Fishless tank cycling

[armymedic]

So i am at day 3 of the tank cycling process. WHY ISNT IT DONE YET??? lol

 

I used the direct ammonia method, and i have slowly introduced quite a bit of pure ammonia to the water. I am assuming this will not hurt the live sand or live rock that i have put in it??

 

when testing for the ammonia though, the articles say to put in from 3-5 PPM. My tester only goes up to 2 PPM. How do i know if i am at 3,4 or 5 PPM? Thx

[Chad]

Well, two options here... you can "wing it by extrapolation" by judging how much color change there is on your chart and adding ammonia until you get to what you think is your desired level...

 

Or you can get a different test kit and be sure...

 

IMO, this sort of thing is not exact and you dont need to be absolutely precise, so I would wing it by extrapolation and get close

[Origami]

Winging it is probably acceptable, but you could also dilute the sample to 50% (50% distilled + 50% tank water) and get readings up to 4 ppm. Precision will suffer, but that's fine for this time.

[armymedic]

well i ordered a new test kit. Mine is sortof old. This one has what i need for now i think.

 

 

http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/product/productInfo.web?=&infoParam.itemKey=198308&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=ocean_master_test_kit

 

 

 

[Origami]

Ever thought about just running by Roozens since you're rather close by?

[onux20]

Why test ammonia? Why not wait a couple of weeks (hard I know!) and test for nitrates? You know you started the cycle do you really need a test to tell you that? Knowing that your nitrates are present and climbing tells you you are close to completeing the cycle. I would just get the nitrate test and bust that out in a few weeks and see where you are.

 

my $.01

Ron

[Coral Hind]

Why test ammonia? Why not wait a couple of weeks (hard I know!) and test for nitrates? You know you started the cycle do you really need a test to tell you that? Knowing that your nitrates are present and climbing tells you you are close to completeing the cycle. I would just get the nitrate test and bust that out in a few weeks and see where you are.

 

my $.01

Ron

 

That sounds like a good idea. Once the tank cycles I doubt you will ever use the ammonia test it again.

[Origami]

There's a couple of reasons to test for ammonia. The first is to have a clear sense of the capacity of the biological filter development. You're not only waiting for the cycle to pass (that is, determining when it has finished), but also trying to establish how much that filter is able to consume over a short time frame. For example, it's one thing for a filter to be developed to where it can reduce 1 ppm of added ammonia in 24 hours; it's quite another to have a filter developed to where it can process 5 ppm in the same time period. As the filter develops, it's able to process more ammonia (because there's more bacteria feeding on the ammonia).

 

The second reason to control the ammonia level often is applicable only if there is other life present on the rock. Too much ammonia can kill animals that may be able to tolerate small amounts of ammonia, adding to death, decay and rising ammonia levels. That, in turn, kills off more in a deadly cycle that can easily get out of control. This example is probably not applicable here since he's starting pretty much from scratch. In this case, I like to limit the ammonia level to 1 ppm max.

[armymedic]

Based on what i have right now i am around 2 PPM for ammonia. I just ran out of the the kesslers salt until i get the new test kit in. I think it should be ok to just let it sit for a couple of weeks or do i need to do anything else to it? By the way should i be running the lights at all ? Thx.

 

 

[Origami]

No need for lights.

 

If the cycling instructions call for you to boost the level, you can safely do so by diluting your water sample. The key to building up your biological filtration is to feed the bacteria. That's what you're doing when you add the ammonia. Thus, you need to keep up with that, or else the bacterial population will decline in the absence of any other form of food.