Starting a cycle with pure ammonia...got a few questions

[southpaw]

I picked up a bottle of pure ammonia from Ace Hardware today to start my 55g tank cycling...I know I need to get it up to around 5ppm. I am not sure how much to start with before I start doing water test to see what my ammonia level is,so I poured about half a capful in to see what that will get me. Is there a ballpark figure of how much ammonia it takes to achieve the 5ppm in a 55g tank? Also how long should I let the ammonia mix in the tank before I do my first test? I dont want to overdose it from the beginning and have to do a water change to get the level down.

Also what is a good temp to have my water at for fishless cycling? I have turned my heater up alittle to try and get it around 80 to 82 degrees. This sound about right?

[southpaw]

Just tested and I guess I came out pretty good the first try...API test showing 4ppm after I gave it an hour to mix well. :)

[ct-death]

That sounds about right. I used 2 caps for my 75G and waited 2 hours after to test.

Keep your Ammonia between 3-5ppm. Keep us posted ;)

[Mgamer20o0]

depends some have higher concentration of ammonia. wait a hour or so and test. i keep my tanks at the temp the tank will be at. good luck.

[southpaw]

depends some have higher concentration of ammonia. wait a hour or so and test. i keep my tanks at the temp the tank will be at. good luck.

Thanks.... Tank temp is at 80 now...I thought I read somewhere that bacteria will grow better in warmer water??...I retested this morning and still at the 4ppm so I guess the hour wait was about right.

I will start testing it every other day until I start seeing ammonia drop then keep adding it to stay around 3-4ppm and wait on nitrites to top out and start dropping.

I guess for now I can cruise the site and suck up as much info as I can while I wait on the cycle to finish ...and get a good handle on what stocking options I want when it is done.