Fishless Cycle Confusion

[punkserb]

well i knew this would happen, as in something going wrong.

i'm trying to do a fishless cycle.

first, i added the 5 gallons of de-chlored water (using insta-chlor as per its directions) and then washed the gravel in cold water and put it in, then let the filter and heater run till it got to 70 degrees.

then i added a java fern. it looks healthy enough, has about 6 leaves, smallest being 3 inches largest being about 7 inches. some of the leaves hav eblack spots but most look very healthy and green. i didn't have a rock so i stuck in the gravel just enough so it wouldn't float away. i let this run for about a day.

so today i went out and bough amonia from dominick's and an amonia testing kit. the concentration wasn't labeled on the bottle, so i went with original instructions from here: http/www.pet-emporium.com/files/index.php?id=16 and added 2 drops. i waited an hour, tested it, and nothing. so i added 3 more and waited another hour, still nothing.

this kept on going (finally registered .5 after 15 drops) until i just added 22 drops! is this too much? what's going one? i don't think i should have to add that much.

is an hour not long enough to wait? i didn't test the water for chlorine because i assumed the insta-chlor did its job, could that affect anything? i know i need a 5.0 ppm ammonia spike, then look for nitrite spike then both going to 0 and then a nitrate spike. but before all that, i need 5.00ppm of ammonia!

also the temp reads ~85 degrees since it is very hot now in chicago, i've lowered my heater way down to try to get it to 80 or 79. could this also be an issue?

oh man how stupid am i not to even get the first step right....

and sorry i'm talking too much, i'm just trying to be as descriptive as possible.

thank you all for any suggestion.

 

[punkserb]

ok...an hour after the 22 drops, its still only 1.0!!! i hope i have REALLY weak ammonia. i hope nothing is wrong with the testing stuff....its made by aquarium pharmacuticals inc. has 2 solutions each of which you add 8 drops to a beaker they provide and fill water to a certain line thenshake for 5 second and wait for 5 minutes and compare to a chart they have.....seems to be a good test....but what is wrong?

 

[punkserb]

ok i decided to do a little test. i added half water, half ammonia to the tube and tested it. it gave 0.5 ppm. is the test defective or just not made to detect such huge ammounts?

please i need help....

 

[shrks1fan]

It sounds like you just have weak ammonia, which I don't think is too unusal. The ammonia I have is also very weak and took quite a bit before registering. In my 45 gallon tank it took so much I figured out the eye dropper squirts to put in rather than drops (which would take forever, Lol). So I'd say trust your test kit and go with it

Oh, and that was my webpage you read, hehe...I'm glad someone was able to get some help from it

Linda
http/www.pet-emporium.com
http/www.cooking-fanatics.com

 

[punkserb]

thank you very much! and i LOVE yoursite, it helps a lot!

i'll just keep spiking it then. the only thing that concerns me is the little test i just did where i added half ammonia/half tap water to the beaker and it only tested 1.0 could this be because the testing solutions weren't meant to handle so high a concentration?

well time to check my water again! i have to be able to spike this!

thank you again for the reply!

 

[StanTheBetta]

Where did you buy your test kit? I use the same one and I haven't had a problem with it but maybe you got one thats been sitting on the shelf for years? It seems really odd that it only registered 1.0 with half ammonia and half water. Also did you wait 5 minutes after putting the drops in to look at the color? I know it can take quite a while to change colors some times. Anyways good luck with the fishless cycle. I wish I had done it

 

[punkserb]

i got it at petsmart. it didn't have any kind of expiration date.

now i took AP chemistry in high school so my (very professional ) opinion is that there needs to be a chemical reaction that takes place between the ammonia and the water in order for it to be detected.with such a high concentration it may not be the case and could explain the stupid reading. nevertheless, i'll go to a different store today and try another test kit.

 

[panther1505]

I am in the process of fishless cycling a 42 gallon aquarium. It took 4 teaspoons ammonia before I got 5ppm. Now I am added that same amount to my water until I get the nitrite spike. Right now, my nitrite level is still at 0ppm

 

[luxum]

I find the original fishless cycle method (i.e. add 5 drops a day or whatever) only works if you have ~really~ potent ammonia. I use the recipe that calls for you to add enough to get a reading of 5ppm, record that amount and add it every day. After you detect nitrites, cut the amount in half and add that every day until both ammonia and nitrite register zero within 24 hours of the dose.

 

[shrks1fan]

Yea, the original method of 5 drops didn't take into account the strength of your ammonia, which as people have found can vary by a LARGE amount. In fact I think the person who developed that method was using some Lab strength ammonia, so it was very strong.

Let us know what the 2nd test kit comes up with, I'm curious now.

Linda
http/www.pet-emporium.com
http/www.cooking-fanatics.com

 

[punkserb]

yea i'm also using the 5ppm/day method. it accounts for the concentration of ammonia and seems faster. tested this morning, 0 nitrites and nitrates and looks like 3 or 4 ammonia concentration. but i don't trust ths kit now.

i added 40 drops in my five gallon...seems like a lot but i guess i'll see what happens.

 

[panther1505]

40 drops really isn't as much as it sounds. I was doing the drop method when I first started adding ammonia to my 42 gallon aquarium. I put 30 drops in, and got a 0ppm ammonia reading. Then I decided to take a teaspoon and put 30 drops of ammonia in it. Turns out that 30 drops was MAYBE 1/4 of a teaspoon.
So I started adding teaspoons of ammonia until I got the ammonia level to about 5ppm. It took 4 teaspoons worth.

 

[punkserb]

well according to a cook chart i just read, one teaspoon is 60 drops. so 1/4 teaspoon makes 15 drops.

i bought another test today and using it i'm getting 6-7ppm! uh oh! i guess that'll take a while to go down. i only have 25 of the 5-in-1 test strip things so i will test nitrite tonight. wish me luck! i hope i'll be getting some!

 

[punkserb]

oh crap! now i'm really confused. i got a pH kit along with the new ammonia test and the pH tested above 7.4!!! 7.4 was the highest value on the kit!

could this impede the growth of the bacteria? and if it doesn't it is certainly bad for my betta and frog which need 7.0, right? so now what?

 

[shrks1fan]

Don't worry about the pH, Bettas can easily adjust to whatever they're put in (and I think frogs as well). pH also will not affect your fishless cycle, so don't worry about it People who use those pH down chemicals are just wasting money and ruining their water quality, as it will just come back up again.

Linda
http/www.pet-emporium.com
http/www.cooking-fanatics.com