Cycling

[IovaykInD]

How much should I add to start for a 29 Gallon Tank?

I read the post on "How To Do A Fishless Cycle" but it says on the amount of concentration. Will adding too much be bad for cycling? Also, how many drops are around the average for starting a cycle?

Isaac

 

[dwarfgourami]

Hard to tell, it is going to be trial and error. For my 13 gallon litre tank I added 10 or 12 drops (can't really remember) every day until the ammonia went down and the nitrites went up, then half that amount daily until the nitrites disappeared and the nitrates spiked, then did big water change and added fish. Well, actually I added ammonia for an extra day or two as I couldn't get to the lfs.
Basically, you need to get the ammonia in the tank up to 5 ppm when you start. If you add too much it is not a disaster, as there are no fish there to suffer; all that will happen is that the tank may take longer to cycle, and as you are not adding fish until this has happens, only your patience will suffer.

 

[rdd1952]

It's hard to tell. I never measureed it for my 75 gallon. I just poured some in, waited 10 minutes for the filter to circulate it and tested. I had actually hit it about dead on 6 ppm but that was just luck. In any case, just our some in (maybe 1/2 teaspoonful), wait a few minutes and test. You should be able to judge from that how much more you need to add. Adding too much at the start won't hurt anything. It may slow things an extra day or 2 but that's not a problem. After you add add the ammonia the first time, you don't need to add any more until it falls back to 0. After that, just add more ammonia daily to bring it back to 1 to 2 ppm, start testing the nitrite and wait on the nitrite to fall.

 

[gadazobe]

"All of the danios died overnight "

I know this is a stupid question, but was there any dechlorinator in the tank?

 

[IovaykInD]

No
I think it might be chloramine that killed the fish because chlorine dissipated. Can chloramine kill fish that easily?

Isaac

 

[mlee0332]

Yes chloramine is just as deadly, if not more deadly to fish than chlorine. The only way to get rid of it is dechlorinator. Chloramine WILL NOT disapate over night, and make sure the dechlorinator is for chlorine AND chloramine, which it will be hard to find one that don;t take care of both...