I've been without aquariums/fish for a few years now since an illness made me bed-bound for a while. Recently I decided to get another aquarium to fill the hole in my life (I've had aquariums since I was a baby and I'm now 40).
Anyway, since I've always had aquariums I've never needed do a fishless cycle because I could always borrow a filter/substrate/etc. from other tanks to start a new one or do a total clean start on a tank. But now I'm trying to do a fishless cycle.
First, I checked around online and got various very very vague or very very complicated instructions for fishless cycling a 20 gal freshwater tank. Eventually I found a few forum posts that mentioned this online calculator to calculate the ammonia to add and a few experienced fishkeepers that stated that they didn't bother gradually adding the ammonia but just start with 4-5 ppm and wait till the bacteria start up to do any more.
Ok, so I used the calculator and came up with a tiny bit over 1/2 of a teaspoon of ammonia (~3.19 ml) I hunted all over town and finally found a bottle of ammonia that didn't contain anything except ammonium hydroxide, i measured out 1/2 teaspoon and dumped it in.
My water before the ammonia was ammonia=.5-1.0 Ph=6.9 Nitrites=.3 or less. Afterthe ammonia the test looked like it was around 6.0 ppm or higher? I looked at it puzzled for a minute then shruged and decided to leave it alone. Every day for a week it stayed at this level and the nitrites remained at 0. Maybe I am impatient but I was worried that maybe I somehow added too much ammonia and the bacteria were actually dying before they could even start, so I did a 50% water change, tested again and it still "looks like" 6.0 or higher. I waited a few days and the tests were the same so I did another 50% water change.....the ammonia looks like it might be a little bit lower but the nitrites haven't changed.
So what am I doing wrong? Anything? Should I be worried that I might have "too much" ammonia in there? Please help. Also anyone know of any live bacteria substrate that you can buy relatively cheaply that actually works?
-John
Anyway, since I've always had aquariums I've never needed do a fishless cycle because I could always borrow a filter/substrate/etc. from other tanks to start a new one or do a total clean start on a tank. But now I'm trying to do a fishless cycle.
First, I checked around online and got various very very vague or very very complicated instructions for fishless cycling a 20 gal freshwater tank. Eventually I found a few forum posts that mentioned this online calculator to calculate the ammonia to add and a few experienced fishkeepers that stated that they didn't bother gradually adding the ammonia but just start with 4-5 ppm and wait till the bacteria start up to do any more.
Ok, so I used the calculator and came up with a tiny bit over 1/2 of a teaspoon of ammonia (~3.19 ml) I hunted all over town and finally found a bottle of ammonia that didn't contain anything except ammonium hydroxide, i measured out 1/2 teaspoon and dumped it in.
My water before the ammonia was ammonia=.5-1.0 Ph=6.9 Nitrites=.3 or less. Afterthe ammonia the test looked like it was around 6.0 ppm or higher? I looked at it puzzled for a minute then shruged and decided to leave it alone. Every day for a week it stayed at this level and the nitrites remained at 0. Maybe I am impatient but I was worried that maybe I somehow added too much ammonia and the bacteria were actually dying before they could even start, so I did a 50% water change, tested again and it still "looks like" 6.0 or higher. I waited a few days and the tests were the same so I did another 50% water change.....the ammonia looks like it might be a little bit lower but the nitrites haven't changed.
So what am I doing wrong? Anything? Should I be worried that I might have "too much" ammonia in there? Please help. Also anyone know of any live bacteria substrate that you can buy relatively cheaply that actually works?
-John