Question About Fishless Cycling

[spooks]

Okay I have a 15G tank which I setup to do a fishless cycle with. I got my ammonia which is 9.5% concentration, also got a filter squeeze from my lfs in some water which i added to my tank. I followed the 2nd method on the fishless cycling routine to get a 5ppm reading on my test kit, this took quite a few drops of ammonia though 60 in total before I got that reading.

Anyway I took a nitrite reading the next day and got a reading of some nitrites in the tank, I added another 60 drops of ammonia and left it another day. The next day I took a nitrite reading and it was pretty high up on the scale but I also took another ammonia reading and this was still high. I was a little unsure whether or not to put anymore ammonia in the tank since I already had a high reading so I only put 15 drops in this time.

So my questions is two fold.

1) Have I put to much ammonia in and should I do a partial water change?

2) Is the ammonia meant to reset back to 0ppm every day before you add in anymore?

Thanks,

spooks

 

[spooks]

bump, anyone?

 

[dwarfgourami]

bump, anyone?

There are as you have gathered two methods: the every-day method and the when-the-ammonia-goes method. If you add every day you need not wait for the ammonia to go down, just keep going. But always add the same amount, don't measure to bring it up to 5 ppm again once you've done worked out how long it took the first time. (in fact, I'm not even sure it has to go as high as 5 ppm, I ahve a feeling I only borught mine up to 3 or 4). When the ammonia does go down within 24 hours (and nitrites are high) you start halving the daily addition of ammonia, then when the nitrites too go in 24 hrs your tank is cycled.

If you do the other method, you wait for the ammonia to disappear between each addition of more ammonia. I have never tried this method, but lots of people have and can help you.

60 drops does sound a bit excessive for a 15 gallon tank; I seem to remember I added 16 a day to mine, then 8 a day once the ammonia had gone and the nitrites were high. Not sure if you need to do a water change though, you can probably just sit it out.

 

[pete0403]

1) Have I put to much ammonia in and should I do a partial water change?

If you started with 9.5% ammonia 60 drops would be just about perfect for a 15 gallon tank. (theoretically)

1% = 10,000ppm
20 drops ~= 1mL
5ppm = 0.0005%

1usgal = 3.78L
1L = 1000mL
15usgal = 56700mL

C1 x V1 = C2 x V2
(conc of ammonia you have) x (volume you need to bring tank to 5ppm in mL) = (vol of your tank in mL) x (5ppm in percent)

(9.5%) x (unknown) = (56700mL) x (0.0005%)
unknown = (56700 x 0.0005)/9.5
unknown = 2.98mL or about 60 drops

Sorry for all the math...