Fishless Cycling

[nejohnrob]

Hello everyone,
After trying to do fishless cycling with fish food (flakes) and brine shrimp cubes, I switched to Dr. Tim's ammonia chloride last week. The problem I'm having is that the ammonia isn't spiking high enough. I watched some youtube videos stating it needs to spike 2-3 ppm first with a fishless cycle in order to get the good bacteria really growing. I've been hovering at .50 ammonia with nitrites and nitrates spiking.

Do I need the ammonia 2-3 ppm before it drops to 0? Should I put more ammonia than what is stated on the directions? I have a 10 gallon tank.

Thank you so much for your help!

 

[Aiken Drum]

2 things might be happening.

- The instructions are wrong and you need to dose more. They changed the concentration of one and only about 4 or 5 years ago but they didn't change the dosing instructions. I would have thought they had corrected this by now or possibly you have an old bottle. Maybe fill a 10 litre bucket, dose it up to 2ppm confirmed by testing and multiply up to your tank volume to calculate your dosing.

- The instructions are correct and your ammonia to nitrite cycling is strong and it is bringing down the ammonia very quickly and in the time between dosing and testing your cycle has done its job on the ammonia. Ive seen the same as you are seeing. Ammonia virtually gone by the time you can run a test. You are now just waiting for the nitrite to nitrate side to establish.

You need to able to cycle out 2ppm ammonia into 0ppm ammonia and nitrite in 24 hours.

 

[nejohnrob]

Thank you so much! So, i put in extra drops of ammonia and now it is at 8.0 ppm :-[, 0 nitrites, and 5.0 nitrates. Obviously, I don't need to put in more ammonia but now I am going out of town and have no clue how to proceed from here. I will be back on Thursday.

I appreciate all the help!

 

[Aiken Drum]

8ppm is too much. Ammonia that high will kill off any beneficial bacteria. 75% water change is needed.

 

[nejohnrob]

Thank you! I'll do the water change and check the levels before I leave.

 

[nejohnrob]

Thanks for all the guidance. I did the water change before I left and added some Quick Start. I returned and Ammonia has now dropped to 0 but Nitrites are stuck at 2.0 and my nitrates are at 20 ppm. Do I leave everything alone and add ammonia again once the nitrites are at 0? Or do I need to do something else? I have no clue. Thank you!

 

[Aiken Drum]

Test daily. If your ammonia drops below 1ppm redose it upto 2ppm. You are cycled when 2ppm ammonia is cycled out to 0ppm ammonia and 0ppm nitrite in 24 hours. The nitrite to 0ppm stage usually takes longer to achieve than the ammonia to 0ppm stage.