Another Cycling/Testing Question

[MarkInNC]

I believe I am ready to begin setting up my new and first tank for a planned fishless cycle. I have read about a dozen versions of how to do a fishless cycle and have at least a basic understanding now. I went to Petsmart last night to pick up some more supplies for my set up and general requirements. The bad news is I spent almost 200 dollars. The pleasant news is that about half way through picking out the items on my list a clerk came over to help. He was very informative and understood the fishless cycle better than I, and he was a fountain of knowledge generally.

My question is simple and involves testing for amonia, and I guess the other components as well. After I add the water to the tank and add the recommended amonia how long should I wait prior to my test? How fast does it take for the amonia to equalize or disperse within the water? Not sure it matters but I have a 45 gallon tank.

Mark

[lateinningmagic]

When you dose the ammonia, you should test about an hour later. If your reading are too low, add a bit more and test again an hour later. If it's a little high, don't worry about it. If its ridiculously high then do a large water change to get it down to 2-3 ppm.

Test every day the ammonia to and keep it at 2-3 ppm every day. Your tank will be cycled when you can go from 2-3 ppm of ammonia to 0 ppm after 24 hours. Along the way you will see NitrItes go up, spike, and then go down to 0. You will also see NitrAtes go up and they should stay up. You will take care of those with a large water change after your tank is cycled.

Don't forget to keep feeding the beneficial bacteria with ammonia until you add fish. If your tank is bringing down ammonia from 2-3 ppm to 0 in 24 hours, but you aren't ready to add fish, keep dosing. You don't want to have to restart the whole process.