How Long To Fishless Cycle?

[aussie1]

Could some one please tell me how long to fishless cycle for. I have read about adding Ammonia during this time, is that the same as Ammonia nitrate/up down and what other chemicals should i add. The chemicals may be called some thing else here in Australia.

cheers Aussie1

 

[dthoffsett]

The length of a fishless cycle can vary, there's not set amount of time, you continue to cycle until the bacteria can process 5ppm of ammonia in 12 hours (basically you add enough ammonia to reach 5ppm and within 12 hours your ammonia and nitrite readings should be zero).

You get the ammonia from a hardware or grocery store in the cleaning section. You want to avoid any ammonia that contains surfactants. An easy way to test for that is to shake the bottle, if it gets foamy, try a different brand.

The only other chemicals you add during a fishless cycle is dechlorinator.

 

[aussie1]

Thank you for that.
cheers