Fishless cycle using pure ammonia question

Day 4 of using pure ammonia. When should I expect to see Nitrites?

Today, Ammonia is about 2.0 -

Day one I had put in 4 drops and it was between 4.0 - 8.0 - killed off my water wisteria so I brought the dosage down the next few days.

Should I be raising the ammonia a bit higher?????

What were your experiences with fishless cycle using ammonia? How long did it take? By the way, this is for a 6 gallon tank.

Thank you!

Junne

 

Usually, it's recommended to keep around 4ppm ammonia. I believe it can take upward of 2-3 weeks to see nitrites and then another 2-3 weeks to fully cycle for a total of 4-6 weeks. Some people have done it faster, while others get it done slower. Way to be patient. I cycle all of my tanks using established filter media, as I don't have patience.

 

There are multiple methods for pure ammonia cycling. I suggest looking at to figure out which method you'd like to use. I'm currently using the Add and Wait method on a 20 Gallon tank. It took my tank 14 day to get to 0 ppm Ammonia.

Out of curiosity, what type of water treatment if any did you use on your water? I ask because it seems that you ammonia is dropping rather fast. Did you seed the tank with filter media or substract from one of your other tanks?

 

Thanks for the responses. I have not used any water treatment. Should I be?

I have a 6 gallon tank - just started on 6/23/12. I did not seed it with any filter media from my other 2 tanks - one, because my 36 gallon just cycled less than 2 weeks ago and I am afraid to touch it. My 5 gallon has never cycled ( started on 3/30/12 ) and it currently has a Betta and a mystery snail which I plan on moving over to the 6 gallon once its cycled.
I guess I need to be patient.... I don't want to do a fish in cycle with TSS as I have already tried that with my other 2 tanks and I don't believe it worked..... It may have sped up the process on my 36 gallon but like I said, my 5 gallon is still uncycled. So this is where I am so far..

 

I'd have suggested treating the water with something (I use prime) before the fishless cycle (not sure what chemicals, metals, etc. are in your tap water). But at this point i'd suggest you read that post I mentioned and figure out which method you prefer.

 

Thank you

 

Day 9
HOUSTON! WE HAVE NITRITES!!!! 0.25

 

Sweet...it is coming along ;-)

 

Never thought i'd be excited to see Nitrites!!! Hopefully soon we will be able to put the Betta in!!! YAY!~

 

I know that feeling...lol