George9 said:
I Would check it in about 20 mins to make sure the ammonia is around 4 ppm. I would check it everyday to keep the ammonia at a constant.
I'm not so certain that checking it daily is absolutely necessary. I never approached any of my tanks that way.
All I did for my last fishless cycle was:
1) Dose the tank up to 4ppm ammonia.
2) Wait about a week, occasionally glancing at the tank to make sure nothing drastic went wrong.
3) Check ammonia levels. If lower than 4ppm, then check nitrIte levels.
4) Redose up to 4ppm if necessary, and start checking ammonia and nitrIte levels more often, say every two days.
Once ammonia starts to drop more often and nitrIte levels spike, you can check daily, but I don't think it's necessary to check that often right out of the gate. There won't be a dramatic enough shift in ammonia levels in the first week of fishless cycling to warrant watching it like a hawk, and I wouldn't even test daily the second week either.
IMO, it's only really necessary to test daily once your ammonia starts dropping to 0ppm in a 24hr period and your nitrIte levels are spiked up high.