Fishless cycling

[Essjay]

How much did you add at the start (number of spoons) and how many ppm did that give? I've lost track of how much was added and what type of ammonia.

 

[Tyler777]

How much did you add at the start (number of spoons) and how many ppm did that give? I've lost track of how much was added and what type of ammonia.

First time I cause i didn't know n made a mistake n added way more than I should have it was way too much n youbtold me to do abig water change which I did n things went down.
Right now ammonia was 0.50 n nitrites still 2.0.

I think k o,ce u /old me 4 teaspoon were the amount 4 my tank bcause even when the tank is 125 Gallons I should assume only the tanknis 100 gallons. N the ammonia I bought says 4 drops per gallons

 

[Essjay]

The tank is 125 gallons. The water in there will be less than that because the quoted volume includes the gap of air above the water, any substrate and decor in the tank. You know how much substrate and decor is in there - you have maybe 115 gallons with a bit of substrate and no decor to 100 gallons for deep substrate and lots of decor.

Dr Tim's ammonium chloride says to use 4 drops per gallon, and that 100 drops = 5ml = 1 teaspoon and that 300 drops = 15 ml = 1 tablespoon.

So for thin substrate and no decor (115 gallons) you need 4 x 115 drops = 460 drops. To use spoons this is 4 and two thirds teaspoons or 1 tablespoon plus 1 and two thirds teaspoons. This gives around 2.5 ppm ammonia in the tank.
For the 1 ppm dose, you need 153 drops or 1 and a half teaspoons.


For deep substrate and a lot of decor (100 gallons) you need 4 x 100 drops = 400 drops. This is the same as 4 teaspoons or 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon.
For the 1 ppm dose you need 134 drops which is the same as 1 and one third teaspoon.



Add the ammonia, wait half an hour and test for ammonia to check the level is OK.

 

[Tyler777]

The tank is 125 gallons. The water in there will be less than that because the quoted volume includes the gap of air above the water, any substrate and decor in the tank. You know how much substrate and decor is in there - you have maybe 115 gallons with a bit of substrate and no decor to 100 gallons for deep substrate and lots of decor.

Dr Tim's ammonium chloride says to use 4 drops per gallon, and that 100 drops = 5ml = 1 teaspoon and that 300 drops = 15 ml = 1 tablespoon.

So for thin substrate and no decor (115 gallons) you need 4 x 115 drops = 460 drops. To use spoons this is 4 and two thirds teaspoons or 1 tablespoon plus 1 and two thirds teaspoons. This gives around 2.5 ppm ammonia in the tank.
For the 1 ppm dose, you need 153 drops or 1 and a half teaspoons.


For deep substrate and a lot of decor (100 gallons) you need 4 x 100 drops = 400 drops. This is the same as 4 teaspoons or 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon.
For the 1 ppm dose you need 134 drops which is the same as 1 and one third teaspoon.



Add the ammonia, wait half an hour and test for ammonia to check the level is OK.

Ok, thank you very much brother. I will do that today

 

[Tyler777]

Ok, thank you very much brother. I will do that today

Ok I added ammonia nntested the water.

Ammonia is now 2.0 ppm
Nitrites like usual 2.0 ppm never changed

 

[Essjay]

The bacteria need to eat that ammonia before nitrite can go up, but at the same time nitrite eaters will be eating nitrite which will drop the nitrite level. If ammonia drops over the next few days and nitrite still stays the same it suggests you have enough nitrite eaters to eat the amount of nitrite being made but not quite enough to eat to eat all the nitrite in the water.

 

[Tyler777]

The bacteria need to eat that ammonia before nitrite can go up, but at the same time nitrite eaters will be eating nitrite which will drop the nitrite level. If ammonia drops over the next few days and nitrite still stays the same it suggests you have enough nitrite eaters to eat the amount of nitrite being made but not quite enough to eat to eat all the nitrite in the water.

If that's the case what's the next step ?

 

[Essjay]

Test every 2 days. When you have zero ammonia and then zero ammonia again 2 days later, you are ready for the next step. At this stage the nitrite reading is not important, just those two zero ammonias two days apart.

Once you have the second zero ammonia post here and I'll tell you what you need to do at then.

 

[Tyler777]

Test every 2 days. When you have zero ammonia and then zero ammonia again 2 days later, you are ready for the next step. At this stage the nitrite reading is not important, just those two zero ammonias two days apart.

Once you have the second zero ammonia post here and I'll tell you what you need to do at then.

Ok

 

[Tyler777]

Ok

Well I know you told me to post again once I have the second 0 ammonia n go from there. Well I checked the ammonia n nitrites last fridayn was ammonia 0.50 n Nitrites 2.0

On Monday it was the same n today Thursday is still the same. I'm getting sick n tired of waiting for this tank to finish cycling.

 

[Essjay]

@TwoTankAmin Can you help here?

 

[Tyler777]

@TwoTankAmin Can you help here?

?

 

[Essjay]

I'm stuck for what to do next, and TwoTankAmin is the forum's cycling expert. If anyone can help, he can.

 

[Tyler777]

I'm stuck for what to do next, and TwoTankAmin is the forum's cycling expert. If anyone can help, he can.

Got cha. Thanks