Fishless Cycle

[fatheadminnow]

Yes, 4 ppm is okay.

Even trace amounts of ammonia in a tank is going to allow for the colonization of beneficial bacteria in your filter.

5/4 ppm is a good number because you will not have to add ammonia every 10 minutes if you just dosed like 1 ppm.

5/4 ppm is also a good amount because when you add fish, 5 ppm of ammonia will have yielded enough bacteria in your filter to allow for a fully stocked tank.

And when you check your tank 12 hours after dosing ammonia, 5/4 ppm of ammonia the day before should be at zero.

So 4/5 ppm is a good number, and I would not dose anything less than that.

-FHM

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yeah 4ppm is fine, most people just aim for a slight shade darker than the 4ppm reading to try for 5ppm. in reality though while the liquid test kits such as the API one are the most accurate we have available to us, they are relatively inaccurate compared to what a real 'scientist' would use so don't feel like you're loosing anything going for 1ppm less, in relatily there's enough varience between the amounts people add and get teh same reading for it to not make a difference. Just aim around that mark and you'll be fine

 

[MrPurplePickle]

Well after a few days, all is looking good, certainly have some bacteria processing ammonia and even have nitrite being processed.
It appears having the dead prawns in the tank for 20 days before getting some ammonia wasn't a waste of time.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

it definately won't have been a waste of time, it's not as accurate to control and measure as using pure ammonia but it still works!