Cycling Journal-Odd Ammonia Readings

[Crossfire]

Well, i'm back now and I've started fishless "add daily" cycling! Woohoo! One step closer. Let's see how the tank's coming along
Before:

During

After

I've been keeping a log of the ammonia and nitrites/nitrates, and accordingly to the ammonia calculater i've added 3.8 ml of ammonia every day into the tank....However, it's the third day, and while ammonia should be at 12 or 15 ppm like it says in the beginners guide, my ammonia has just today reached 4 ppm......And the nitrites are still at 0, so theres no way they've been processed yet Am I doing something wrong? Should I add more ammonia? Thanks for the help!

 

[lucasluke]

Sometimes Nitrites don't appear straight away.
Im not sure how many people here are keen on using the Add Daily method... as it isn't the most popular one.

 

[Tizer]

you dont add it daily, you just add it once and check it daily and ensure it stays at 4ppm, topping it up if needed.

you dont want anything like 12ppm of ammonia as the wrong strains of bacteria will colonise your filter.

So where you stand now, is perfect.

 

[Crossfire]

well, the reason i'm doing add daily is because the beginners section recommends it for tanks with heavy fish loads, which is what i will have. Also, for some reason my tank water is cloudy and my family blames it on the ammonia and thinks that cycling with ammonia is weird and clouding the tank. I told them its just the water being cloudy from poorly washed sand and gravel, but they dont believe me. Will a water change solve it or is it really the ammonia?

 

[Rickzayne]

Bacterial bloom.. Will settle in a few days.