was required to get the PPM to 3.7 (the nearest rating to 4) now unfortunatley the biggest bucket she has is two litres, now I said just add a few drops and keep measuring untill it read the desierd 3.7 ppm

when she said 5, I didn't bat an eyelid, I did a little arithmatic and if 2 litres takes 5 drops then hey, 2 litres times 5 = ten litres thats 25 drops, now i've got over 80 litres in my tank so times 25 by 8...200 drops!

I said go ahead, why don't you just drop 200 drops in a testube and just measure how much in millilitres, that will save time next time!!!




my problem is this,200 drops of ammonia (allbeit only 9.5%) is definatley far far in excess of what i actually need! right? So either she read the test wrong, or gave no time to settle ect. anyway it's happend now shes not back from work till late tonight so i'll speak to her then. What should i tell her to do, and willl my plants survive this beating!!

thankyou!

pepetj

No I don't think so. That's probably what you need, and you have indeed a strong solution of ammonia.

To give you an idea:
I counted 60 drops for my 29gal bow tank (to bring Ammonia to 5-6ppm). I faced the same problem and did exactly what you suggest: used ml instead of drops for larger tanks. I needed 25ml for my 145gal tank, and 7ml for my 40gal tank.

Hope this helps

Pepe
Santo Domingo

pepetj

Remember that you need to wait several minutes (usually 20) to get the ammonia reading right! The colour will change/intensify and give you an accurate reading after that time passes not before.

Pepe
Santo Domingo

JstJake

I think thats the problem, the time left to settle before measuring.

what I might do is change my plan slighty, I'll switch to the add and wait method. I know this may take me longer to complete cycling, but at least it will give me a bigger bacteria reserve for when I add my first three danios

just worried about my plants, are most fine with alot of ammonia?

jdhef

I don't know if your plants can tolerate the ammonia, but it has been said that too high an ammonia level can actually slow down the cycle.

If indeed you want to lower your ammonia level, just do a partial water change.