Conflicting info. on ammonia levels, pls help

[betta4me]

Hey all, I need your help, once again....
In the Fishless cycle for dummies post in this section of the forum it states to bring your ammonia to .5ppm. Then in this link on the site it shows 3-5ppm.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/artic...ks-for-your-fastest-fishless-cycle/Page1.html

My first guess was perhaps you could cut the cycling time frame down by a couple of weeks if dosing to 3-5ppm?

Thanks!

 

[jsoong]

Most people would dose to 3-5 ppm to shorten the cycle time. You can do 0.5, that is the level to use if you have fish (to minimize stress to the fish), but it will take 2-3x as long.

 

[betta4me]

Thanks Jsoong! Well, I added some ammonia last night and way over shot it, it was at 8ppm about two hours after I added it and will probably do a PWC when I get home tonight depending on the reading.
Oh the joys of life lessons!

 

[rugie]

hi, no need to do a water change, cycling time is not really flexible, usual time is 30 days. please do not use fish in a cycling tank. what will help the cycling along is introduction of supplemental bacteria. and places for them to live on, ie: used filter from another tank that is disease and parasite free. are you doing a fresh or salt tank? as the cycling procedure varies greatly.

 

[betta4me]

Hi, I'm doing a fishless cycle and it's a 55g FW tank.
Thanks!

 

[CaptainAhab]

My advice would be to get it back down in the 4-5 range. Bump up the heater to 82-84. As was stated if you have access to used filter material from another tank the cycle can be greatly shortened in some cases. With respect to supplemental bacteria, use only Bio-Spira and if you do make sure it is fresh and has been kept refrigerated at all times.


IMO, others are a waste.

 

[rugie]

the bio-spirea is fantastic, but it is not readily available and is expensive. I do not see a need to elevate the temp, the bios will populate the tank very well at the temp you will be running it when finished cycling, if you bring that population down to say 74-76 deg f then there will be a die off of the bios. when the nitrite shows up, you most likely will need to replenish the ammonia to a small degree. a water change is your decision, but for a 55 that is a lot of work. once the ammonia is toned down you may add some cheap junk plants to help the tank age, (horn wort etc)

 

[betta4me]

Thanks everyone. I've chosen to do a PWC, dropped the ammonia down to about 5. Heater is set at 82, added a few drops of PH down for phosphates, crumbled a very little amount of fish food, took my sponge filter out of my 10G and gave it some some squeezins in the water and dropped it in my fluval. Now I wait.........and find something to do to keep me preoccupied.

 

[rugie]

I was hoping you would drop your temp also. what is ph down? the only ph up or down that I am aware of is for changing the level of acidity or alkalinity. phosphate is of no concern at this point of the cycle, and most likely there is very little to none present. no food is needed when using ammonia.

 

[rugie]

the amount of ammonia used is irrelevant to cycle duration, true if you use less ammonia the no2 & no3 will diminish in relationship to the ammonia present, but ammonia needs to be kept at levels high enough to insure that the bios are reducing it to no2, this is determined by testing, the absence of ammonia & no2 with an elevation of no3 indicates that the cycle is complete. however if you start with a reduced level of ammonia the bio population will be low, so fish and other critters should be added slowly to allow the bios to catch up to the load.

 

[marchmaxima]

There's an argument that for a fishless cycle you should target 4-5ppm for ammonia and that higher levels (8-10ppm) of ammonia has the potential to cause a cycle crash. That particular argument suggests you can overdo it.

Also rugie, why you suggest lowering the temp? I've read heaps of posts here that suggest temps of 80+ help decrease cycle time. Just curious on your point of view.

 

[rugie]

sharon, read all replies in this thread. rugie

 

[marchmaxima]

Do you mean this comment from yourself?

"I do not see a need to elevate the temp, the bios will populate the tank very well at the temp you will be running it when finished cycling, if you bring that population down to say 74-76 deg f then there will be a die off of the bios."

So the issue wasn't the higher temp per say, but the fact that the temp was raised while the bacteria were developing during the cycle.

If I got it wrong, or missed something, let me know.

 

[betta4me]

So, it's been one full week since I added my ammonia, the ammonia is down to 4 and still no signs of nitrites. Is this normal? It just feels like it's taking f-o-r-e-v-e-r...!

 

[marchmaxima]

I think I got nitrite at the 12-14 day point when I was last fishless cycling. I wouldn't worry yet