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First Readings

i've read that you can use fish flakes instead of ammonia when doing a cycle.is this true
 
i've read that you can use fish flakes instead of ammonia when doing a cycle.is this true

Yep or you can use prawn. But I believe the pure ammonia is the preferred as you can be more accurate with dosings!
 
The problem with using fishfood or even a prawn is that they have to decompose first to make ammonia. You will not know the amount of ammonia made so you will not know exactly how much you would be 'dosing'. And you would not know how many bacteria you had grown in the filter at the end of the cycle. The amount of ammonia chosen, 5.0ppm, is because if the filter can clear that amount through to zero ammonia and zero nitrite in 12 hours (the end point of the cycle) the filter will be able to cope with a tankful of fish, so you you can get all your fish at once at the end of the cycle. If you don't know how much ammonia you are adding, you won't know how much the filter can process so it won't be safe to get all your fish at once.
If you do decide to use fish food to cycle with, it would be a good idea to stock slowly once the cycle has finished in much the same way as for fish-in cycling. Buy a few fish at first, continue monitoring the water and if both ammonia and nitrite stay at zero, buy a few more in a week or two. Carry on with the monitoring and adding a few fish every few weeks till you have all your fish. If at any stage you see ammonia and/or nitrite appearing, you would need to do water changes as often as necessary to reduce them (see the fish-in cycling thread in the beginner's resource centre) and wait a several weeks before getting more fish.
 
Just went to homebase and got my ammonia, with the calculater Ive measered 28 mls to put in. Ive waited over half hour now and ammonia showing a reading of between 4 and 8ppm on the chart. Do I test for Nitrite tomorrow or when I notice the ammonia dropping?
 
If you want to save on nitrite tests wait a week before testing as it takes as while for them to start being produced. Then test for everything daily at least.
 
Is the colour just over the 4 colour or nearer 8? If it's near 8 I'd do a small water change to get the ammonia down a bit. At levels over 8 the wrong species of bacteria grows.
Test for nitrite once the ammonia reading starts to drop, and don't add any more ammonia till the reading drops well below 1. You don't want to risk overdosing on ammonia.
 
I would say its closer to 4. So I dont add any more ammonia till it drops to near zero?
 

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