Ammonia overdose advice

THK

New member
After waiting nearly 3 weeks to see a rise in ammonia by ghost feeding dry rock to cure/cycle (way to little ghost feeding apparently) I decided to try the "add your own ammonia" thing for the first time. I used the Ace Hardware 10% ammonium hydroxide. I added 2ml to approx 20 gallon container with about 100 lbs dry rock with the result of off the chart ammonia spike. Yeah I know that was a rookie mistake but its done now. So, I am tempted to let things roll on but I should probably do a 50% water change. Any advice?
 
water change should be fine...there is a calculator online that tells you how much ammonia to add to x gallons to get x ppm....google it...i think you want 2-3ppm
 
2-3ppm is ideal but I would wait it out, personally. You can also do a big water change or you can add a few drops of Prime too. If I had to knock it down I'd use a little Prime instead of a water change.
 
2mL of 10% solution really isn't all that much ammonia... For information's sake, take a water sample and then dilute it to 1/10 its concentration - or take 1 tablespoon, or cup, or whatever and add 9 more of clean water - and re-test at least a couple times. Average the result and multiply it by 10 to get an idea where you are really at. In other words if you are actually at 5 or 10 ppm, the dilution will say you are at 0.5 or 1ppm.
 
Thanks everyone. Nate that is a really good idea. That solution not only works for this prob but anytime testing is off the chart. Good one! I will also test PH for informational purposes to see if high Ammo also affects PH as some say it does. I think the best thing to do at this point is test and let it simmer.

Thanks again, Tom
 
Well the 10% dilution solution sure looked good on paper but in practice it was a no go. When test sample was diluted by 10% the color was a very pale blue. Almost identical to the API 0ppm Nitrite color. That kinda makes sense though because API 8ppm is a greenblue. But no matter I am going to sit tight and see what happens. Maybe someone else here has made the same mistake and sat tight with good results and will chime in on the subject. Hey it could happen! Of course we most likely have a better chance of colliding with an asteroid but hey who knows lol.
 
I appologize for the astroid collision statement, it was a poor attempt at humor.

So to update the ammonia overdose. I did sit tight, no partial water change or additives but I did add some extra areation and a diy trickle type aerobic filter with 750gph pump. Within a few days ammonia, nitrite and nitrate dropped to 0.0 ppm (they were all way off the chart high). The result of my overdosing ammonia is a very strong bacteria colony.

I will be building the 40 breeder sump this weekend and while that cures over the next week I will be drilling and sculpting the rock. By mid Jan. I should be ready for tank inhabitants.
Thanks for all the advice everyone !
Best wishes, Tom
 
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