Beanz1927

Ive been cycling my 60L tank since last monday. I added enough ammonia to raise the tank level to 5ppm. It dropped steadily till it reached around 0.5ppm but now it hasnt changed for a few days. Is this normal and what should i do now?

Lucy

There are 2 methods to cycling with ammonia,
the add and wait method (wait til it drops to 0 then add more)
or
Keeping the ammonia at 5 until nitrites register then dropping the amount of ammonia you add in 1/2.

I'm assuming you're doing the former.

In the instructions here:
Ammonia instructions for a fishless cycle
It states that when the ammonia drops to 1ppm you're supposed to bring the amount back up and wait again and continue that until the ammonia is processed with 12 hrs. You should be cycled.

soldieroffortune1974

when it strats dropping,keep adding ammonia to maintain the 5ppm,until you see nitrites rising.Once the nitrites rise,continue adding ammonia until you see nitrates around 10ppm. Then allow the ammonia and nitrite levels to reach zero and nitrates should read about 20. Then you will be ablt to stock.

Since the ammonia is at 0.5 add more ammonia to raise it back to 5ppm

Peterpiper

Thats a fast drop in ammonia! what test kit are you using?
If you are cycling the tank, I would only get the ammonia upto 2 at the most, not 5.
Check your nitrites, if the ammonia is falling you should start to get readings for nitrites.
Keep the ammonia between 1-2 by adding ammonia daily. Once the ammonia and nitrites fall from 1-2 ammonia to 0 ammonia & 0 nitrites in 12hrs the cycle is complete. do a 100% water change and stock the tank.
A 60lt tank will take 4-5 weeks to cycle
Keep the temp at 30c during the cycle

soldieroffortune1974

The reason for keeping the ammonia level at 5ppm,and not 1 or 2ppm is the excess ammonia will allow stocking more fish,once the cycle is completed,due to the larger amount of bacteria present.

Peterpiper

Hi Lucy & soldieroffortune1974
IMO, There is no need to get the ammonia up to 5 when cycling a whole tank,
1-2 would be fine IMO.
The 5ppm should be used when cycling a filter in a tub that hold 25-50% of the water that the tank will hold.
I have never seen a stocked uncycled tank get a ammonia reading of 1 in 12hrs, so 1-2 should be fine.

Beanz1927

Thanks for the help. my parents are starting to get annoyed that theres nothing in the tank but water and a few decorations

Matt

LOL. As Parents Do

When I Was Cycling My SW Tank WIth live rock i walked in from school one day and went into my room were i saw my dad lying on my bed with a beer in his hand just watching my live rock and seeing if any little critters would walk out

That was funny and soon after i joined him (instead of a beer i had a soda )

-Matt

jdhef

You must be a pretty good kid if that's all your parents have to be annoyed about!