Is too much ammonia possible when cycling??

[Kyle Seeley]

Just recently started cycling my tank with dry rock and dry sand so I went to the LFS to seek advice on how to get the cycle started. They gave me a baggy of some type of crystallized ammonia? They also sold me some type of bacteria used to seed the dry rock. Not sure on the name! However, they told me to add 1/4 tsp of the ammonia to the tank then in the morning add the bacteria. I added their recommended dose of ammonia and now testing my ammonia, it is off the charts at 8ppm on API test kit. I know that most start their cycles at 2ppm. My question is, will this high of an ammonia level ruin my cycle??

 

[CodyRVA]

Nope you'll be fine. I actually did the same thing, but I used pure ammonia from Ace Hardware. I dosed 1 cap for every 10 gallons, on my 40G at the time I used 4 caps and my API test kit said 8ppm of ammonia and it cycled all the same. It might just take a little more time to come down, but it'll work out.

 

[Instigate]

I don't have much personal experience but I have read that over 5ppm will stall the cycle. Shouldn't he just do a WC to bring it down. Rather than waiting for it to sort out?

 

[CodyRVA]

I don't have much personal experience but I have read that over 5ppm will stall the cycle. Shouldn't he just do a WC to bring it down. Rather than waiting for it to sort out?

Can only speak to my personal experience. That being said, API test kits are anything but consistently accurate.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

It is certainly true that enough ammonia will kill anything, but I do not know what concentrations become a problem for cycling.

 

[Kyle Seeley]

I am currently away from home, so I won't be able to do a water change till Monday. But if that will help I can certainly do so?

 

[Saltybubbles288]

I think you will be fine, it can stall or slow the cycle but I've always considered that to be a problem after 10PPM and don't forget bacterial growth is exponential, It'll speed up.

 

[CodyRVA]

I am currently away from home, so I won't be able to do a water change till Monday. But if that will help I can certainly do so?

Don't worry about it. Test it when you get back and see where you're at. If it hasn't budged, which I doubt, then consider doing a small water change. Don't confuse impatience for high ammonia content though. It's going to take time to cycle regardless.

 

[brandon429]

all good info. ive never seen a true stalled cycle in reefing though Ive read of ten thousand api indicated ones, to me that indicates bacteria are so well adapted its really only taken this long for people to find out our withholdings or additions wont do much to life forms that have been self seeding, transporting and attaining feed just fine for aeons its neat spelled that way. a gigantic portion of cycling threads we dig up are from people testing a mix of tank water at the end of several atypical ammonia additions, and if they get mixed nitrite or something then for sure the cycle is claimed stalled

they're all a mix of test param ballparking and wastewater testing, that's why cycles seem to stall but they really don't after you add hydration. You can either do completely unassisted cycling and wait 5 mos for the tank to take on a self seed or you can speed things up to 2 weeks with precise ammonia oxidation testing and dr tims/similar setups.

we do a big water change and retest ammonia in most cases from a clean water palette, then they all comply.

of actions aquarists actually take that hinder cycling it could be medication but we never really see those events paired with a cycle, I vote you can eyeball the ammonia up or down a fair bit and outcome after 30 days submersion is the same (after the big final water change post cycle)

I just read in one of the articles on cycling that some of the bottle bac companies are packing up to 12 ppm in the container ammonia, as holdover.

the dr tim's website says over 5 will suppress, and then our cycling threads with all the crazy ways people change up technique has never seen a stalled cycle.

I dug deep into google scholar in the matter and from what I can tell there's isn't a known ld50 for them because of the variation of biofilm protections, in some sludgewater plants those scum layers allow nitrification to continue though the effluent is 350 mg l amazingly.

in a cold sterile test tube, isolated and suspended cells non associated would be killed by much less levels but they don't present that way in our tanks.