What other chemicals should I be adding to my tank water? I don't trust what the PetSmart employees recommend, and I found the fishless cycle advice. I'm not sure of what other chemicals or tests I should be checking.
Just Started Fishless Cycle In My Tank, What Next?
- Thread starter cjheck
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All you should be adding is Prime (or another type of dechlorinator but Prime is the most desired) my Petsmart has it so I'd imagine yours should too. Other than that... nothing except ammonia. I know the nitrogen cycle like the back of my hand...o-o it's kind of scary.
After you get the water in, dechlorinated, add your janatorial ammonia (can buy from ace for like $2) and dose the tank to 4ppm. Add just a tiny bit at first, let it circulate and test about 20min later. If you need more add a bit more. It's best to only add a tiny bit at a time. Better to underdose than overdose (which would result in having to empty out some water depending on how much of an oopsie you made)
API freshwater master kit for testing. Don't bother with the strips.
If you already knew all that theeeen.... just let the tank be. In about a week or two you should see ammonia beginning to drop as the bacteria turn it into nitrItes. Those nitrItes will eventually turn into NitrAtes and whem Ammonia and Nitrites are 0, for good measure dose the tank to 4ppm and if its gone within 24hr you're cycled. Do a large water change to bring those Nitrates down and ur ready to start adding fish
PS: if your readings are off the charts... do about a 20-30% water change to bring them back down to a readable level. If you get to high of numbers there's a chance it could stall the cycle. Your cycle could also stall if your tank water runs out of nutrients and buffers which would require a small water change too. some folks add a bit of fish food to their tanks to provide the bacteria with some nutrients.
After you get the water in, dechlorinated, add your janatorial ammonia (can buy from ace for like $2) and dose the tank to 4ppm. Add just a tiny bit at first, let it circulate and test about 20min later. If you need more add a bit more. It's best to only add a tiny bit at a time. Better to underdose than overdose (which would result in having to empty out some water depending on how much of an oopsie you made)
API freshwater master kit for testing. Don't bother with the strips.
PS: if your readings are off the charts... do about a 20-30% water change to bring them back down to a readable level. If you get to high of numbers there's a chance it could stall the cycle. Your cycle could also stall if your tank water runs out of nutrients and buffers which would require a small water change too. some folks add a bit of fish food to their tanks to provide the bacteria with some nutrients.
No, dechlorinating now won't mess anything up, but you must get into the habit of dechlorinating every drop of water that goes into your tank from now on 
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