I started a fishless cycle with pure ammonia three days ago. I am doing the add daily method. The more i read the more i wonder if i should start over and do the add and wait method. With the add daily i am reading that the wrong kind of bacteria can grow due to the amount of ammonia in the tank. I don't like the sound of that. I want it done right.

Should i start over and do the add/wait method of fishless cycling???

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SimplyKayla

How about you just stop adding daily and wait for the level to drop before adding more? That sounds like the add and wait method to me, minus the resetting.

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FW 10G, 5 neons, 1 fancy male guppy, BNP, pond snails, ~80 RCS. Camboba, java moss, java fern, willow hygro, ludwigia repens, dwarf sag, anubias nana. AC50, 50W heater, Current USA Nova Extreme 2x18W T5HO.

"Give me your penchant and I shall grant you deliverance." - Falcor

Even though the ammonia is sky high?

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SimplyKayla

What is sky high ?

Surely a WC or two will bring it down. No need to reset. Just "shift gears". Do a pwc, tomorrow, test, and go from there. (either another pwc, wait, or add ammonia)

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100g Dirt + Stuff. Angel baby making tank.
37g Planted. http://www.aquariumforum.com/f45/pla...nal-20774.html
15g RCS + Low Light Plant Tank. 10g SW Reef Experiment

Maybe 10 or 15 ppm. Api master test kit doesn't chart over 8ppm. So i will do a 50% wc and then test tomorrow. I will post the results.

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SimplyKayla

There have been a few that have tried to add and wait and it seems to stall. Holly comes to mind as one of the longest fishless cycles I remember and it didn't finish until she stopped worrying about when it would drop and just add.

There are some guidelines though. I added enough ammonia to get me to 4ppm, remembering that it can take a little bit for the tank to run for it to show at a certain level to make sure I didn't go any higher. Once I knew what it took to get me there (for me, 2.5 tsps for a 125g tank if I remember right) I dosed that amount and stopped testing for ammonia. There is no need to test for it, it is obvious that you will have some and it may be high. However, after about 7 days I started testing for nitrites. Once nitrites showed, I split the dose in half and only dosed every 2 days. And finished that way. Once the nitrites spike high test for ammonia to see if it has gone away - for me, it had disappeared.

Do it the way you like and maybe your results will be different. Search for holly12's thread about her fishless cycle and read what she went through.

well i decided to start over with the add and wait method. i emptied my 5 gallon rinsed everything and put a new filter media in the filter box then refilled it with treated tap. after letting it sit for a day or two i was going to start the add and wait with pure ammonia. but come to find out the two bottles of ammonia i have are not pure. one was from walmart which had more than ammonia in it something called surfactant's in it and the other was from dollar tree it was labeled pure ammonia but when i shook both bottles they foamed. the walmart brand worse then the dollar tree pure ammonia. pure ammonia is not available in bryan, tx. if i did it with food ~ i have pellets and granules. i am not going to go buy flake food... so i may just give up the 5 gallon and sell it. :/

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SimplyKayla

A prediction of what you will see...you'll add, show the ammonia, and you'll wait and wait before nitrites show. That is what has happened to everyone that has tried that method that I've read about.

Try a local hardware store to find the ammonia. I believe that is where most people find it and where I found it also. If it says surfectants don't get it for sure. If it doesn't say and you shake it and you get a lot of bubbles and they go away pretty fast then it should be okay. Foam is different.

FWIW, at least one person has used it with surfectants and didn't have an issue that I'm aware of. Can be done followed by a couple of big water changes after it completes...>75% changes.

Maybe I will try that.

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SimplyKayla

I decided to start over and cycle with food and a cycle booster.

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SimplyKayla