My 55 is finally starting to cycle!

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XR250rdr

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If you don't figure it out, I'm a bit impatient.

I got my 55 gal plumbed and running a week ago this last tuesday. I seeded the wet/dry with a used cart from the HOB filtering my 20g. I dosed ammonia once and have been checking it every day...ammonia level didn't move, no nitrites.

I guess I forgot to the check the nitrite results last night because when I got home from work today I notices yesterday's nitrite test is reading 2ppm.

Today nitrites are reading 5ppm which is high as the test goes.

 

ChiaJesus

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May 20, 2008
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If you don't figure it out, I'm a bit impatient.

I got my 55 gal plumbed and running a week ago this last tuesday. I seeded the wet/dry with a used cart from the HOB filtering my 20g. I dosed ammonia once and have been checking it every day...ammonia level didn't move, no nitrites.
How much did you use in the dose? I'm going to pick up a small 20 gallon this weekend and want to do a fishless cycle, but although I've read a million articles on how to do it, not one of them mentioned how much ammonia to use.
 

Rbishop

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You dose to achieve the ppm desired. Ammonia is sold in different concentrations. So my tsp per 5 gals may have a different affect from your tsp per five gal. If I had 1% ammonia and you had 3% ammonia, the affects would be different.
 

OldMan47

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ChiaJesus, try a quick calculation. PPM is parts per million, think of it as ml per 100 litres if you want. Take a 20 gallon tank. It will hold maybe 18 gallons of water on a good day. At 128 ounces per gallon, a one ounce dose would be far too much but wait a minute, its not pure ammonia. At most its 10 % so you get 1 part in 1280 with an ounce. That's still way too much but figure an ounce is 2 tablespoons or 6 teaspoons. If you use a teaspoon you have a part in (1280 x 6). My calculator says that's one part in 7680. What is that in ppm? Invert and you get .000130 or about 130 ppm. A teaspoon is about 5 ml so how much for 1 ml? 130/5 or about 26 ppm. Hold on, I haven't used the 18 gallons yet. 26/18 is only about 1.44 ppm. I want 5 ppm so if I'm using 10% ammonia it looks like 3 ml should get me close. Next step is to put in 2 ml and measure the result. Maybe I forgot something so I'd rather go light. If I see about 3 ppm then I know I'm on the right track and just add another 1 ml. If I get some other number that is lower, maybe I don't have 10% but have 3 or 5% ammonia instead so I adjust. If its a little higher but under 5 ppm, I'm still OK and maybe I don't quite have 18 gallons in the tank.
The basic appoach can be applied to any tank size. Now try it in metric units. You have a 70 litre tank and are using 10%. Your target is 5 ppm. Starting point is 1 ml gives 1/10 part in 70000 ml or 1 part in 700000. Divide and its 1.43 ppm. Same basic answer but a lot less conversions involved.
 

ChiaJesus

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May 20, 2008
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Gotcha. Thanks for the info, I'm learning so much! My new "small 20 gallon" tank actually turned into a pretty fancy 48 gallon tall tank for the living room. ;) I would rather not put innocent friends through a fishy cycle. I'm going to print out this page and do it right this time.
 
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