Cycling New Tank -- Adding Ammonia

I set up my new tank yesterday -- added sand, driftwood, a cave and a few plants -- and then added ammonia. Ammonia without additives is very difficult to find in Canada, but I did find some at the Dollar Tree. I'm starting to wonder, however, if it is quite dilute. Here's my progress so far:

tank -- 29 gallon
filter -- Fluval C3
heater set to 80 F

6:30 p.m. -- added 1 tsp ammonia
8 p.m. -- tested 0.25 ppm, added 2 more tsp
9 p.m. -- tested 0.5 ppm, added 2 more tsp
10:30 p.m. -- tested 0.5 ppm, added 4 tsp
went to bed
8 a.m. -- tested 0.5 ppm

what is happening here? do I just keep dumping more ammonia in??

 

Something seems off, if it is pure ammonia. I use Dr. Tim's Ammonium Chloride, and it takes 3 tsp to get to 2ppm on my 75 gallon tank.

 

I set up my new tank yesterday -- added sand, driftwood, a cave and a few plants -- and then added ammonia. Ammonia without additives is very difficult to find in Canada, but I did find some at the Dollar Tree. I'm starting to wonder, however, if it is quite dilute. Here's my progress so far:

tank -- 29 gallon
filter -- Fluval C3
heater set to 80 F

6:30 p.m. -- added 1 tsp ammonia
8 p.m. -- tested 0.25 ppm, added 2 more tsp
9 p.m. -- tested 0.5 ppm, added 2 more tsp
10:30 p.m. -- tested 0.5 ppm, added 4 tsp
went to bed
8 a.m. -- tested 0.5 ppm

what is happening here? do I just keep dumping more ammonia in??

I’m not sure what ammonia you are using and how diluted it is, but when I was cycling my tank I ordered fritz ammonium chloride online because I couldn’t find any ammonia in my area. I dosed my aquarium to 4ppm and then added some bacteria in a bottle. I then waited a few days until the ammonia was at 0ppm. Then I dose it back to 2ppm and wait for it to go back to 0 ppm. And you basically keep doing that until you see it go from 2ppm to 0ppm in 24 hours. You should start to see nitrite build up after a couple days and that’s a good sign that your tank is starting to cycle. Hope this helps

 

I did a bit of googling and I think my ammonia concentration is 2.5%, so quite low. I can order Dr. Tim's from Amazon so maybe I'll try that. Darn it, I was hoping to get away with $1 ammonia LOL

 

I did a bit of googling and I think my ammonia concentration is 2.5%, so quite low. I can order Dr. Tim's from Amazon so maybe I'll try that. Darn it, I was hoping to get away with $1 ammonia LOL

Yeah that’s what I was hoping when I set mine up too lol. But dr. Tims will be good too. Are you using any bacteria in a bottle? If not I’d reccomend it. I used dr Tim’s bacteria in my second tank and it seemed to cycle quite a bit faster then my first tank

 

I did a bit of googling and I think my ammonia concentration is 2.5%, so quite low. I can order Dr. Tim's from Amazon so maybe I'll try that. Darn it, I was hoping to get away with $1 ammonia LOL

If what you have is pure ammonia just use more of it to get where you need to be. I see no reason for you not to use what you have if you are sure it has nothing but ammonia and water in the bottle.

 

If what you have is pure ammonia just use more of it to get where you need to be. I see no reason for you not to use what you have if you are sure it has nothing but ammonia and water in the bottle.

Thanks. Yes, I will keep trying over the weekend and if it still isn't working, I'll order some of that overpriced 'aquarium' ammonia on Monday but I'd rather save the $20!! (and buy more plants )

 

Check marinedepot.com. They have it, and ship to Canada. They also have a live chat feature so you could see if it is cheaper. $20 is crazy lol.

 

Check marinedepot.com. They have it, and ship to Canada. They also have a live chat feature so you could see if it is cheaper. $20 is crazy lol.

It's the shipping that makes things expensive, not the product price. marinedepot, for example, will charge me $5 for the ammonia but $26 for shipping. Add in the dwindling value of the canadian dollar, and that works out to $42 CAD. So $20 seems pretty awesome lol

 

It's the shipping that makes things expensive, not the product price. marinedepot, for example, will charge me $5 for the ammonia but $26 for shipping. Add in the dwindling value of the canadian dollar, and that works out to $42 CAD. So $20 seems pretty awesome lol

Yikes!

 

Thanks. Yes, I will keep trying over the weekend and if it still isn't working, I'll order some of that overpriced 'aquarium' ammonia on Monday but I'd rather save the $20!! (and buy more plants )

Personally I would have a very hard time spending $20.00 on a tiny bottle of something that can be bought for $1.00 elsewhere. I am thinking Dr.Tim's is 10% so just add 4 times as much of your 2.5% and you should be good to go.

Anything sold specifically for the aquarium hobby is going to be priced accordingly even though most everything can be found much cheaper as long as it isn't labeled for our hobby.

 

I'm in the U.S. and used ammonia that I purchased at Ace Hardware. It is supposed to be 10% concentration and it was STRONG smelling. I was also using a syringe for precision because 1 or 2 mL would get me to 4ppm on a 36 gal tank. If I got any on my finger, it would burn. I'd say you're lucky to find something that is easier to work with.

Concentrations may vary too. When I looked up specs on some ammonia (I don't remember if it was the stuff I bought or something else), the manufacturer listed a concentration range that was really big. Something like 5% plus or minus 2.5%, so you could potentially have one bottle of 2.5% and another at 7.5%.

 

Most of the US material safety data sheets, list "category ranges" rather than actual percentages for ammonia. Typically 0-10%, so most of the US bottles are uncertain and probably also decay with age. I haven't seen industrial hydrous ammonia higher than 30% personally.

3 TSP seems like alot. Did you double check you're test procedures as well? Mine takes 5 minutes to develop color.

If it's reassuring, some guides say the tank needs to wait 1-2 days post dechlorinator before adding ammonia anyways. So you may not be loosing much time.

 

Most of the US material safety data sheets, list "category ranges" rather than actual percentages for ammonia. Typically 0-10%, so most of the US bottles are uncertain and probably also decay with age. I haven't seen industrial hydrous ammonia higher than 30% personally.

3 TSP seems like alot. Did you double check you're test procedures as well? Mine takes 5 minutes to develop color.

If it's reassuring, some guides say the tank needs to wait 1-2 days post dechlorinator before adding ammonia anyways. So you may not be loosing much time.

Yeah I was starting to think I had a faulty test kit (API master) but I don't think that's it. My other tank is showing ammonia just fine on the same test. I really do think it is just very dilute ammonia. It doesn't even smell that strong. I remember the ammonia my grandma used to clean with 30 years ago, and it was a lot smellier!! I think post-911, they stopped selling high concentrate ammonia here.

 

After another day of ammonia dosing, I still can't get a reading higher than 0.5. I gave in and ordered Dr Tim's from amazon ... $18 with shipping and it will be here on Wednesday XD.

 

I found ammonia at Home Hardware just to say. 7 minutes too late!

 

Dr TI'm to the rescue

 

We have nitrites!!! Cycle has begun .

Interesting to note that my 29 gallon fishless cycle is progressing faster than my 5 gallon fish-in cycle. **** danios don’t poop enough.

 

Just as a sidebar when is best to start testing for nitrites and then nitrates - just when the ammonia goes to 0 in 24 hrs?

 

Just as a sidebar when is best to start testing for nitrites and then nitrates - just when the ammonia goes to 0 in 24 hrs?

This is the guide I've been using:

I started testing for nitrites 2 days after adding the ammonia. Today was the first day I saw nitrites and it has been 4 days since adding ammonia. I probably don't need to be testing for nitrate just yet, but I did anyway.

 

You should also test your tap water for nitrates for a baseline to measure against.

 

Thanks, I'll start testing now.

 

Fishless Cycle is progressing swimmingly

I redosed the ammonia to 1ppm .... hoping to see those nitrites start dropping this week!!

Still no progress on my fish-in cycle — won’t ever make that mistake again!

Help. Does this make sense?

Ammonia dropped on Day 6:
ammonia 0.5 ppm
nitrite 2.0 ppm

Day 7:
ammonia 0
nitrite 5
nitrate 20
(re-dosed ammonia to 2 ppm)

Day 8:
ammonia 0
nitrite 2-5
nitrate 10
(re-dosed ammonia to 2 ppm)

Day 9:
ammonia 0
nitrite 2-5
nitrate 0 — edit: my husband says it looks more like 5)

Shouldn't nitrates be rising? Or is this human testing error??

 

is it heavily planted?

did you shake the bottles very well?

 

Aslong as you didn T do a water change then yes they should be rising. Try shaking better.

 

is it heavily planted?

did you shake the bottles very well?

It's pretty heavily planted, yes, and I just added more plants yesterday. Are my plants eating the nitrate?

I think I'm shaking enough? My arm hurts afterward XD.

 

What plants do you have?

 

What plants do you have?

I have:
amazon sword
anubias
littorella uniflora
eleocharis parvula
crypt. wendtii
crypt. crispatula

 

Then I am about 60% sure it could have been the plants.

 

Then I am about 60% sure it could have been the plants.

Ok so then I should just wait for nitrite to drop and don't worry about nitrate?

 

If the nitrate rises to high do a water change. But if it gets high it's also a good sign of biofilm!

 

I just had another thought -- are my plants using up the ammonia too? Since I have so many plants, should I be dosing to 4 ppm instead of 2 ppm? (currently it's going from 2 to 0 in 24 hours or less)

 

Plants can generally reduce ammonia created by waste and rotten foods but biofilm does most of the work.

 

I just had another thought -- are my plants using up the ammonia too? Since I have so many plants, should I be dosing to 4 ppm instead of 2 ppm? (currently it's going from 2 to 0 in 24 hours or less)

I do not have a heavily planted tank, save for 3 marimo moss balls, but this is what I did. Once my tank was processing 2ppm in 24 hours, I dosed it to 2ppm every other day. This means the tank would go a day without a new ammonia source. I had to do this for 4 weeks until my nitrites finally read zero. The first day they read zero, I dosed to 2ppm. It was completely processed to nitrites then to nitrates within 24 hours. Then because I was going to heavily stock my tank all at once, I dosed to 4ppm. It took an additional 12 hours (36 total) for my tests to be 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites. I did a large water change at that point, and added fish later that day. So far so good. It's been a week, all readings are where they should be (0,0 and around 20 nitrates.) and zero fish loss.

 

I do not have a heavily planted tank, save for 3 marimo moss balls, but this is what I did. Once my tank was processing 2ppm in 24 hours, I dosed it to 2ppm every other day. This means the tank would go a day without a new ammonia source. I had to do this for 4 weeks until my nitrites finally read zero. The first day they read zero, I dosed to 2ppm. It was completely processed to nitrites then to nitrates within 24 hours. Then because I was going to heavily stock my tank all at once, I dosed to 4ppm. It took an additional 12 hours (36 total) for my tests to be 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites. I did a large water change at that point, and added fish later that day. So far so good. It's been a week, all readings are where they should be (0,0 and around 20 nitrates.) and zero fish loss.

Ok, I just tested and I'm back to 0 ammonia in 12 hours. Nitrites are still high. I will take your advice and go to dosing ammonia every other day and see what happens. Thanks. btw I just read through your cycle thread -- interesting how different it turns out for everyone. no easy answers.

 

I agree! I wasn't sure what the heck to do until mattgirl and Momgoose56 helped me out. So pretty much just giving you the same advice they gave me on the dosing. I have tagged them on this thread so hopefully they will be by to check it out.

 

My nitrites have still been off the charts so I did a 70% water change this morning and now they are at 2 ppm. I re-dosed ammonia to 1 ppm will check the nitrites again in 24 hours to see if they go up or down.
My nitrates were at 20 ppm last night, so that is nice to see.

 

My nitrites have still been off the charts so I did a 70% water change this morning and now they are at 2 ppm. I re-dosed ammonia to 1 ppm will check the nitrites again in 24 hours to see if they go up or down.
My nitrates were at 20 ppm last night, so that is nice to see.

Now that this tank is processing the ammonia back down to zero and you see both nitrites and nitrates it is just a matter of bringing it into balance. The 70% water change was a good idea. I really think your nitrites will complete their job fairly soon now and will drop to zero.

Morpheus1967 has given you some very good advice. Following it will help you get this cycle done.

 

Progress - maybe?

My tank surfaces are covered with a fine layer of black crud this morning. Is this good or did I just leave the lights on too long?

edit - also tiny floaty wormy things?

 

Progress - maybe?

My tank surfaces are covered with a fine layer of black crud this morning. Is this good or did I just leave the lights on too long?

edit - also tiny floaty wormy things?

Black crud? That is a new one for me. The tiny worms are not unusual and often we will see all kinds of new life in a newly cycled or cycling tank. Most are harmless.

Do you have an air stone or air driven sponge filter in this tank? Most of the time surface scum for want of a better word can be prevented by having surface movement. Still water will get a layer of bio-film on it.