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I added to much ammonia for my fishless cycle un my 125g. Its about 6ppm I think but Its hard to tell with the test kit. How big of a water change should I do

Don't do anything yet. Continue on with the regular doses of ammonia. How much did you add by the way?

That 5ppm target number that you mentioned the other day is flexible. It was very possible that the ammonia would climb over 5. Same with the nitrite.

Are you getting any nitrite yet? If you are, the next time you add ammonia cut the amount in half.

What temperature do you have the tank at? The higher the temp the faster the bacteria will colonize. Ooops... sorry forgot to mention that.

Last edited by Tammy at 08-Feb-2005 08:55

I skipped the dose yesterday. On sunday i only added 6 teaspoons, because the ammonia was at 2.5 ppm from the cycle I already started. There was no nitrites when I tested. the temps about 77

Then you have not added to much.

Read the posts again Greenmonkey.

what do you mean read the posts again. what posts

The posts I was referring to was the one in this thread and the ones in the other thread that you started on this subject.

You need to add the ammonia daily. You can't skip days or you stall the cycling process.

Fishless cycling is really very simple but you have to stick to the game plan. You want the amount of ammonia to climb to 5ppm or higher. Don't stop because it is at 2.5.

That is the beauty of fishless cycling, it doesn't matter if ammonia and nitrites get extremely high, you WANT them high. Besides, there isn't anything in the tank it is going to hurt.

Turn the heater up to 85 if you can get it there. The warmer the water, the quicker this will go.

I only added 6 tsp's because ammonia was at 2.5ppm because I had started a traditional cycle but abadoned it. So how much should i add tonight

You want to add 5 to 10 drops of ammonia for every 10 gallons of tank water. The reason the number is so different depends on the bioload (number of fish) this tank will have put on it at the conclusion of the cycle.

You need to take into consideration the amount of space used up by substrate and ornaments in the tank.

As an example, in my 120 gallon tank I figure my substrate and rocks use up about 20 gallons of space so the tank actually only has 100 gallons of water in it. I would base my calculations on the 100 gallons and not the 120.

Im putting in an adult pair of jags. I put 5 tsp's in last night. Is that all right

Good Luck...