Coyote251
Aquarium Advice Regular
Hi All,
I started the fishless cycling process last sunday with a starting ammonia level around 4.0ppm. I have checked the level 3 times this week with no significant change to the level. How long should it take for the level to start dropping? I did add seeding material from another small established tank that I have running, but I messed up in my first attempt at adding the ammonia. With no direction as to how much ammonia would be required to get to 5ppm in a 30g tank I added about a cup thinking this was a "small" quantity. Nothing in the tank liked that and I ended up having to replace all my newly purchased plants. I then drained the tank, refilled it 50% and then drained it again before filling it up fully again. Realizing my mistake I started with a tablespoon of ammonia the second time. I ended up adding 3tbsp to get the level to show over 4ppm. Would my initial mistake have possible killed any of the bacteria that I had put in my filter for seeding? If so could this be adding to the delay I am seeing for the ammonia level to drop.
Just as a side note, although that much ammonia was not good for the plants in my tank, the clarity of the water and of the glass has drastically improved. I would use this for cleaning any used tank that I aquire.
Any information from anyone who has gone through the fishless cycling process would be greatly appreciated.
I started the fishless cycling process last sunday with a starting ammonia level around 4.0ppm. I have checked the level 3 times this week with no significant change to the level. How long should it take for the level to start dropping? I did add seeding material from another small established tank that I have running, but I messed up in my first attempt at adding the ammonia. With no direction as to how much ammonia would be required to get to 5ppm in a 30g tank I added about a cup thinking this was a "small" quantity. Nothing in the tank liked that and I ended up having to replace all my newly purchased plants. I then drained the tank, refilled it 50% and then drained it again before filling it up fully again. Realizing my mistake I started with a tablespoon of ammonia the second time. I ended up adding 3tbsp to get the level to show over 4ppm. Would my initial mistake have possible killed any of the bacteria that I had put in my filter for seeding? If so could this be adding to the delay I am seeing for the ammonia level to drop.
Just as a side note, although that much ammonia was not good for the plants in my tank, the clarity of the water and of the glass has drastically improved. I would use this for cleaning any used tank that I aquire.
Any information from anyone who has gone through the fishless cycling process would be greatly appreciated.
