Newbie trying to cycle tank

[gone fishin]

If I go with ammonia method , should I dose till about 2ppm?

I bring the ammonia up to 2ppm. Some folks will re-dose after the initial 2ppm is gone to verify how quickly the ammonia is consumed.

 

[LX20000]

Get it from ACE. It's 10%.

To get my 33 gallons of water up to 2ppm took 1.25ml of 10% ammonia.

I suspect you have 100 gallons of water, so 3.75 to 4 ml of ACE 10% ammonia will do it for you.

Big question is do you have nitrates? If so, you have been converting ammonia to nitrite and nitrite to nitrate, so you are cycling.

Screw the shrimp approach.. use ammonia, dose up to 2ppm, then watch and you know quantitatively exactly what is going on.

Oppsss.. I was asleep at the wheel... took me 2.5 ml of 10% ammonia to get 33 gallons to 2ppm... so you would need like 7.5ml to 8ml of 10% ammonia.

 

[rjjr1963]

I want to try the Reef Mature Pro kit from Red Sea on my next tank. Otherwise I did the same thing as gone_fishin

 

[LX20000]

I bring the ammonia up to 2ppm. Some folks will re-dose after the initial 2ppm is gone to verify how quickly the ammonia is consumed.

I felt I had to redoes after the first cycle, because it took 2 days for ammonia to disappear from 2ppm. I figured if it took that long again, there was not enough bacteria available.

So I dosed to 2ppm again.... it was down to 0 in 12 hours. So at that point I felt I had enough bacteria present.

 

[gone fishin]

I felt I had to redoes after the first cycle, because it took 2 days for ammonia to disappear from 2ppm. I figured if it took that long again, there was not enough bacteria available.

So I dosed to 2ppm again.... it was down to 0 in 12 hours. So at that point I felt I had enough bacteria present.

I have been in that position as well. I have had some cycles that seemed excructiatingly long and others where I thought that went to quick.

 

[Jpcrash1]

I got talked out of dosing with ammonia fom my lfs. He suggested adding 10 or 12 shrimp to my tank. I thought this was a little high,so I bought 6 more. I got my ammonia to about 4ppm in two days and the smell is lovely and tank is a little cloudy. Can I remove them ? Will ammonia get too high? Have no nitrites yet.

 

[homer1475]

I got talked out of dosing with ammonia fom my lfs. He suggested adding 10 or 12 shrimp to my tank. I thought this was a little high,so I bought 6 more. I got my ammonia to about 4ppm in two days and the smell is lovely and tank is a little cloudy. Can I remove them ? Will ammonia get too high? Have no nitrites yet.

And the smell is the #1 reason most use ammonia now.

If you have 4ppm ammonia, you can remove the decaying shrimp. Thats plenty of ammonia to kick start the cycle.

 

[gone fishin]

What homer said.