logansmomma1228
Aquarium Advice Addict
William - yes, when the ammonia was processed down to zero, I added more ammonia to get it back up to 4 ppm. Based on your comments, that was too much.
These are the directions I was following that recommended maintaining the ammonia at 4ppm
Fishless Cycling - Paw Talk - Pet Forums
I changed 90% of the water in the tank this morning, replacing it with tap water dechlorinated with Prime. I am tempted to test the water to benchmark the water conditions, then add ammonia to see if any of the ammonia gets processed by tomorrow. However, after tomorrow I will be away and won't be available to add ammonia for 5 days.
I just would like to know if the tank has any capability of processing ammonia, or if I am starting from square one again.
Hmmmmm... I used that same article to cycle and I don't remember reading anything about keeping it at 4. My tank cycled successfully with that article and in fact it says this:
As soon as you notice high levels of ammonia, stop adding ammonia to the tank. Now is the part where your patience is tested! Let things run their course, and keep testing the water. Once a day is fine, or once every other day. After a few days, you can begin testing for nitrites as well as ammonia. If you aren't getting any readings for nitrites at all, that's OK. These things take time. Don't do any water changes yet, and continue to let everything sit. When your ammonia starts dropping, you should definitely be able to read some nitrites. After the ammonia reading drops to zero, start adding just a little bit more ammonia again every day, just a teaspoon or so...not enough to force the reading above zero again, but just enough to keep the newly grown "ammonia-eating" bacterial colony happy.
I think it would be good to record your parameters just so you know what is going on. I started recording mine as well that way if things start going crazy I can go back and check them.