Bio Cycle?

[Draven]

From this page it says, " Add ammonia to the tank initially to obtain a reading on your ammonia kit of ~5 ppm. Record the amount of ammonia that this took, then add that amount daily until the nitrite spikes.".

I'm not positive what they mean. Do I just start adding drops, waiting a day and testing, add more, wait another day and test, until it finally reaches 5 ppm? Or can I just keep adding it over and over in one day?

Also, what exactly do they mean by a nitrite spike. When ever the tank finally kicks up to something like 4+ ppm of nitrite?

 

[jacblades]

add it all at once. you know in stock market graphs when the line looks like a very steep mountain? thats a spike. its the same principle-if your nitrites were on a chart. they start to rise suddenly and drop just the same.
does that make sense?

 

[luxum]

I'm not positive what they mean. Do I just start adding drops, waiting a day and testing, add more, wait another day and test, until it finally reaches 5 ppm? Or can I just keep adding it over and over in one day?

Also, what exactly do they mean by a nitrite spike. When ever the tank finally kicks up to something like 4+ ppm of nitrite?

Add some ammonia until you have a level of somewhere near 5ppm. Wait a little while after additions to test, say 30-60 minutes, but yes reach 5ppm in one day to get it going. Once you figure out how much total you added, write it down and that will be your initial dose. Add that much every day until the nitrite spikes (it will go very high, likely off the chart). Once you have nitrites, you should lower your daily dose to half of what you were using initially.

 

[Draven]

Okay thanks. Can either of you give me a guesstimate of how much I'll need? 10 drops? 20 drops? 40 drops? for a 3 gallon tank.

 

[luxum]

Depends on the strength of your ammonia source, they vary widely. To bring my 20 gallon to 5ppm i added 1-1/4 teaspoons with the household ammonia i use. Your mileage may vary, as they say.

 

[Draven]

Well, I over shot. 15 drops of 10% grade ammonia put me around 7/8 PPM. Should I water cycle or what?

 

[jacblades]

you can just take some of the water out and ad more water to dilute it.

 

[luxum]

Naw just leave it, it will still cycle. Try 10 drops as your daily dose.