Cycle without adding so many nitrates

Skep18 · Jul 24, 2018

I'm about to start my fishless cycle using ammonium chloride in my 225gal tank. I'm a bit puzzled why people repeatedly dose to get ammonia levels @ 2ppm only to end up with a zillion nitrates. For me, that'll end up with me doing a $100 water change. Any reason people don't just get the bacteria-in-a-bottle established on a single 1ppm or two 0.5ppm doses? It would seem with that and a responsible initial fish load, the bacteria could handle it and grow with the future stocking.

zach_discus · Jul 24, 2018

Like a good friend told me, instead of buying expensive products to cycle a tank. Just stand up and pee in it. Accomplish the same thing at no cost!!

tankstudy · Jul 24, 2018

Skep18 said:
I'm about to start my fishless cycle using ammonium chloride in my 225gal tank. I'm a bit puzzled why people repeatedly dose to get ammonia levels @ 2ppm only to end up with a zillion nitrates. For me, that'll end up with me doing a $100 water change. Any reason people don't just get the bacteria-in-a-bottle established on a single 1ppm or two 0.5ppm doses? It would seem with that and a responsible initial fish load, the bacteria could handle it and grow with the future stocking.

From my email conversations in the past with Dr. Tim, 2 ppm ammonia shouldn't produce a zillion nitrates. It actually produces a very specific amount. I don't exactly remember how much nitrate is produce by how many ppm of ammonia there is but it's definitely not zillions. A lot of times, people actually end up overdosing or their ammonia concentration isn't what they believe it is to be.

1 ppm ammonia or 0.50 ammonia is perfectly okay to start with. However, your initial stocking would have to be pretty light/slow and spread out. Starting at 2 ppm just allows you to stock heavy rather quickly.

Skep18 · Jul 24, 2018

tankstudy said:
From my email conversations in the past with Dr. Tim, 2 ppm ammonia shouldn't produce a zillion nitrates. It actually produces a very specific amount. I don't exactly remember how much nitrate is produce by how many ppm of ammonia there is but it's definitely not zillions. A lot of times, people actually end up overdosing or their ammonia concentration isn't what they believe it is to be.

1 ppm ammonia or 0.50 ammonia is perfectly okay to start with. However, your initial stocking would have to be pretty light/slow and spread out. Starting at 2 ppm just allows you to stock heavy rather quickly.

Fwiw, I don't think a zillion is an actual number. I simply meant an excessive amount requiring being addressed.

I guess I just see cycle threads with people upset their nitrates are 60ppm or whatever and they're faced with large WC(s) to fix it. Seems kinda wasteful IMO.

tankstudy · Jul 24, 2018

Skep18 said:
Fwiw, I don't think a zillion is an actual number. I simply meant an excessive amount requiring being addressed.

I know what you meant

. Sadly I just can't recall the exact number per ppm ammonia but I believe it wasn't too high.

Skep18 · Jul 24, 2018

I saw some sites saying 1ppm ammonia yeild 2.6ppm nitrate or something like that. I guess maybe that's not too bad.

Skep18 · Jul 25, 2018

I suppose its my fault for taking the internet at face value but the regret is setting in...

Dosed ~0.5ppm Dr. Tim's Ammonium Chloride according to the instructions, only I used 1/4 the dose. I waited with lots of flow and after 30min I tested total ammonia per Red Sea kit. Got ~0.5ppm. Continued to repeat the same dosage and procedure to finish around 1.0ppm total ammonia. Added my bacteria. Wake up this morning. After 12hr I'm testing at 0.7ppm ammonia, 0.75ppm nitrite, 7.5ppm nitrate.... At this route, I'll end at ~25ppm nitrate at that ratio...

;Sorry