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I'm conferring with this guide http://www.tomgriffin.com/aquamag/cycle2.html but I'm not sure how to slowly and safetly put the ammonia in? How much is considered a drop and how do I make sure I don't overdose?

My Tank:
30 Gallon
36L 12W 16H

Note: This a Fishles Bio-Spira cycle

Thanks


[span class="edited"][Edited by sly 2004-07-08 10:37][/span]

[span class="edited"][Edited by sly 2004-07-08 11:16][/span]

If you want to be mathematical about it, we'd need to know your concentration of ammonia as well, since it's always dissolved in water.

You could, of course, always just pour in some ammonia and then test your water, and do it again and again until you reach 5 ppm. IMO 5 is on the high side, but then again I usually don't have enough money to buy so many fish that would send me in a crazy minicyle anyway.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

Okay, what you want to do is to follow the instructions on that site. I posted the relevant paragraph below:

While the original recipe works quite well (4-5 drops NH3 / 10 gal / day until nitrite peaks, then reduce to 2-3 drops / 10 gal / day), it does NOT take into account varying concentrations of ammonia that are available. ACS grade ammonia, which I was using, is ~28% NH3, while most household cleaner grades vary from 4-10%, a fairly wide variation in concentration. Bottles that have been left open for long periods of time will be lower in concentration, as the NH3 gas escapes back into the atmosphere. With that in mind, I'd like to propose a different recipe, which was suggested by D_Man and others (thanks!): Add ammonia to the tank initially to obtain a reading on your ammonia kit of ~5 ppm. Record the amount of ammonia that this took, then add that amount daily until the nitrite spikes. Once the nitrite is visible, cut back the daily dose of ammonia to the original volume. One advantage of this method is that the ammonia spike occurs immediately... when adding 4-5 drops/10 gal/day, it could take 4-5 days before the ammonia reaches the same levels. This should result in an acceleration of the entire process, though by how much (on average) remains to be seen.

The important part is the initial addition of ammonia. Obviously you are limited to whatever concentration of ammonia you can get. Go to the drug store and get an eye dropper. As long as you use the same eye dropper every time you will be fine.

I just did some quick ball-park calculations, and {IF the ammonia is at about a 10% concentration)} 1 teaspoon of ammonia in a 30 gallon tank SHOULD make the ammonia level rise to 5 ppm. This will of course depend on your conditions but since it's a fishless cycle, even if you go a bit too high you needn't worry.

If you're interested (or anyone else) here's the math:

X (amount of NH3 to add) * 1,000,000=5 (desired ppm) * 113562 (ml in 30 gallons) ] X = (5 * 113562)/1,000,000 ] X = 0.56781 ml PURE NH3. Since household ammonia is about 10% multiply this number by 10 which is 5.6781 ml. Converting that to something easier to measure: 1.151996 teaspoons.

If I've gotten the math wrong, I'm sure that some of the math whizzes here will correct me .

I used a syringe because I could put in small amounts and even do droplets. I spent all day testing and finally got the amount of about 8-9 mL. I did an increment of 1-2 mL until my test showed that it was about 5ppm.

Thanks for help!

PS. THe bottle doesn't say the concentration of ammonia but I guess thats irrevelent now ]

I'm also trying fishless cycling with ammonia for the first time. I looked at a whole bunch of sites and there seems to be two different methods for adding ammonia. One article said to determine how much ammonia it takes to reach a 5ppm concentration and then add that amount daily until nitrite appears...then half the daily dose. Another site said to determine how much ammonia it takes to reach an initial 5ppm concentration and add that initially, then add as much as needed daily to maintain 5ppm throughout the cycle. I did the later method and am getting some weird results so far. I test everyday and if it is under 5ppm, I add just enough ammonia to bring it back up to 5ppm. I determined that with the type of ammonia I have 2 teaspoons will cause a 1ppm increase in a 55 gallon tank.

Here is the weird part. My readings don't follow the nitrogen cycle charts.My ammonia levels initially dropped about 1-2 ppm a day for several days, with no nitrites. For the last few days I have low nitrite readings (under.5 ppm), moderate nitrate readings (10-20ppm), and the ammonia has remained around 4-5ppm without adding any additional ammonia. This does not seem to follow the trends that I have seen in the articles. I added some bacteria from other tanks initially, and added some more a few times since I started. What could be going on here?