Final Ammonia Test - Cycling

[RaymondL]

I'm on week 5 of my cycling - tank is able to handle 1.0ppm in 24 hours. I'll dose to 2ppm to see if I'm able to get zero ammonia and zero nitrites after 24 hours. If this turns out to be the case, can I assume cycling is complete? I ask because others told me to dose up to 4ppm ammonia and see what happens after 24 hours - I think that's really high and is impractical as a real scenario.

Thoughts?

 

[Jekyl]

Tests being used? Any bacteria added? When dosing ammonia are you accounting for the displacement of the rocks and sand? For instance a 10g tank may only hold 7g of water.

 

[Quietman]

It's ready for livestock now actually. But if you want to test more, no harm in that. Add fish slowly of course.

 

[Jekyl]

It's ready for livestock now actually. But if you want to test more, no harm in that. Add fish slowly of course.

While this is probably true, I would test nitrate at minimum. Most likely a large water change is needed first.

 

[brandon429]

Raymond it's neat you wrote this:

I think that's really high and is impractical as a real scenario.



I agree so much on that statement, I made a huge thread that generated tons of anger and we almost left the site in a tiff permanently over that notion so easily covered above lol. I just thought you might like to see the 2.0 version of that statement above, being ran through some of the strongest chemistry gatekeepers on the site. final tally: gatekeepers zero, updated cycling science for the win. dosing to 2ppm ammonia simply isn't needed.

Top ten reasons you should NOT dose a new cycling tank to 2 ppm ammonia

We are all 100% familiar with the sales adage that a cycle is only proven when you can move 2ppm ammonia to zero multiple times before a cycle can be deemed reliable 9.9/10 cycling umpires online stand firm with this information in unison to anyone posting doubt about cycle completion, what...

www.reef2reef.com

it's not even needed more than one time. when you dose ammonia and it drops one time, that cycle is locked in, and all the surface area stewing in the water is activated and can't be uncycled off any degree of water changes after that lock in date. a common cycling chart shows the lock in date within ten days for ammonia control, that happens in all cycles, only non digital test kits seem to make things take 30 days or more. digital test kits reveal ammonia control 100% of the time within ten days, any arrangment we want to create with a dry start cycle using the common boosters you've used.

 

[brandon429]

So it's neat you arrived at a similar conclusion Raymond, having never seen the argument above. You were certainly going against the grain of our sales training with that passing thought, I agree. We are sales trained to add 2 ppm because doing so causes endless cycle probs and purchases.

 

[RaymondL]

Tests being used? Any bacteria added? When dosing ammonia are you accounting for the displacement of the rocks and sand? For instance a 10g tank may only hold 7g of water.

Using API test kits. Added Dr. Tim's bacteria from day one. I have accounted for rocks and sand yes. Using an EVO 13.5 gallon tank, so I anticipate that I have 11 gallons of actual volume.

 

[Jekyl]

Using API test kits. Added Dr. Tim's bacteria from day one. I have accounted for rocks and sand yes. Using an EVO 13.5 gallon tank, so I anticipate that I have 11 gallons of actual volume.

Large water change and a first fish are in your future.

 

[RaymondL]

Raymond it's neat you wrote this:

I think that's really high and is impractical as a real scenario.



I agree so much on that statement, I made a huge thread that generated tons of anger and we almost left the site in a tiff permanently over that notion so easily covered above lol. I just thought you might like to see the 2.0 version of that statement above, being ran through some of the strongest chemistry gatekeepers on the site. final tally: gatekeepers zero, updated cycling science for the win. dosing to 2ppm ammonia simply isn't needed.

Top ten reasons you should NOT dose a new cycling tank to 2 ppm ammonia

We are all 100% familiar with the sales adage that a cycle is only proven when you can move 2ppm ammonia to zero multiple times before a cycle can be deemed reliable 9.9/10 cycling umpires online stand firm with this information in unison to anyone posting doubt about cycle completion, what...

www.reef2reef.com

it's not even needed more than one time. when you dose ammonia and it drops one time, that cycle is locked in, and all the surface area stewing in the water is activated and can't be uncycled off any degree of water changes after that lock in date. a common cycling chart shows the lock in date within ten days for ammonia control, that happens in all cycles, only non digital test kits seem to make things take 30 days or more. digital test kits reveal ammonia control 100% of the time within ten days, any arrangment we want to create with a dry start cycle using the common boosters you've used.

Thanks for the link and additional context - much appreciated. I actually believe my cycle was complete at 1.0ppm conversion of ammonia in 24 hours. I only plan to start with one fish, and the bio load will be small as is, so that 1.0ppm even then is an overkill. I'm just using common sense - nobody should be starting a tank and populating their tank with a full - max load, so the ability for a tank to turn Ammonia levels to zero from 1.0ppm, is ample in my opinion.

I dosed 1.5ppm this morning just to rule out any error in the Ammonia/Nitrite testing - I realized, I made a typo...I don't intend to dose to 2.0ppm and 1.5 was the max I'd do.

 

[Quietman]

While this is probably true, I would test nitrate at minimum. Most likely a large water change is needed first.

Agree...but when you're talking nitrate then to me, you're talking nutrient management and not cycling which is ongoing maintenance.

 

[Jekyl]

Agree...but when you're talking nitrate then to me, you're talking nutrient management and not cycling which is ongoing maintenance.

You misunderstand. I'm saying the cycle is complete. Doing a large water change prior to adding fish is the best time to get those nutrients in order.