Ammonia Question

[mishka83]

Hi Folks,

I'm currently fishless cycling and have a query about ammonia:

Wait for ammonia to drop to zero, re-dose and test every 12 hours and re-dose when zero.

If it falls to zero within say 5 hours, do you re-dose again, or only re-dose once per day? or every 12 hours?

Bit confused lol!!

 

[eaglesaquarium]

My understanding is that you redose when the ammonia drops to zero, then redose every time when the ammonia drops to zero. There is no need to do a test every 12 hours, until you are getting zeros for ammonia every 24 hours.


Reread some of the logs and the fishless cycle thread in the Beginners Resource Thread...
Fishless cycle thread...

...it's all explained in there. In addition to that, I'm sure some more knowledgable folks will be along to help you out along the way!

 

[mishka83]

So when the ammonia is dropping to zero every few hours, i re-dose each time? That's a LOT of ammonia!! Nitrates will be sky high!!

 

[eaglesaquarium]

So when the ammonia is dropping to zero every few hours, i re-dose each time? That's a LOT of ammonia!! Nitrates will be sky high!!

It will eventually drop to zero every 12 hours, but you only redose every 24, until the nitrItes are also hitting zero every 12 hours. THEN, you do a massive water change to remove the nitrates and then you can add fish. At least, that is my understanding... As I said, read through the linked thread (mainly just the first post or a little beyond that) and soon a much more knowledgable fishkeeper will be along to explain it more fully.

 

[mishka83]

I have zero ammonia approx every 7 hours just now.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I have zero ammonia approx every 7 hours just now.

What about nitrItes? Are they zero as well?


Are you dosing at 4ppm every 24 hours? How many days have you been testing total? What are your nitrAtes?


EDIT:
I just found your log....

Based on the fact that you are not getting zeros for the nitrites yet, you need to keep going! Dose the ammonia at 3-4 ppm every 24 hours, and testing every 12 hours. When the nitrItes are also zero every 12 hours, then you can start your "qualifying week" before adding your fish.

At the very end you will do a massive water change to remove all the built up nitrates before adding fish to the tank.

 

[mishka83]

ok so dose with ammonia every 24 hours and test every 12? do i not dose at 12 hours if it's at zero?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

ok so dose with ammonia every 24 hours and test every 12? do i not dose at 12 hours if it's at zero?

No. You just need to provide enough ammonia to keep the A-bacteria (the ones that will process ammonia) going. If you add more every 12 hours, you can actually reduce the production of the N-bacteria (the ones that will process nitrite). There are some who say that you should cut your dose down to 2-3 ppm every 24 hours, until the nitrites reach zero every 24 hours, then slowly increase the amount back up to 4-5ppm. And wait until they both reach zero at 12 hours and can maintain that for an entire week (the "qualifying week") before adding fish.

 

[mishka83]

ok so dose with ammonia every 24 hours and test every 12? do i not dose at 12 hours if it's at zero?

No. You just need to provide enough ammonia to keep the A-bacteria (the ones that will process ammonia) going. If you add more every 12 hours, you can actually reduce the production of the N-bacteria (the ones that will process nitrite). There are some who say that you should cut your dose down to 2-3 ppm every 24 hours, until the nitrites reach zero every 24 hours, then slowly increase the amount back up to 4-5ppm. And wait until they both reach zero at 12 hours and can maintain that for an entire week (the "qualifying week") before adding fish.

Right ok, i get it now lol!!

Thankyou!!

 

[Miles_hot]

On this this thread Waterdrop gives the following advise:

You dose at the same 24-hour mark each day (assuming ammonia has dropped to zero ppm any time within the previous 24 hours of course) but then you begin to do this addditional testing (nitrite(NO2) being sometimes the only test you really need except maybe pH) at around the 12 hour mark (12 hours after dosing) and this gives you a new finer-tuned measure of the N-bac colony reaching its final more robust maturity. As you get to the very end you want to watch ammonia at 12 hours also as sometimes it backtracks a bit and it's nice to be sure your ammonia dosing is right up there at 4-5ppm.

When you finally get double-zeros (zero ppm ammonia and zero ppm nitrite at 12 hours) that's the start of a week of verifying that it can repeat this every day. If it blips and fails then that just restarts your qualifying week. This method, while it sounds excessive, has resulted in a very solid record of no problems after fish are added.

Hope this helps

Miles

 

[mishka83]

perfect!!

Waterdrop never fails to make things clear & simple