Fishless cycle.. how much Ammonia??

[Sobo's Reef]

I just tried googling how much ammonia I’d have to add to my tank to jump start the cycle and no one seems to have a definitive answer... is there a calculator for this? I don’t wanna add too much.

 

[RikardJ]

You can use this link: https://www.hamzasreef.com/Contents/Calculators/AmmoniaCycling.php

FYI, I've used Dr. Tims ammonium chloride this week and the suggested dosing of 4 drops per gallon was way too much. If you go down that path, start with 1 drop per gallon, and add more if needed.

 

[Sobo's Reef]

Well I have the Ace Janitorial strength ammonia and also a bottle of BioSpira to speed up the process.. I’ll look into the link you posted. Thanks!

 

[Sobo's Reef]

And I should be aiming for 4ppm to start off right?

 

[RikardJ]

I actually forgot to answer your question: Dr. Tims recommend 2 ppm (mg/L), but anywhere in that region would probably be OK. The key is to get it to reduce to zero in 24 hours.

 

[Idoc]

I just cycled mine by going to 2ppm and repeating this amount until the tank could process that amount in 24hrs...basically 1 month. I used pure ammonia from Gordon Food Service, which is similar to the ACE janitorial grade. The calculator will want the % of ammonia in the concentration...if you don't know this for your particular brand, you can google the MSDS sheet for your product and it will state it on there.

 

[LuizW13]

I used some fish food and a bacteria additive. I removed the decomposing food after a week or so- in total, my 17g was cycled in 11 days.

 

[Greef_in_the_Reef]

I’ve been wondering about this. I’ve seen people in aquaponics use this method.

 

[saltyhog]

I just added a little, measured ammonia and then adjusted until I got it between 2 and 4ppm.

 

[lion king]

If you haven't started yet, I just calibrate by adding 1 drop of ammonia to a gallon of water and test. I've cycled at 2ppm when I was planning to add a few fish at once. I've done 1ppm when I was adding slowly.

 

[Sobo's Reef]

Turns out I did the math on a website calculator and it said to add 8.6mL to get 4ppm. I dosed that yesterday and tested today and it was at 8ppm lol looks like it’ll take awhile for that to come down

 

[Jeepguy242]

Just throw in a table shrimp and a couple snails. Done

 

[Idoc]

Turns out I did the math on a website calculator and it said to add 8.6mL to get 4ppm. I dosed that yesterday and tested today and it was at 8ppm lol looks like it’ll take awhile for that to come down

You might need to bring that down below 5ppm so your cycle doesn't stall.

 

[Idoc]

Turns out I did the math on a website calculator and it said to add 8.6mL to get 4ppm. I dosed that yesterday and tested today and it was at 8ppm lol looks like it’ll take awhile for that to come down

What test kit are you using to treat the ammonia? Maybe retest again to make sure it really is at 8ppm.

 

[lion king]

Turns out I did the math on a website calculator and it said to add 8.6mL to get 4ppm. I dosed that yesterday and tested today and it was at 8ppm lol looks like it’ll take awhile for that to come down

Yeah I would do a water change and bring that down.

 

[Sobo's Reef]

I’ll retest tomorrow and see where it is but it initially looked to be around 8ppm