My Fishless Cycle

[mike45]

Okay, so I am fishless cycling a 10 gallon tank. I was adding 5 drops of ammonia per day like it said on a link. But I wasn't getting anywhere, after 7 days my ammonia was only 2.0 ppm and I didn't have any nitrites. I added 10 drops on day 8 and that didn't do anything, ammonia was still at 2.0 ppm. Then I added 20 drops on day 9 and my ammonia is in the 5.0-6.0 ppm range, still with no nitrites. Today, (day 10), I added another 20 drops, the ammonia is still in the 5.0-6.0 ppm range. Will the nitrites soon appear? And should I keep on adding 20 drops of ammonia per day?

I am cycling with a live plant and two decorations. I also transferred some gravel and filter media from an established tank...

Thanks

 

[tstenback]

keep adding the ammonia and give it a few more days. If you havent registered any nitrites by then i would get someone else to test your water to see if your test kit is fine. HTH

 

[mike45]

Okay, I will do that.
I also have another question. When people say ''nitrite spike'' that just means once I start seeing nitrites right?
So, can you tell me if I'm right when I say this: I should continue adding 20 drops until I register nitrites, then I should cut the ammonia in half and put in 10 drops per day until ammonia and nitrites reach zero.

 

[tstenback]

This seems to be a bone for contention. I usually monitor the nitrites and when they stop increasing for 2 days then i cut the ammonia dose. Some will say as soon as you see nitrites to cut the dose but ifeel that this just limits the size of your bacteria colony. HTH

 

[gixer]

i would not use methods like that, that say how many drops per gallon etc..

commercially available ammonia that we all tend to use varies in strength so you really needed to record the amount it originally took to get a reading of 5.

also... a nitrite spike isn't just when you have nitrite detectable...its actually when it has risen pretty high.

HTH

 

[mike45]

Hmm...thanks gixer. Now I have a question. I was adding five drops per day for seven days which got my ammonia up to 2 ppm. Then I added ten drops on the eigth day, ammonia was still 2 ppm. Then I added 20 drops on day 9 and day 10 and each day the ammonia was at about 5-6 ppm. Does this mean that it took 20 drops to get the ammonia to 5 ppm?
Thanks

 

[tstenback]

Yes that is the amount that got you to that level so just use that as your benchmark. HTH

 

[gixer]

Does this mean that it took 20 drops to get the ammonia to 5 ppm?
Thanks

not really because you already had ammonia present...
but cant do any harm.

is your ammonia dropping to zero at all at this stage?

 

[mike45]

No, so I guess this really means it took 20 drops to raise my ammonia from 2.0 ppm to 5-6 ppm. Does this mean I should add 25-30 drops per day instead of 20 because there was already ammonia?
My ammonia has never reached zero.

 

[mike45]

Anybody..please?

 

[gixer]

i would take a guess and say 25 drops will do the trick...its not an exact science anyway. that will certainly be close enough.

i find it strange your not getting zero nitrite readings yet though...i have always seen a rise in nitrite on day 3/4

 

[gixer]

ang on a sec... just realised your cycling a 10 gallon.. what ammonia are you using? that seems an awful lot of ammonia for a 10g tank.. are you sure this ammonia isnt being processed into nitrite seems a bit strange..

have a look on the bottle..it should say something like 90% ammonia or something.. let us know what it says

 

[mike45]

The brand of ammonia is Elite Proffesional Grade Ammonia. It doesn't say anything about the % of ammonia, all it says is that it contains no phosphorus. Only air bubbles come up when I shake it.

 

[gixer]

i am completly stumped mate..

i would say you should have reading for nitrite by now..
either your test kit is duff or god knows..

what filter is it...what media is in it..

what temp do you have the tank at... (works better at higher temp even upto 90 )

how heavily planted is it?

whats the ph?

 

[mike45]

Filter is a whisper filter.
Media is from an aquaclear 300. I also squeezed out my aquaclears sponge INTO my 10 gallons water.
My temp. is at 90 degrees fahrenheit, I knew about how bacteria grows better.
I have one plant, its not very big.
The pH is 7.4 or higher last time I checked.