pure ammonia fishless cycle

[R33FLIF3]

dosed ammonia to about 6ppm on 10/7/16 water turned cloudy ,tested .25 ppm on 10/12/16 redosed ammonia to 6-7 ppm.

by 10/19 it came down to 2-3 ppm and has been there until now water still cloudy. should i keep waiting?

 

[bertoni]

You can either wait or do some water changes to reduce the ammonia level. I'd probably just wait, but I am the lazy type.

 

[R33FLIF3]

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[bertoni]

Wow, that's fairly cloudy. I guess I'd do a big water change, if I wanted the cycle to finish fairly quickly. A bit of Amquel or Prime might help, too.

 

[R33FLIF3]

did 25gal water change. mixed the water last night, i guess the tank noticed me and decided to get even more cloudy..... anyways ammonia down to .50-1.0 no nitrite or nitrate...?

 

[bertoni]

Okay, you should be able to let the cloudiness clear on its own, as long as the ammonia is dropping. That level is fairly low. High ammonia levels can inhibit the bacteria that consume the ammonia, which can cause a lot of delay. If the cloudiness is still an issue after a few days of zero ammonia, I might look into it more. That's rare, but certainly not impossible.

 

[homer1475]

I wonder if the cloudiness is from unrinsed sand?

 

[cougareyes]

Not sure how ammonia can be decreasing without the formulation of nitrite and nitrate. It isn't necessary to dose the ammonia any higher than 2 ppm, and it's best to let it cycle all the way through to nitrate before redosing. Did you add any bacteria or use live rock to cycle.

 

[Mishri]

Yeah, 6ppm is way too high, it will cause problems. 2ppm is the maximum I would dose, .5-1ppm is usually sufficient. (depending on aquarium size and how many/type of fish you plan to add first.. if you were adding one clownfish to a 125g tank to start I'd only do .25ppm.. on the other hand if you were fully stocking the tank right away then i'd do 2ppm) wait till it drops below 1ppm before redosing if you want the maximum 2ppm dosage. Going over 4ppm can really screw up the water chemistry... you may consider completely draining the tank and starting over if the cloudiness doesn't clear soon. keep in mind 4ppm will kill most organisms in an aquarium(some die at .09ppm), 5+ppm causes problems with even bacteria forming.

 

[bertoni]

I agree that 6 ppm is very high. I'd probably target 0.5 ppm for the dose. For a very heavy fish load, I might shoot for 1 ppm per day for a couple of days, but no more than that. The bacteria are going to die or be killed at a fairly high rate once the food is gone, so I don't think pre-dosing heavily actually accomplishes much.

 

[R33FLIF3]

starting to clear up. i did not add any bacteria or liverock.

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[bertoni]

Okay, that still is fairly cloudy, but more in line with other tanks.

 

[drummerboyevil]

What ammonia are you using? Did you make sure there's not a surfactant or detergent in it?

 

[m0nkie]

I cycle with ammonia and Dr Tims.. usually go to 2-4ppm. 6 is high and can slow down the cycle. But since it's clearing up, I think you should just wait it out.

once nitrite hit 0, redose ammonia to 2ppm for a test run. If your tank can convert that within 24hrs, you are good to go

 

[R33FLIF3]

cloudiness never went away... today the pump came for my 25 watt smart uv. plumbed and installed within 3 hours water is almost fully clear......... i dose ammonia 2ppm and its gone in 2 days nitrates at 6ppm