Started my cycle today. Mixed results

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I'm going to take kiwis advice and just stick to the guide on the forum and go with some doctor Tim's ammonium and a decent testing kit to test regularly.
 
Dr Tims dose rate (1 drop per litre/4 per gallon) takes you to 2ppm so add 1/2 again.
The bottle also tells you 100 drops equals 5ml, so 1 drop is 0.05ml.
Rather than count 50+ drops I used a syringe and worked out my dose as, 0.05 by 1.5 by litres of water= dose size in ml
 
Dr Tims dose rate (1 drop per litre/4 per gallon) takes you to 2ppm so add 1/2 again.
The bottle also tells you 100 drops equals 5ml, so 1 drop is 0.05ml.
Rather than count 50+ drops I used a syringe and worked out my dose as, 0.05 by 1.5 by litres of water= dose size in ml


So how many drops for my 125 litre?
 
Less 10% for substrate etc unless you measure the water put in then use that.
1 drop per litre, plus 1/2 again, 169 drops .......don't lose count.
Or 112.5 times .05 times 1.5 =8.4375ml round down to 8.4ml (I use a 5ml syringe.)


Counting out 169 drops will be fun but probably worth it in the end. How often should I dose the water with the ammonium?
 
I think I've got the hang of it now. Just need to do that and test regularly until the ammonium and nitrate levels are right for adding fish.
 
The method in the links you have been given says to add ammonia once certain targets have been reached. Older methods said to add ammonia every time it dropped to zero but this made so much nitrite that it stalled the cycle. The method on here was written so that if ammonia is only added at specific points, nitrite can never get high enough to stall the cycle.

Follow that method; test on days it gives, then add more ammonia once the next target has been reached. Here it is again

 
The method in the links you have been given says to add ammonia once certain targets have been reached. Older methods said to add ammonia every time it dropped to zero but this made so much nitrite that it stalled the cycle. The method on here was written so that if ammonia is only added at specific points, nitrite can never get high enough to stall the cycle.

Follow that method; test on days it gives, then add more ammonia once the next target has been reached. Here it is again


And this is why we maintain it’s important to only dose up to 3ppm ammonia as this will be converted into nitrite and there is a limit to nitrite before the cycle may stall. 3ppm caps the nitrite so the nitrite peak stays well below the stall threshold.

Stall cycle threshold of nitrite is approximate around 16ppm.

Normal conversion rate, approximate, 1ppm ammonia will make between 2.55 to 2.7ppm nitrite and that in turns converts to nitrate to around 3.46 ppm.

So say you mistakenly add 5ppm ammonia, convert that to nitrite you will get around 13ppm nitrite, dangerously close to the stall threshold of around 16ppm nitrite, but the time you add the next dose of 3ppm and the nitrite has not fully formed to the full colony to deal with this level of ammonia within 24 hours the nitrite level will surely go well over the 16ppm stall threshold.

So keeping doses at 3ppm for ammonia caps the nitrite levels and makes doubly sure you won’t stall the cycle process.

Even with overstocking the tank, it’s unlikely the livestock will ever produce over 3ppm ammonia in any 24 hour period, we say to dose at 3ppm is a bit of an overestimate for the bacteria colony and stocking levels but too much bacteria much better than too little and with not enough bacs to deal with ammonia and nitrite will ensure livestock will be affected with ammonia and/or nitrite poisoning in varying degrees.

So dose at 3ppm ammonia, if you go over and dose 4ppm do a 25% water change to bring ammonia level back to 3ppm, if you dose 5ppm then should do a 50% water change to get ammonia back to 3ppm.

This part is explained in the cycling article so do please follow the article as closely to the letter as you can, otherwise you may start to have issues with your fishless cycle.
 
And this is why we maintain it’s important to only dose up to 3ppm ammonia as this will be converted into nitrite and there is a limit to nitrite before the cycle may stall. 3ppm caps the nitrite so the nitrite peak stays well below the stall threshold.

Stall cycle threshold of nitrite is approximate around 16ppm.

Normal conversion rate, approximate, 1ppm ammonia will make between 2.55 to 2.7ppm nitrite and that in turns converts to nitrate to around 3.46 ppm.

So say you mistakenly add 5ppm ammonia, convert that to nitrite you will get around 13ppm nitrite, dangerously close to the stall threshold of around 16ppm nitrite, but the time you add the next dose of 3ppm and the nitrite has not fully formed to the full colony to deal with this level of ammonia within 24 hours the nitrite level will surely go well over the 16ppm stall threshold.

So keeping doses at 3ppm for ammonia caps the nitrite levels and makes doubly sure you won’t stall the cycle process.

Even with overstocking the tank, it’s unlikely the livestock will ever produce over 3ppm ammonia in any 24 hour period, we say to dose at 3ppm is a bit of an overestimate for the bacteria colony and stocking levels but too much bacteria much better than too little and with not enough bacs to deal with ammonia and nitrite will ensure livestock will be affected with ammonia and/or nitrite poisoning in varying degrees.

So dose at 3ppm ammonia, if you go over and dose 4ppm do a 25% water change to bring ammonia level back to 3ppm, if you dose 5ppm then should do a 50% water change to get ammonia back to 3ppm.

This part is explained in the cycling article so do please follow the article as closely to the letter as you can, otherwise you may start to have issues with your fishless cycle.


I've been reading through the guide over and over a few times to get it in my head. Also quick question, filter on or off whilst I'm letting the sand settle in my tank? I've kept it off for the time being just to be safe.
 
Is it really bad, the sand going everywhere or just a little, does not normally take all that long for sand to settle.

Oxygen exchange for the bb is fairly important but if filter is off for just for a few hours, then should be fine but not for days at a time though.
 
Is it really bad, the sand going everywhere or just a little, does not normally take all that long for sand to settle.

Oxygen exchange for the bb is fairly important but if filter is off for just for a few hours, then should be fine but not for days at a time though.


You be the judge... Although it does look very cloudy. I haven't added any ammonium yet, just some tap safe for the new water and it's been set up for about 5 hours now.
 

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Oh that’s fine, it’s when you add the ammonia that the cycle officially starts.

So yeah, when it’s settled and you’re happy with the tank set up, start the filter get it to agitate the water surface a lot, heater on and add ammonia then follow the cycle article.
 
Oh that’s fine, it’s when you add the ammonia that the cycle officially starts.

So yeah, when it’s settled and you’re happy with the tank set up, start the filter get it to agitate the water surface a lot, heater on and add ammonia then follow the cycle article.


That's what I thought but I just wanted to check with someone experienced to make sure it was all good. Am I okay to leave the heater and filter in the tank (switched off of course) until the sand settles?
 
Yep. At this stage, makes not a lot of difference.

It’s when you have everything settled, add plants at this point if you wish, sand settled etc then start everything as my previous post.

You’ll be good to go then.
 

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