Ready, set...Go!!! The Fish-less Cycle has Begun :)

[dmpfishlover]

I set up my 55gal Tank two days ago (sand substrate with a lot of driftwood and rocks). I have some ceramic ball filter media and some pieces of lava rock in both of my HOB filters. The ammonia I ordered arrived late yesterday, so I waited till the morning to add the first dose. I added Dose #1 this morning and waited approx. 1hr to allow the ammonia to thoroughly mix throughout the tank before testing. I was successful in creating an Ammonia concentration of 3-4ppm. The test result was somewhere in between 3 and 4. So, I will be waiting and testing for Ammonia and Nitrite in three days. This is what the Fishless Cycle Thread indicates that I should do anyway. It indicated that I should do NOTHING on Day 2 and 3, and then test water on Day 4. I want to make sure I understand the instructions completely.... So, I will continue testing every 3 days and I will NOT add any additional ammonia until the test results for Ammonia is under 0.75 and Nitrite is over 2ppm? When I get these results I then add Dose #2 and begin testing Ammonia and Nitrite every other day? I just want to make sure I am off on a right start..

 

[Essjay]

Yes, that's correct.

The old way of fishless cycling had you adding ammonia every time that dropped to zero, but as 1 ppm ammonia is turned into 2.7 ppm nitrite, once the aammonia eaters started to grow adding so much much ammonia made so much nitrite that the cycle stalled. We now know that the bacteria do not starve to death in 24 hours as used to be thought so we can add less ammonia to keep nitrite below stall point. The method on here was written so that nitrite can never get too high, that's why there are certain targets to be reached before adding any more ammonia.

 

[dmpfishlover]

Yes, that's correct.

The old way of fishless cycling had you adding ammonia every time that dropped to zero, but as 1 ppm ammonia is turned into 2.7 ppm nitrite, once the aammonia eaters started to grow adding so much much ammonia made so much nitrite that the cycle stalled. We now know that the bacteria do not starve to death in 24 hours as used to be thought so we can add less ammonia to keep nitrite below stall point. The method on here was written so that nitrite can never get too high, that's why there are certain targets to be reached before adding any more ammonia.

Gotcha.... Ok, thank you! I will continue to follow the instructions in the Thread.