fishless cycling - daily testing

[sinfulhorse]

I am fishless cycling using "Jeyes Kleen off" which I know some of you don't agree with - but please don't go on about it !

I am adding about half a capful to my 25 gallon tank each morning and testing each evening - so I allow some time for the newly added ammonia to be broken down by ammonia guzzling creepy crawlies

However, my ammonia readings are going up each evening (I am now off the colour chart) and my nitrites and nitrates are remaining steady (at the low end of the scale) - I am 9 day s into the process

I do not have access to anything from a mature tank and the plebs at my LFS won't donate any which I find amazing after what I have spent there already

I would have expected the ammonia to be under control by now

Also the selection of plants that I purchased all seem to be going brown and dying off

Thank God there are no fish involved !

My questions are:

1) If anyone has used this ammonia product - how much were you adding each day (and what was the tank volume)?

2) Any suggestions for resurrecting the plants (do they get poisoned by ammonia)?

Thanks

 

[WILDER]

http/www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_fishless.php

 

[chris_1127]

i dont know how big the cap of the bottle is, but sounds like a lot to be adding daily. How big is the tank? and how big is the cap? even on my 30g i only used about 5 drops of pure ammonia per day (using a biro tube as a pipette!!) until the nitrites spiked, and then 2 drops per day thereafter till they zeroed

 

[daza]

I added 2.5ml of the Jeyes Kleen Off ammonia to my 70 litre tank (18.5USg) each day until the nitrite spiked, I then halved it to 1.25ml (I used a syringe to measure the ammount).

The 2.5ml was enough to bring the ammonia level up to about 5mg/l. What reading are you getting? I just checked and half a cap full of the Jeyes is just under 5ml.

It is probably best to take your reading just before adding the ammonia, rather than in the evening. That way you give the ammonia 24 hours to be consumed by the bacteria and you get a clearer idea of what is going on.

Here is a link to a graph of my cycle (which I still haven't got around to posting on here properly, with a diary etc! Sorry about the bad quality): http/uk.geocities.com/dazadude/CycleGraph.JPG

and the table for that cycle: http/uk.geocities.com/dazadude/CycleTable.JPG

My ammonia peaked at 4.9mg/l and started falling on day 9. Your tank is larger so (I'm guessing) it will take a little longer.

I'm no plant expert but they shouldn't get damaged by ammonia. They might be unsuitable plants for your light level, or not true aquarium plants or something. My first plants didn't survive my cycle but I found out they needed higher lighting than I had.

 

[sinfulhorse]

Thanks for your help Daza

 

[StarOrbs]

This may sound like a lot but with the ammonia I have I put in 3-5 tsp of ammonia in everyday until the nitrite spikes then I'm going to lower it to 1-2 tsp until the ammonia level drops a bit because my ammonia level is currently above 6 ppm.

 

[DivaSkyChick]

Just stick with it! I'm on day 20 and I'm finally cycled. Sooo many times I wanted to take short cuts and even last night my nitrite and nitrate readings were off the hook. Today I'm zero, zero and... zero!