Fishless Cycle

[The Duke]

I know there are a lot of topics and advice on this forum re fishless cycle so forgive me if these questions are repetitive. Firstly, having calculated how much ammonia to add to my tank, when should I add the first dose? The day after set up? Also, am I aiming to never let the ammonia in the tank drop below 3ppm? And am I looking at dosing everyday? Also, when do water changes come into play and why? Finally will the api test kit be sufficient to use for this purpose?

 

[OldMan47]

I will try to help you out a bit. Trying to hold a constant ammonia using the add daily method has not proven as successful as using the add and wait method. Both will work but The add and wait approach just seems to work better. The discussions are mostly trying to get people back on track when they have drifted away. I have a link in my signature area to a fairly good thread on fishless cycling that will give you all that you should need to know to succeed. If you have calculated how much to add for 3 ppm, that would be fine as a first dose. It will let you check the calculation without going over the 5 ppm limit.
I see by your post count that you have been here a while. Do you already have a tank running? If you do, you put in that first dose right after you use your new tank as a cleaning bucket for the old filter. That will give you a head start with the right bacteria.