Ammonia Dosing

[dant1875]

I'm currently fishless cycling my tank & I appear to be doing ok at the moment, but after reading a couple of articles I'm now unsure if I'm dragging my heels so to speak? My ammonia is dropping from 5ppm to zero in 10-12 hours & I'm currently re-dosing 24 hours after each dose. Should I be re-dosing after 12 hours when the ammonia is zero instead?

 

[doresy]

I'm currently fishless cycling my tank & I appear to be doing ok at the moment, but after reading a couple of articles I'm now unsure if I'm dragging my heels so to speak? My ammonia is dropping from 5ppm to zero in 10-12 hours & I'm currently re-dosing 24 hours after each dose. Should I be re-dosing after 12 hours when the ammonia is zero instead?

If you are shifting 5 ppm of ammonia in 12 hours then you should top up after 12 hours (4 ppm is enough)

What's happening with nitrite?

 

[dant1875]

I'm currently fishless cycling my tank & I appear to be doing ok at the moment, but after reading a couple of articles I'm now unsure if I'm dragging my heels so to speak? My ammonia is dropping from 5ppm to zero in 10-12 hours & I'm currently re-dosing 24 hours after each dose. Should I be re-dosing after 12 hours when the ammonia is zero instead?

If you are shifting 5 ppm of ammonia in 12 hours then you should top up after 12 hours (4 ppm is enough)

What's happening with nitrite?

The nitrite is rising, but it seemed a bit slow which is why I was checking - it was all going great then the pH crashed a couple of days ago, thankfully a 90% water change sorted it & it's all back on track now. Just wanted to try & speed it up - got a 7 year old & 2 year old keep bugging me EVERY day about "when can we get fish dad?"

 

[doresy]

I'm currently fishless cycling my tank & I appear to be doing ok at the moment, but after reading a couple of articles I'm now unsure if I'm dragging my heels so to speak? My ammonia is dropping from 5ppm to zero in 10-12 hours & I'm currently re-dosing 24 hours after each dose. Should I be re-dosing after 12 hours when the ammonia is zero instead?

If you are shifting 5 ppm of ammonia in 12 hours then you should top up after 12 hours (4 ppm is enough)

What's happening with nitrite?

The nitrite is rising, but it seemed a bit slow which is why I was checking - it was all going great then the pH crashed a couple of days ago, thankfully a 90% water change sorted it & it's all back on track now. Just wanted to try & speed it up - got a 7 year old & 2 year old keep bugging me EVERY day about "when can we get fish dad?"

Your cycle is well on track Did you put any bogwood in your tank? As far as the kids wanting fish like NOW! then you could go get some fake ones and pop them in to keep them amused for now......giving them names helps

 

[dant1875]

I'm currently fishless cycling my tank & I appear to be doing ok at the moment, but after reading a couple of articles I'm now unsure if I'm dragging my heels so to speak? My ammonia is dropping from 5ppm to zero in 10-12 hours & I'm currently re-dosing 24 hours after each dose. Should I be re-dosing after 12 hours when the ammonia is zero instead?

If you are shifting 5 ppm of ammonia in 12 hours then you should top up after 12 hours (4 ppm is enough)

What's happening with nitrite?

The nitrite is rising, but it seemed a bit slow which is why I was checking - it was all going great then the pH crashed a couple of days ago, thankfully a 90% water change sorted it & it's all back on track now. Just wanted to try & speed it up - got a 7 year old & 2 year old keep bugging me EVERY day about "when can we get fish dad?"

Your cycle is well on track Did you put any bogwood in your tank? As far as the kids wanting fish like NOW! then you could go get some fake ones and pop them in to keep them amused for now......giving them names helps

the 7 year old is too crafty for that to work - had a Physa snail come in on the plants & the little'un went mental when he saw something finally moving in there . Already got the bogwood in on 1 side & the kids have taken some of the tank for themselves with Spongebob houses & figures (does that qualify as 2 territories? ). If it's well on track I'll keep distracting them with chocolate & shiny things for now (good preparation for valentine's ). On which note - I've just realised I'm up for work in 4 1/2 hours . Thanks for the quick answers Doresy - appreciate the help I'm off for now........

 

[OldMan47]

One dosing per day is enough. Even if the ammonia is gone after 12 hours, the nitrite processing bacteria need to catch up and overdosing with ammonia will just mean it takes longer to get the nitrites back down once those bacteria start to grow well. What you are trying to do with the 5 ppm ammonia is develop a ridiculously high bacteria level so that no matter how many fish you end up stocking, there will be enough bacteria to deal with the ammonia and nitrite part of the stocking. Any more bacteria than that is a waste of your time and efforts. Most people are not likely to overstock more than a 5 ppm dosing daily has developed.

 

[waterdrop]

I agree with OM47, once every 24 hours, once a day is enough ammonia to be pumping into the system. Each 1ppm of ammonia results in about 2.7ppm of nitrite(NO2) and the factor going on to nitrate(NO3) is 3.6, with that final nitrate being acidic and driving the pH downward eventually, possibly slowing the process.

Sometimes it works (especially if the 7-year-old is crafty!) to involve them in the testing in various ways. Perhaps helping with a timer during the tests, perhaps graphing the results (graphs are easily tailored to different levels of difficulty.) Some kids can really get into drawing bacteria once you show them some pictures and that could even involve the really young one. Just dig into the nitrogen cycle, draw charts and be creative and for yourself, just keep remembering that explaining cycling is a lot more fun than explaining why a new pet has just died. Sounds like you're going ok though!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[dant1875]

I think I'm done - put it on another link though all my ammonia & nitrite has gone to zero in 11 hours for the last 2 days running it'll be a relief to finally see something swimming in there