Fishless cycling; possible to overdose on ammonia?

[Zephaniah]

Attempting a fishless cycle for the first time.
Bought a container of 'clear' ammonia. I'm assuming that would be ok to use.

Didn't know the exact amount to squirt into the tank so just went ahead and put in about 20-30mls to start out with.

The ammonia is measuring off my charts >8.

Should I lower it to 5 or don't even worry about it?

[Hollowman]

You should add about 1ml/gallon to give a reading of 5ppm

[Zephaniah]

5 was the number I was aiming for but wasn't sure of the concentration of the ammonia.

But my question remains unanswered.

Is it ok to leave it that high? (>8ppm)
The way I think about it, it's just more food for the bacteria right? So should be ok?

Just want to make sure.

[Hollowman]

Should be ok, if you want to loose a bit do a water change.
:wink:

[ILLUSN]

8ppm is ok but your bacterial colony will take longer to get established, i had my fastest cycles with ammonia peaking at about 4-5ppm, even then the cycle still took 24 days

[Zephaniah]

Thanks guys. I guess I'll change out some water today to lower it then.

[Goerge_of_the_Jungle]

hey heres a question,

I have a new tank, been cycling for about 3 weeks, amonia spiked about the 4th day (i think) NOTHING IN THE TANK .. nothing added accept fine gravel and water.

Did not add ammonia.

3 weeks later, still a big ammonia level, no sign of nitrites yet ... should i empty and start again? and if so, because it will be my discus tank, would it be better for the discus to not have substrate in the tank?

thanks in advance.

[mistakes r crucial]

Depends what you want to achieve George. If you have a Discus only tank and you want to breed them then BB is the way to go, less hassle and less work. If you have a 6ft tank in your lounge room you'd probably want a heap of plants, 100 tetras and 50 rummy nose as well as half a dozen discus swimming around it, it's horses for courses.

If you have Ammonia levels without using a commercial product, fish or seafood then I'd be taking a look at what's in your substrate. You don't really want other contributing Ammonia factors and especially in a newly cycled tank.
Cheers
MAC

[Goerge_of_the_Jungle]

Thanks Mac,

Yes its a Discus only tank, the community tanks in the lounge lol. I might take the substrate out tomorrow and have a BB Discus tank. Might fix the ammonia also.

I have a feeling the ammonia came from some wood i had in my other tank, then took it out with algae on it, left it sitting outside then put it in my new tank ... with dead and dried algae on it...... it left green algae bloom patches all over my grave, and BOY was there an algae bloom on the wood after about 6 days.

Again, thanks for the advice, i will take you up on it :)

[Bill Tune]

I want to do a fishless cycle for a breeding tank but don't know where to buy clear ammonia in Melbourne. It was available at most supermarkets but now they sell cloudy ammonia. any sugggestions?

[DiscusJoe]

8ppm is too high for optimum growth, ...stay at 4-5ppm.

[DiscusJoe]

I want to do a fishless cycle for a breeding tank but don't know where to buy clear ammonia in Melbourne. It was available at most supermarkets but now they sell cloudy ammonia. any sugggestions?


order online here http://www.australianhomeguide.com.au/ac.html

It is very strong so follow the directions that come with it.

DJ

[Bill Tune]

Thanks for this advice, I have been snooping around for ages looking for clear ammonia. I think they stopped selling it at Supermarkets because of the war on terrorism!

[TW]

I'm using the ammonia from that site too. I recommend it.