Bear in mind you do not need to add ammonia every day. Make sure you only dose things as directed both for timing and amount.
1. One and Only should only need to be added once.
2. Dechlor only when you have to change water and then do not overdose. Ammonia detoxifiers slow the cycle as do water changes.
3. The live plants will be doing some of the cycling so this will make the results a bit different from what you would see in a fishless cycle w/o live plants. You might not get much of a nitrate reading. at all.
4. Shoot to keep the pH at about 7.0 or higher during the cycling. The further you get below 7.0 the slower the cycle will go and the less of the ammmonia that will be in the NH form. This also slwos the cycling but does not [prevent it.
5. Feel free to add more plants. The more of them you have the more of the cycle they handle.
6. Since the plants do not create nitrite when they use ammonia, the more plants one has the less nitrite you will see.
This doesn't not involve luck, it is all bio-chemistry and should follow a predicatable path as long as we don't do thinhs tyo interfere with the process or to derail it totally.
One of the most important nut harder skills we have to learn as fish keepers, especially in terms of cycling, is patience
1. One and Only should only need to be added once.
2. Dechlor only when you have to change water and then do not overdose. Ammonia detoxifiers slow the cycle as do water changes.
3. The live plants will be doing some of the cycling so this will make the results a bit different from what you would see in a fishless cycle w/o live plants. You might not get much of a nitrate reading. at all.
4. Shoot to keep the pH at about 7.0 or higher during the cycling. The further you get below 7.0 the slower the cycle will go and the less of the ammmonia that will be in the NH form. This also slwos the cycling but does not [prevent it.
5. Feel free to add more plants. The more of them you have the more of the cycle they handle.
6. Since the plants do not create nitrite when they use ammonia, the more plants one has the less nitrite you will see.
This doesn't not involve luck, it is all bio-chemistry and should follow a predicatable path as long as we don't do thinhs tyo interfere with the process or to derail it totally.
One of the most important nut harder skills we have to learn as fish keepers, especially in terms of cycling, is patience
