Cycling A New Tank

[scandie]

I have read this section several times. 
 
Where would one get the liquid ammonia mentioned?
 
If dose 3 (snack) of the ammonia is likely on day 21+, what is the response to all the readings I am taking on day 4, 7, 10, etc?
 
Can I assume that if the parameters are met on day 4 onward, I add more ammonia (dose 2 or higher), or it is more likely that all these readings in between will still show ammonia level that do not require action?
 
Thank you, I would like to know what to expect before I start this process.
 
 

 

[LyraGuppi]

I'm not very experienced with explaining the specifics of cycling, but I know you can get liquid ammonia from hardware/maintenance stores, or online. It's safe as long as it doesn't foam when you shake it, and should have no added fragrances or soaps.

 

[julielynn47]

I could not find the ammonia locally. So I order Dr. Tim's.    
 
First let me say that I am not an expert on this but... I started a fishless cycle myself not long ago. I started it on the 2nd of August and by the 8th, only 6 days later, I was able to give the dose 2.  Then by the 13th I was giving a snack dose as the ammonia dropped to 0 on the 10th.    The snack dose was used up a little over 24 hours and on the 14th the ammonia was back to 0.  
 
I did seed a little from another aquarium so I am sure that is helping my cycle move more quickly.   So it must be normal for some cycles to go faster than others.  I definitely did not have to wait until day 21 to give the snack.  Maybe your cycle is like mine and it is just moving along pretty fast.
 
Edited to add (Sorry, I misread, I thought you had already started your cycle

)  On those days you just do nothing. You can test the water for the readings but you don't have to do anything...just wait

 

[Gruntle]

That's correct. Assuming the longest cycle possible (where there is no "seeding" media from an existing tank), there will be a tiny bit of the right sort bacteria in your tank, and this needs to multiply in order to consume the ammonia.
 
Because you start with almost no bacteria, and they double in numbers three times a day (let's use the figure of around 8 hours for ammonia consuming bacteria), it takes a while for the colony to build up to have a noticeable effect on the ammonia.
 
The first couple of weeks nothing visible will happen, but the cycle is in full swing. Once the colony grows (so every day it's around 8 times bigger than the day before) enough to start visibly consuming ammonia you look at the following steps in the guide. For those first couple of weeks, just test the water every 72 hours and keep note of your readings. It's only once your ammonia drops to clearly under .75ppm AND nitrite clearly over 2ppm that you add more ammonia. All things being equal in a new tank, nitrite will definitely rise when ammonia drops.
 
The issue is some people have seen their ammonia drop to, say, 2ppm and topped it back up to 3ppm. Unfortunately if you do this you can cause your cycle to stall, as the nitrite consuming bacteria take longer to establish than the ammonia consumers. So your ammonia drops, but your nitrites continue to rise until the water quality gets to the point where your bacteria don't multiply. Most "amateur" test kits only show nitrite being over 5ppm (dark purple) which could be 5ppm or 20ppm, it's the same colour.
 
Best of luck with it, please keep asking questions and we'll do our best to help you through.

 

[scandie]

Thanks to all of you.