Cycled? I want to add ammonia

[jminick2]

Or should I just say "F" it and get some snails?

do you have nitrates yes or no??? you Can not get nitrates with out ammonia being converted to nitrites and nitrites to nitrates.....if you do have nitrates and no ammonia and nitrites then you know your tank is converting these in an appropriate time frame...AKA your tank is cycled if this is the case.

 

[ChuckNasty]

Also, if you are not picking up ammonia in your tests, it is very possible you have a bum test kit. I had that happen as well, couldn't figure out what was going on at the time. Your tank is exhibiting all the signs of a cycling tank though... I wouldn't be too worried if I were you.

 

[intyme]

do you have nitrates yes or no??? you Can not get nitrates with out ammonia being converted to nitrites and nitrites to nitrates.....if you do have nitrates and no ammonia and nitrites then you know your tank is converting these in an appropriate time frame...AKA your tank is cycled if this is the case.

Nope, no nitrates. Nothing, nada, zip, and ziltch

 

[intyme]

Dosed ammonia up to 2ppm, prior to dosing I had no nitrates. When should I see them?

 

[Aqualoon]

I did the same thing you did when I thought my tank was cycled. Spiked the ammonia to just make sure.

If you have no nitrates do you have any nitrItes?

Simplified version it goes Ammonia --> Nitrite --> Nitrate

So if you spiked ammonia, and are not seeing any nitrate I'd be looking at my nitrites as a spike in ammonia should also spike the nitrites.

 

[KingTriton1]

Why not just throw a raw shrimp in your system inside a filter sock for 1-2 hours? This is a much safer option and what I do to raise my ammonia levels. It doesn't take long to see the ammonia rise.

If your heart is set on the pure ammonia then buy from Ace Hardware.

 

[intyme]

Still a no - go, tested the water today still ammonia spike. It went down to 1 ppm( I think) stupid api tests are hard to read.

It's been a month and I'm getting anxious

 

[CStrickland]

Dosed ammonia up to 2ppm, prior to dosing I had no nitrates. When should I see them?

Still a no - go, tested the water today still ammonia spike. It went down to 1 ppm( I think) stupid api tests are hard to read.
It's been a month and I'm getting anxious

Wait, what do you think you're looking for? It's supposed to go down not up.

 

[intyme]

Wait, what do you think you're looking for? It's supposed to go down not up.

I was hoping they would read zero, like I said I'm getting anxious lol. So when they hit zero I should be good right?

 

[CStrickland]

Ok haha just checking, it sounded like you thought they would spike up after you added the ammo

 

[Irishman360]

I got the ammonia at Ace Hardware, it cost like $3-$5. I have a 60 gallon tank and I used one teaspoon to spike it to 2PPM. That may have been a little bit over kill though for my tank though since it took 36hrs for it to go away. I used the raw shrimp method first then when my readings went down to 0 for everything I spiked it to make sure my tank did in fact cycle.

I've heard bad things about API test kits, I have a Red Sea test kit, I like it a lot. Makes me feel like a chemist lol.

 

[jminick2]

Dosed ammonia up to 2ppm, prior to dosing I had no nitrates. When should I see them?

if you dosed to 2ppm the ammonia and nitrite should be gone 24-48 hours if this happens u are cycled. if not, well you arent.

 

[intyme]

if you dosed to 2ppm the ammonia and nitrite should be gone 24-48 hours if this happens u are cycled. if not, well you arent.

Ok, cool. I'm still in the 48 hr window.

 

[jminick2]

Ok, cool. I'm still in the 48 hr window.

ideally you want it all to convert in 24 hours or less but if it happens under 48 thats still saying your tank is there and it's efficiently converting ammonia.

 

[Green Chromis]

:fish1: Hi all, I hope all you people using ammonia to cycle your tanks are starting with a dead tank, sand and rock wise. I still don't and never will, understand why you would start a tank with dead rock and sand, it just isn't natural. Using a very high quality live rock and sand is the easiest and safest way to start a tank, especially for beginners. You don't have a long cycle, if any at all, no algae or phosphate problems in the beginning or ever, and you get to watch all the wonderful flora and fauna that comes on the rock. That in itself is well worth the price of the live rock. :fish1:

 

[Aqualoon]

I don't know, I started with all dead rock/sand and used ammonia to cycle and I can say that I have honestly enjoyed watching the change it goes through.

I have pictures about a month a part and it's amazing how sterile everything looks when the tank first went up compared to how it is today.

 

[KingTriton1]

tself is well worth the price of the live rock.

I don't think price is the reason that some people don't use live rock

 

[CStrickland]

I don't think price is the reason that some people don't use live rock

It was a big consideration for me, the Tampa bay package for a 55 is $690, I got my mined rock for $50. When I started I didn't know if I would like the hobby, no way was I going to spend that kind of money to find out. Although it's news to me that you if you start with live rock you never will have algae or phos problems, lol. That might've changed my mind (jk, it wouldn't, that's silly). I do like not having a bunch of hitchikers and watching everything grown from scratch too.