just added 5ppm of ammonia (worked out at 2.63ml i put 2.5ml in) and added 20ml of aqua plus,
think i understand now
(thick i know) lol
so i dont have to add any more ammonia untill it drops to 0.0ppm? but keep testing every day for Nitrites and this should be rising? but once the ammonia is at 0.0ppm add about 3-4ppm ammonia and the Nitrite will start to drop to 0 so will the ammonia and once all is on 0 cycle is done?
think i understand
sorry first time , a friend of mine never told me all this and hes had his for a few weeks now, lol
Pretty much, you only need to add the aqua plus if you was putting in new fresh tap water but this wpnt change anything and if you hadn't put any aqua plus in then its OK now.
I wouldnt start to test for the Nitrite until your first drop in ammonia to 4.0ppm even then it still may read 0.0ppm for the Nitrite as the process does not happen instantly.
Add enough ammonia to raise it back to 4.0ppm once the ammoinia reaches 0.0ppm.
test daily for both ammonia and nitrite. Evey time you hit 0.0ppm of ammonia add more. This should be around 1 week the first time and then every 24hours or so for a few weeks. Once this cycle has continued you will notice that it only takes around 12 hours for the ammonia to become 0.0ppm from the last time your put it in.
This normally means that you the right amount of bacteria for the fish you wish to keep. The nitrite at this pint will still be high but should drop naturally to 0.0ppm due to the bacterical colony you now havE. This will happen around 2/3 weeks after the ammonia had its first drop from 5.0ppm to 0.0ppm.
Meaning you are in your 3rd/4th week of the cycle.
Once your Nitrite has dropped keep adding ammonia at 4ppm to keep your bacteria alive as you have no fish yet to support them. Keep reading this for a week to confirm cycle is complete and that both ammonia & nitrate is 0.0ppm.
If this is the case all you need to do know is test your Nitrate and work out how much of a water change you need to do. Same as I stated before if at 100ppm or there abouts a 90% water change would be ideal.
This means you can then add your fish to your tank once you have completed your water change. If you do your water change the same day you get your fish make sure that you have used aqua plus in the tap water first and that the temp is around room temp before you put in tank. Then wait an hour or so before adding fish.
There is another bit on how to put your fish in the tank but we will deal with that when it is time.
Hope this is slightly clearer and makes sense. If you have any specific problems let us know and we will try and help.
Kind Regards,
Adam