Ammonia Ppm

[BigbruiserAl]

Just thinkning. So when we do a fishless and cycle we aim for 5ppm ammonia. When it all ready and the tank is fully stocked what sort of PPM are the fish putting out a day? If let say as an example i cycle a tank using the 5ppm as a guide and add 12 snails in a 120L tank there daily waste will be no where near so will the bacteria just die off over time to match their waste load?

 

[SensesFail]

Just thinkning. So when we do a fishless and cycle we aim for 5ppm ammonia. When it all ready and the tank is fully stocked what sort of PPM are the fish putting out a day? If let say as an example i cycle a tank using the 5ppm as a guide and add 12 snails in a 120L tank there daily waste will be no where near so will the bacteria just die off over time to match their waste load?

You cycle the tank to 5ppm and once complete you can ni on add all of your stock together depending on what your getting. If you add half of the stock or the stock waste doesnt match the 5ppm the filter will adapt to it and some will die leaving the correct amount required and multiplying in numbers if waste was to increase. If you add half of the fish and left it for a long period of time you would have to add the rset of the stock gradually as to not upset the balance.

Once cycled you should with full stock get 0ppm ammonia and 0ppm nitrite. Fish wont produce 5ppm fully stocked and if your overstocked which you have to be for some fish then you need to increase maintenance to get rid of the high nitrate levels which will be getting produced

so in answer to the question if ammonia being produced was say 3ppm by your stock the filter would in time cater for just that comfortably and if you add fish it will increase. .

 

[anon02]

The short answer is yes, but there can be other factors which affect the amount of ammonia in your tank such as rotting food and plant matter

The nitrifying bacteria levels will rise and fall over time to match the available food (ammonia) but it is a slow process, that is why fishkeepers are advised not to add too much extra stock at one time

 

[BigbruiserAl]

Thanks guys, the questions was aimed at my 50l shrimp tank, cant 30 shrimp getting any where near even 2ppm as you dont really even feed them. Was thinking of reducing the ammonia im adding. Sigh i remember my 1st tank 20 years ago as a teen, tank-check, water-check, everything work-check, left to stand 2 weeks -check ok laod with fish lol

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, this is one of THE most repeated questions from intelligent first-time fishless cyclers, lol. "Hey, can't I get through with this faster and more matched to my ultimately smaller bioload by dosing less?"

The answer however is NO, don't do that! The dosing ultimately has less to do with first stocking or final stocking than you think. What it's really all about is getting two really robust colonies that then have plenty of room to "drop-down" to match your first bioload and be healthy enough to not spike on you. A carefully matched dose would be much more likely to spike on you (show ammonia or nitrite traces/spikes after you've introduced fish) than an "overdosed" approach. This is not mention too that the dosing levels are also important to select out the correct species (there are hundreds of bacterial species in the water and we want to help ensure the correct two autotrophs become dominant in our media.)

So 5ppm at the end is still quite important in my opinion.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[BigbruiserAl]

Thanks WD im on day 20 odd so silly to change now i guess my tank can do 4ppm in approx 24hrs or less.