Reduce Ammonia

[joshg]

Hi All,

I'm trying to cycle a 3g tank however the ammonia levels are really high at the moment (there are currently no fish in it). I did an ammonia test and its currently sitting at around 2.0ppm. I've also added this product called 'cycle' into the water that is supposed to assist with the cycling process.

I wanted to know if it is OK to remove 10-15% of the water each day till the ammonia levels come down or if there is a better way to achive this

Cheers

 

[BobK]

The ammonia should come down as the nitrifying bacteria start to grow. If you change the water you will be removing ammonia and thus the food source for the nitrifying bacteria. This will slow your cycle. I'm not sure why you want to do a water change if you're doing a fishless cycle.

 

[Tempestuousfury]

If you have extra ammonia, it will take longer to cycle, but will go down eventually. Are you adding too much ammonia?

 

[BobK]

I'm no expert on this, not by far, but 2ppm doesn't seem so high. Aren't you supposed to add enough to bring it to 5ppm anyway? Oh, by the way, there is an excellent thread pinned in the beginners forum regarding fishless cycling.

 

[joshg]

I've not been adding any extra ammonia, which is why i thought 2ppm was quite high.

I just found the cycling for beginners post you mentioned - will stick to what that says and see how i go.

thanks for all your help!

 

[Def]

*Any* ppm of ammonia is fine. Some people recommend you add enough ammonia to bring it to 5ppm then keep adding drops every tday - I totally disagree with this. Bring it to 5ppm or so, then leave it until it drops. The object is not to have lots of ammonia in your tank, it's to have the bacteria grow. Pure ammonia from a bottle is far more concentrated than ammonia from fish waste.

What I do is add ammonia to about 4 or 5ppm, wait until it drops to 1ppm, bring it back up to 5ppm etc, repeat until nitrite spikes and vanishes, then do a 95% water change. That may mean I add ammonia on day one, then nothing until day 5, then again on day 7, then day 8, 9, 10 etc.

 

[Slyspy]

I'm a bit concerned about ammonia being present at all in a tank which has no fish and has had no ammonia added. Where has it come from? The water source?

 

[yhbae]

I'm a bit concerned about ammonia being present at all in a tank which has no fish and has had no ammonia added. Where has it come from? The water source?

Yikes, that is a different story!

Perhaps you should test your ammonia level from your tap directly. I'd be very surprised if your tap water contains ammonia!

Perhaps your water contains chloramine and you are adding chemicals that breaks these down?

 

[joshg]

The tank did have some fish in it which i'm assuming where the ammonia is from. I removed them a little while ago because i read that doing a cycle with fish can stress them and increase their chances of getting sick. They are now in a seperate already cycled.

Is it even possible to cycle a 3gallon tank properly?

 

[joshg]

oh and just to rule it out i tested my water source that i use for the tank and it has 0 ammonia

 

[yhbae]

Ok in that case, you will need to find a good source of ammonia (I'm assuming you want to continue with fishless cycling). Try your local pharmacy. If you don't continue to "feed" ammonia, you will never complete the cycle.