Need Some Advice On Reducing Ammonia Odor

[southcity]

I started my fishless cycle yesterday afternoon, it is now registering around 5ppm. But I gotta tell you the odor of ammonia through out the room is taking over the entire main floor, the tank has a lid but of course that isn't completely tight fitting considering the cutout area to accommodate the filter and heater. Need some advice on how to control this since it's middle of winter and having windows open for the next 6 weeks is not an option

 

[Joshwainwright]

Are you sure the tank is only dosed to 5ppm, the water shouldn't smell so badly that you have to open windows. Or even so badly that you can smell it through the hood...

 

[waterdrop]

There should be no odor of ammonia from the tank. That is 5 -parts per million- you're putting in there.. just a few molecules every now and then. The water should just smell a little like the garden in the back yard. If you smell an actual ammonia smell it must somehow be coming from your ammonia supply bottle is the only thing I can think of. Is the top sealed well?

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Gazanimal]

There should be no odor of ammonia from the tank. That is 5 -parts per million- you're putting in there.. just a few molecules every now and then. The water should just smell a little like the garden in the back yard. If you smell an actual ammonia smell it must somehow be coming from your ammonia supply bottle is the only thing I can think of. Is the top sealed well?

~~waterdrop~~

+1 what WD said.

If you smell ammonia then there's something else that's an issue.

Is the bottle leaking at all?

Oh and what size tank do you have? Looked at your other thread but you didn't mention it there either. How much ammonia are you dosing & what are you using to test your levels with?

 

[Aqua Tom]

You should not be smelling Ammonia at all. How are you dosing your tank ie how do you measure the amount of ammonia?

 

[southcity]

I wasn't sure of how much to dose with so I started with 1/4 teaspoon of ammonia in a 10 gallon tank. I waited 20 minutes and tested using stips and the reading was almost non-existent. I kept adding 1/4 teaspoons at a time and waiting for at least 20 minutes each time to test the water. Eventually my test stips did match the (5ppm) color code on the package, that was only after adding in total 3 teaspoons of ammonia. Seems like a lot to me, but I am completely new to this so maybe that isn't out of the norm. I checked the ammonia bottle and it's not leaking at all, perhaps I am just over sensitive to the smell of this chemical.
I have my heater registering 29 celsius.

 

[Rynofasho]

You may be sensitive to it. That isn't a ton. FYI, the dosing for a 10 gallon to get to 5ppm is about 2ml

 

[Gazanimal]

Seems like you've over-dosed your tank.

Using the Calculator at the top of the page a 10 Gallon (US) tank should need only 2ml of ammonia to reach 5ppm.

I'm not sure how much a teaspoon holds but it seems like you might have doubled/tripled the required amount.

One thing a lot of people advocate is the use of a liquid testing kit. Strips aren't as accurate & most users will suggest an API Freshwater Master Test Kit. Very accurate & easy to read result.

 

[southcity]

Seems like you've over-dosed your tank.

Using the Calculator at the top of the page a 10 Gallon (US) tank should need only 2ml of ammonia to reach 5ppm.

I'm not sure how much a teaspoon holds but it seems like you might have doubled/tripled the required amount.

One thing a lot of people advocate is the use of a liquid testing kit. Strips aren't as accurate & most users will suggest an API Freshwater Master Test Kit. Very accurate & easy to read result.

Thanks and I will be getting the liquid testing kit tomorrow and scrapping the test stips, thanks for the advice

 

[Doc7]

"2 ml of ammonia" - yet he did not mention the concentration he is using, so hard to say that so strongly : )

What is the concentration of ammonia, it may be weaker than what other people have used...Mine was pretty low (4%)

 

[Rynofasho]

Didnt think about that, good call Doc.

 

[Tolak]

Last tank I cycled fishless was a 65 gallon, in the living room. One capful of ammonia from the jug was enough to bring it up to 5ppm, and back up as the cycle progressed. If there was any ammonia oder I would have heard about it.

The problem I'm seeing here, as mentioned, is strips.

 

[Aqua Tom]

One cause is maybe you spilled a tiny bit while you where putting it into the spoon. I didnt use a teaspoon or a medicine spoon at all to dose my ammonia. I used a childs medicine dosing syringe, very accurate & fitted into the "nozzle" on my ammonia bottle perfectly so i never had any spillage.

 

[BigbruiserAl]

A teaspoon is regarded as 5ml as most cough mixture advise you added 3 so thats like 15ml of ammonia my 10 gallon took 1.5ml to get 4-5 ppm....moooosive overdose i fear for you, but as said mine strength was 9.5% ammonia your may differ