Geoff's Fishless Cycle

[Meogeo]

I have been doing a fishless cycle for 10 days now and wondered if I was doing this correctly, my readings to date are


Date PH Ammonia Nitrate Nitrite Notes
08/06/2012 7.4 n/t n/t n/t 4.2 ml of ammonia added. Ammonia added to 3 ppm
09/06/2012 7.6 1.0 ppm n/t n/t 2.8 ml of ammonia added. Ammonia 2.0 ppm after 12 hours
10/06/2012 n/t 1.0 ppm n/t 0.0 ppm 2.8 ml of ammonia added.
11/06/2012 n/t 2.0 ppm n/t n/t 1.4 ml of ammonia added.
12/06/2012 n/t 2.0 ppm n/t n/t no ammonia added
13/06/2012 n/t 2.0 ppm n/t n/t 4.4 ml of ammonia added ammonia brought upto 5.0 ppm
14/06/2012 n/t n/t n/t n/t
15/06/2012 n/t n/t n/t n/t
16/06/2012 n/t n/t n/t n/t
17/06/2012 7.6 3.0 ppm 0 0.25 ppm

n/t = Not tested

As you can see I topped up the ammonia up to 5.0 ppm on the 13th and today the 17th the ammonia is only down to 3.0 ppm, do I leave the water now until it gets down to 1.0 ppm?
Also when do I need to do a water change in the tank?

Many Thanks

 

[The Taffy Apple]

You should only add the ammonia in the first instance so the water test returns 4ppm. You then sit back and wait until your ammonia hits '0', then dose again. Continue to do this until both Ammonia and NitrItes hit '0' for a full week (called the Qualifying Week), then do a right-down-to-the-substrate water change and stock up.
Keep an eye on the PH, if it 'crashes' it can, and most probably will, slow down the cycle (our beneficial bacteria prefer a higher range of PH, about 7.8 and above).

Terry.

 

[Meogeo]

Thanks Terry.