Dr Tim’s ammonia

[Sam22]

Hi I’ve just started my cycle process using dr Tim’s ammonia and one and only I done a. Test roughly and hour after adding and ammonia showed zero it’s one drop per gallon I have a 70 gallon and added 70 drops just wondering if anyone has used and knows how long the ammonia takes to show as don’t want to overdose

thanks everyone!

 

[brandon429]

you will not overdose using general guesstimates, for a long time the directions were off kilter on the bottle having everyone 2x dose and we still cleared all those cycles, none stalled

*all you do is take a before ammonia measure with your test kit and note the starting color, which may or may not be zero on the tester.

add your drops per directions until the color change on the tester makes a discernible change up, no hard reading for 1 or 2 ppm required, any degree of visual up on the kit is ready


when that drops back to original calibrated zero your tank can handle bioloading/can begin. nitrite and nitrate wont factor, at all. I realize the directions say nitrite matters, it simply doesnt and you can disconsider it.

 

[Sam22]

Perfect! Thanks

 

[brandon429]

*surface area check
you're using rocks and sand is that right> asking bc sometimes cycling QT tanks can be different when they run so low on attachable surfaces. if this is a norm reef/above will work 100 out of 100 times. you dont even have to keep re proving the ammonia over in a system using rocks and sand; one movement down clearly caused by bacteria you added is total confirmation you can start reefing and not kill stuff
most bottle bac brands have been measured in Dr Reef's comparison thread to attach to hard surfaces in a few days at most, where a total water change doesnt reset the cycle ability.

this is cycling 2020

cycles dont fail, stall, or act unpredictably (if they did, 400 reefs couldnt show up at marine conventions and all start perfectly on time when they want to sell you stuff)

 

[Sam22]

ye it’s a normal reef set up I have rock work and sand bed so bacteria has got plenty of surface area. I will monitor parameters and when see movement down I’ll know it’s safe. All tho all my LFS are not selling livestock due to the virus so will have time to wait before putting fish in

thanks again for your help!

 

[tankstudy]

Do not dose till you can see it on the test kit. Sometimes you can see it appear, sometimes you won't.

Just follow the instructions on the bottle for the recommended dosage.

This will generally prevent you from having any issues with bottled bacteria.

Once you do the initial dosage, just continue to test the water parameters as instructed.

 

[brandon429]

even though people mainly just add fish w the bac nowadays, and its working, one of these days a dead bottle of bac might be added and thats when loss w be posted for sure. I like this idea of pre verification of ammonia before fish; thats the one param that'll burn em if we aren't sure.

 

[BAPrince]

NOT disagreeing with anything above... just adding information... my bottle of Dr Tim's Ammonium Chloride reads 4 drops per gallon to achieve 2ppm ammonia". I'm cycling two tanks currently, and did 2 drops per gallon and it did get me to about 1ppm ammonia. Maybe the concentration changed? Just something to be aware of...

 

[Sam22]

ye the bottle I have also says 4 drops per gallon when I first added I misread and only added 1 drop per gallon better less than more tho! I’ve now added the other 3 drops per gallon and am going to do another test in the morning

 

[tankstudy]

NOT disagreeing with anything above... just adding information... my bottle of Dr Tim's Ammonium Chloride reads 4 drops per gallon to achieve 2ppm ammonia". I'm cycling two tanks currently, and did 2 drops per gallon and it did get me to about 1ppm ammonia. Maybe the concentration changed? Just something to be aware of...

Unless I'm reading your paragraph incorrectly but you halved the dosage so you should get 1 ppm.

1 drop = 0.5 ppm per gallon
2 drops = 1 ppm per gallon
3 drops = 1.5 ppm per gallon
4 drops = 2 ppm per gallon

 

[BAPrince]

Unless I'm reading your paragraph incorrectly but you halved the dosage so you should get 1 ppm.

1 drop = 0.5 ppm per gallon
2 drops = 1 ppm per gallon
3 drops = 1.5 ppm per gallon
4 drops = 2 ppm per gallon

Correct. I dosed 2 drops to get to 1ppm

 

[BAPrince]

Correct. I dosed 2 drops to get to 1ppm

Approximately. Actually, I didn't know my exact water volume with rocks and sand. I didn't want to overdose. So, I did 2 drops x 20 gallons (20 gallon tank) and got a reading of 1+