Too Much Ammonia A Problem?

[Steve70]

Hi, This is all new to me but I've been reading up a lot and have just started fishless cycling my Rio 125.
My only concern at the moment is that I used the ammonia calculator and added about 6ml of ammonia but the reading is closer to the 8ppm than the 4 ppm on the API test kit.

Is this a problem?

Thanks

 

[Xraymark]

Yep. Need to bring down to between 4-5ppm. Do a 20 % water change and retest.
With substrate in tank it will not have 125litres of water.

 

[Essjay]

Yes it is a problem. The thing is the wrong species of bacteria grows at ammonia levels that high. I would do a 50% water change to get the ammonia reading down lower.

 

[Steve70]

With substrate in tank it will not have 125litres of water.

I didn't take that into consideration.

I'll do a 50% tomorrow.

Thanks peeps