Is 4ppm Ammonia Too High?

[ASHLEY R COOK]

I'm fishless cycling so no worries there. But I've been dosing to 2ppm up until now I wanted to up a bit. I think it's at 4ppm or between 2 and 4. It's hard to tell color differences.
Would this slow the cycling or stall it?

 

[Seasoldier]

Hi, no 4ppm is fine while cycling, how long is it taking for that to drop back? Do you see any nitrite & nitrate reading yet?

 

[ASHLEY R COOK]

Hi, no 4ppm is fine while cycling, how long is it taking for that to drop back? Do you see any nitrite & nitrate reading yet?

It take about a week to go to 1ppm. I haven't got it to 0 yet.
I also used tss+ when I started 4 weeks ago but I switched to a better filter 2 weeks ago.
Ammonia has been around 1 or 2ppm
Nitrite 0 (haven't seen any)
Nitrate is now 10 was 5 a week ago.

 

[Frozen One]

What size is the tank?

Also I think stability and prime should be your best friend because they can work together hand and hand. I’ve had great success with stability

 

[ASHLEY R COOK]

What size is the tank?

My tank is 30inx 12.4inx 22in according to the box. It says 37 gal but idk if it is or if it's closer to 35 gals

 

[TexasDomer]

You don't really need to worry about using Prime when you're fishless cycling (other than dechlorinating new water, waiting 24 hours before adding if you used TSS+ within two weeks) - Stability and Prime are great for fish-in cycles, but fishless cycles give you more freedom since you don't need to worry about ammonia hurting your fish.

4 ppm won't hurt, but it's unnecessarily high for this sized tank. I'd just continue with 2 ppm after this.

 

[ASHLEY R COOK]

If I'm not cycling at 8 week mark I'll probably add more tss+ and a group of 6 cories. Would that be a bad idea? I can wait if I have to.

You don't really need to worry about using Prime when you're fishless cycling (other than dechlorinating new water, waiting 24 hours before adding if you used TSS+ within two weeks) - Stability and Prime are great for fish-in cycles, but fishless cycles give you more freedom since you don't need to worry about ammonia hurting your fish.

4 ppm won't hurt, but it's unnecessarily high for this sized tank. I'd just continue with 2 ppm after this.

Ok thx. I will do that.

 

[TexasGuppy]

I would wait, since you've been fishless so far. What's your pH and temp?

 

[TexasDomer]

If I'm not cycling at 8 week mark I'll probably add more tss+ and a group of 6 cories. Would that be a bad idea? I can wait if I have to.

You can do that, just do a 95% change to remove all ammonia from tank. You can do the large water change, add new water, dechlorinate, then wait 24 hours before adding another bottle (whole bottle) of TSS+ and the cories.

 

[ASHLEY R COOK]

I would wait, since you've been fishless so far. What's your pH and temp?

My ph is 8.2 and temp is 83
My KH was 17 but has gone down to 11 i think bc of using so much tss+. Idk bc I'm a noob but BB uses KH right?

 

[Hunter1]

When you upgraded your filter, if you didn’t leave the old media in the new filter, you basically started over IMO.

Did you add TetraSafeStart + to the new filter?

If not, I would do it now.

 

[TexasDomer]

But remember you can't do water changes or add freshly dechlorinated water for 2 weeks.

 

[ASHLEY R COOK]

But remember you can't do water changes or add freshly dechlorinated water for 2 weeks.

Alright. I did add what I could from the old filter but it was a crappy one with a plastic bio thing with big holes and carbon filter bag. I cut what I could from the bag.

 

[Swampgorilla]

You should cycle in less than 8 weeks ...

Up the temperature of the tank to between 80 and 85 degrees F.

Add STABILITY.

Take the tank up to 4 ppm ammonia. Once it gets down to 1ppm - bring it back up to 4 ppm.

Once it starts to eliminate the ammonia in a 24 hour period - stop adding STABILITY and keep doing everything else. This should all take about two weeks.

Then take another week ... no stability, but keep adding the ammonia and letting the tank eliminate it.

If it's all stable after a week without STABILITY ... I would do a large water change (I usually take it ALL out) ... then add new water, no ammonia, and add fish.

Test for ammonia before adding the fish though - it should be 0.

Higher temperature of the tank means faster cycling.

 

[ASHLEY R COOK]

You should cycle in less than 8 weeks ...

Up the temperature of the tank to between 80 and 85 degrees F.

Add STABILITY.

Take the tank up to 4 ppm ammonia. Once it gets down to 1ppm - bring it back up to 4 ppm.

Once it starts to eliminate the ammonia in a 24 hour period - stop adding STABILITY and keep doing everything else. This should all take about two weeks.

Then take another week ... no stability, but keep adding the ammonia and letting the tank eliminate it.

If it's all stable after a week without STABILITY ... I would do a large water change (I usually take it ALL out) ... then add new water, no ammonia, and add fish.

Test for ammonia before adding the fish though - it should be 0.

Higher temperature of the tank means faster cycling.

Stability should be delivered tomorrow and I'll try your suggested way. I'm gonna do a partial WC beforehand just bc my KH HAS dropped a lot since I started the cycling (I think bc I added 2 bottles of TSS+ for up to 500 gals) and I don't want it to drop so low the ph drops too.

 

[TexasGuppy]

KH over 5 is fine.. 11 isn't low.

 

[ASHLEY R COOK]

Ok. I wasn't sure since it dropped so much I'll test again before I add stability to make sure it hasn't dropped more but will not change water then until after cycle. Thx!

 

[ASHLEY R COOK]

I've read somewhere that stability uses the wrong type of bacteria. Is that true?

 

[TexasGuppy]

It's just a different type (proprietary)
TSS+ has been reported to be very quick at populating the 2nd stage bacteria, so depending on where your cycle is, that may be a better option. If your at first stage, stability should be fine. You can overdose stability if you want, just causes cloudyness. Poor it right into the filter.

 

[Swampgorilla]

Use whatever bacteria you wish. I've found that they all work ... or all don't work. It really depends on the source you bought it from. Buy Dr. Tim's direct from Dr. Tim - and it works usually. Buy it from anyone else and it may not - depending on how they store it.

Stability is the one I settled on because every bottle I've ever gotten, no matter who I received it from - worked.

Now the other option is to do a google search for "Angelsplus Seeded Sponge". Angelsplus sells a seeded sponge that they've kept in their tanks for a month or so. They're reputable and do a lot of work to keep parasites out of the tank - but this is a fishless cycle so no danger to fish here. Order one of those sponges ... they work every time and will cycle a tank pretty much in a day. Order the fastest shipping ... and this time of year should be optimum for shipping those seeded sponges (not too hot or cold).