ammonia for fishless cycle

[Mgamer20o0]

I know there isn’t really a formula for adding ammonia. But does anyone have a ruff estimates on how much ammonia for a 120 gal? Any little help would be appreciated. I don’t want to spend countless hours add too little and I don’t want to OD my tank.

[Anaxus]

I think each type of ammonia you buy has a different concentration so you kinda have to experiment. For me it was about 5 tablespoons to get the ammonia reading to 5ppm in a 37gallon tank.
I would put in 10 tablespoons and check the reading then add more as needed untill you get to your ammonia level

[Vagabond]

Concentrations of ammonia vary depending on the source.

Get an ammonia test kit and add clear household ammonia (without any detergents or additives) until your test kit measures 5ppm.

[Mgamer20o0]

thanks i prob would have done something stupid and add way to much ammonia. also how long should i wait until testing the ammonia levels?

[Anaxus]

I did it a few min after. You dont have to wait long.

[wetmanNY]

As long as your test registers any ammonia at all, the population of nitritating bacteria is expanding. 5ppm is a maximum.

[anonapersona]

OK, I've never done a fishless cycle, but 5 tablespoons is a lot, IMO. Isn't there any attempt to match the ammoina used to the eventual bioload of the tank? My cat weighs 20 lbs and I'd guess that he pees 5 tablespoons of ammonia equivalent in a day. A 35 gallon tank will never have a bioload equal to that cat. By creating a bacterial army that can process 5 ppm of ammonia/day, woun't you have a massive die-off of bacteria when you add a small amount of fish and stop the ammonia addition...though I guess the dying bacteria will create their own ammonia spike. It just seems to me that a fish can only create a tiny bit of ammonia, even considering the waste from the gills as well as feces. (just wondering... and asking questions)