fishless cycling

[cbster]

i am trying to fishless cycle and keep adding ammonia and i could get it to go above 1.0 on the scale. then i read a post about useing a product about eliminating ammunia will throw it off. so i check and guess what i did i used proquatics bacteria starter which eliminates toxic ammonia and nitrite. so now what do i do i added alot of ammonia to try to get to 5.0. so am i going to have to start over. thanks alright i changed 75% of the water but the only thing i have to dechlorinate it is aquasafe wich removes chlorine and ammonia so should i use it to get the tank full again or should i just fill the tank and let it run

 

[Lithril]

How long have you been cycling the tank? Personally I'd stop using the anti-ammonia product and do a large water change (70%) and start again. Adding too much ammonia won't damage anything (Unless you're putting in massive quantities) when I cycled my last tank I actually added 10x the amount I was supposed as the concentration was a lot higher. The cycling still worked although I had problems getting the nitrites down, corrected the amount I was adding and did the water change and within a few days the tank was cycling.

 

[Juggernaut22988]

When I first started (fishless cycling)

I never added any chems I just let the water sit there
Eventually, everything went to normal and the water was fine

 

[Moe]

If your ammonia readings go over 7ppm you will kill your beneficial bacteria and slow down the fishless cycle. When going fishless you should try to keep the ammonia reading between 3 & 5 ppm. No higher. I read your other post about the ammonia, is there a possibility that there is something wrong with your ammonia? I'm currently doing a fishless cycle on a 3 gal and just 4 to 5 drops got a reading of 5ppm. I know it is a small tank and all but I've done several fishless cycles on different size tanks and adding the smallest amount of ammonia will sent the levels up very quickly. I think there is either something wrong with the ammonia you are using or your test kits. I'd try buying new pure ammonia and bring a water sample to any Local fish shop for them to test it. You could also bring your test kit with you and do a comparison. Let us know how things go.