I would test your ammonia and see where its at. I used straight ammonia to cycle my tank and it worked perfectly. The key is to make sure you get pure ammonia with no surfactants or perfumes. I got mine at Ace Hardware. I believe it says janitorial ammonia. When in doubt shake the bottle. If it foams up dont use it. Pure ammonia will not foam up.
Add a couple drops of ammonia and test until you get to 2 or 3ppm. This is where you want it. You can go to 4ppm but no higher. Remember just a drop or two at a time, then wait a few minutes and test until you reach this level. Record how many drops this takes.
Now you wait and test ammonia each day and record results. If nothing changes just be patient and keep waiting and test each day. One day you will see the ammonia level drop. Once your ammonia goes to zero you have to add more ammonia. Add ammonia one drop at a time to reach 2ppm. Keep testing and adding ammonia to 2ppm when it reaches zero. Once your tank can process 2ppm of ammonia to zero in 24 hrs then start checking every 12 hours. Once your tank can process 1ppm of ammonia in 12 hrs then start checking nitrites which should be high by now.
Keep adding ammonia to 2ppm every time it reaches zero which should be in about 12 hours. Keep testing nitrite. It will be sky high and it can seem like it takes forever, but one day you will see the nitrite drop. Remember to keep adding ammonia when at 0 to feed bacteria.
Once your tank can process 2ppm of ammonia and nitrite in 12 hours with 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite reading you are done. My was done in about 3 weeks. The good thing about this method is that you have total control over the process and you have built a large bacteria colony. Thsi allows you to add more fish at the start. Dont go crazy but i added 3 fish to start with no issues.
If you have any questions just ask.
Yes. You can use fish food, frozen fish food, anything that will rot and produce ammonia. It might take quite a bit of food to make enough ammonia, though.
