quick cycle question...

[Sergiotorr]

So last night i did a water test and the results were 0 ammonia and 5ppm of nitrite. So i added around 2 1/2 tea spoons of ammonia to feed the ammonia eating bacteria around 10pm. its 12pm (12pm the next day) now and i did another water test and i have 8ppm of ammonia and 3-2ppm of nitrite. My question is did i ruin my cycle? has anyone run into this? Oh also my water today looks a little yellow when i look through the side of the tank.

 

[carey]

Personally, I would do a water change and try to get that ammonia down to 3-4 ppm. When I cycled i added only 3ml of ammonia to get to 4ppm in a 29 gallon tank and I tested after every little bit I put in.
Signs of niotrite are good you want that.

 

[Sergiotorr]

I have a 55 gallon tank and no way can 2 1/2 tea spoons of ammonia make it spike to 8ppm. Im just wondering why its so high for so little added ammonia and if it hurt the cycle since i was only a few days away from completing the cycle

 

[carey]

I'm not sure why it would have spiked, you didn't add any livestock at all right? Or any other additives either I woudlnt think...
I would still get that ammonia back down to a manageable level. You might wanna retest too. I had over dosed my tank really bad with ammonia but luckily it worked itself out with only one pwc. I'm pretty new to this but just wait, someone will chime in.

 

[BigJim]

Are you sure you didn't use tablespoons by mistake?

With a big PWC, I don't think your cycle will suffer much.

 

[Sergiotorr]

Ah I'm sorry! I meant table spoon! Lol but I still don't think thats enough to bring it to 8ppm lol but should I wait a day or do the water change now?

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[BigJim]

If you used tablespoons, I definitely think that's enough ammonia to raise your tank up to 8ppm.

Calculator This handy calculator says it should take 1.2 tablespoons of 9.5% ammonia to hit 8ppm in your tank.

Do a PWC as soon as possible. Waiting longer will only hurt the cycle.

 

[Sergiotorr]

Ah it could be but when I first added ammonia I just dumped it out of the bottle and I used way more at the time to bring it up to 4ppm so not sure what happened

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[just1morefish]

just let it be...(assuming u are fishless??). first couple of runs for me i just dumped in out of the bottle as well and everything turned out fine...if there's no fish you cant really OD on ammonia...i think you can slow down the bacteria a little bit but it wont hurt anything....

 

[BigJim]

I disagree. I overdosed the first tank I ever fishless cycled thinking that if 4ppm was good, 8ppm would be better. The tank sat with no progress for several weeks. I did a big PWC to reduce the ammonia and saw nitrites come pretty quickly after that. Other people here have similar experiences with overdosing ammonia. Excessive nitrites also cause a stall.

 

[mfdrookie516]

8ppm of ammonia can and will kill the bacteria. If it's at 8ppm, do a 50% water change and it will be at 4ppm, which is perfect IMO

 

[just1morefish]

i disagree...first tank i did was a 20 long and i put like 2 cups in it...and guess what?? it even had surfactants in it (which at the time i knew nothing about) and the tank cycled in about a month with no water change, as i let it "just sit". the question was "has anyone run into this?" and i had, so i posted my 2 cents...gouramis have been in the 20L for almost 2 years and they're all still there, so in "my" experience, unless you fill the tank with ammonia, you're probably not going to hurt too much...all i'm sayin...

 

[mfdrookie516]

You just said you dumped 2 cups in and let it sit. This is a completely different scenario. The cycle has already started, the bacteria are growing, and now they've overdosed ammonia. While what you did may have worked for you, it's not the same situation the OP is dealing with.

 

[just1morefish]

there's no way 2 tablespoons of ammonia would "ruin" a cycle in 55 gallon tank...don't care what stage of the cycle you're at...period...

 

[Sergiotorr]

Yeah but I am at 8ppm of ammonia in the tank and those levels can kill the active BB...but I don't understand why the ammonia spiked with so little ammonia... I'm a little bummed because I was a few days from completing the cycle lol but I'll do a water change in a few. Should I add prime also?

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[mfdrookie516]

You're not going to hurt anything doing a pwc.

 

[Sergiotorr]

Ok cool! So after the water change how long should I wait to retest test the water?

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[carey]

You can do it right off. I tend to wait 15 minutes or so to get it all mixed in.

 

[Sergiotorr]

Ok so I did a PWC 50% to be exact and I waited 1 hour before my water test:

Ammonia 4ppm
Nitrite 5ppm

Let's see if my cycle picks up from were I last ruined it lol

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[carey]

Certainly an improvement. Looks to be where you should be...test in the am if you can and see how much of the ammonia got gobbled up. My tank was eating 4ppm overnight.