Let the cycle begin...

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chigwellhammer

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Morning All,

Yesterday i cleaned my sand and filled up my tank, Added 5ml of prime and sprinkled in a pinch of fish food. I have added more food this morning 12 hours after the first dose.

I do have a bottle of ammonia coming tomorrow or Wednesday so the fish food was just to get it going couple days early.

Filter & heater are both running, Is this correct?
What exactly should i be doing now, I have the API test kit when should i be doing the first test?

Thanks,
 
You only need to add food once and it will continue to release/ produce ammonia for as long as it's in the water. Pellet foods or wafers generally hold together better and are easier to remove when the ammonia level hits 3ppm.

When your ammonia level gets to 3ppm, you need to remove the food otherwise the level can go higher and if it goes above 5ppm, the cycling process can stall because the beneficial bacteria can't survive at high levels.

Test the ammonia levels each day and try to keep the level around 3ppm.

Once the ammonia level starts to drop overnight (in about 2-3 weeks time), start testing for nitrite as well as ammonia.

When the ammonia and nitrite levels drop to 0, then monitor nitrates. Nitrate test kits will measure nitrite as nitrate and give you a false reading if there is nitrite in the water.
 
Thank you so much for the help Colin.

When i receive my liquid ammonia, How many Ml should i add its a 125l tank?
 
No idea. Most bottles from pet shops have a dose rate on the packaging/ bottle. If they don't, then add as much as is needed to get the level to 3ppm. You won't need much, so add a little bit at a time and wait an hour before testing again. Record how much you add and how much it changes the level in the tank.

As long as there is some ammonia in the water, and the level is below 5ppm, the bacteria will grow.
 
So far

Yesterday added fish food 18:00
Today ammonia liquid 6ml added at 17:00
Ammonia test: The results below are at 18:15

Just to confirm I only started the cycle with fish food because I thought the ammonia I bought online would take quite a while to come and then it ended up coming today!

I can tell myself the ammonia is very high, What’s my next step? Leave it for 2/3 days? Or do I need to do something else.

Thanks


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do a partial water change to reduce the ammonia level to about 3ppm.
 
I will wait until tomorrow now and test again after work? I did do a change after you first mentioned it but was probably about 15-20%
 
leave it then, the bacteria will eventually land in the tank and start processing it but it takes a few weeks before you see any changes.
 

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