fishless cycling... how much ammonia?

[Dahlia]

How much ammonia would I use to do a fishless cycle in a 30 gallon tank? How many days does it usually take on a fishless cycle? Do I only need to add the ammonia one time or do I need to add some daily to keep the ammonia eating bacteria going?

New tank! Woo!

 

[rich]

http://www.aquamaniacs.net/cyclingsafelyfishless.html

this is the thread i plan on following starting next week to try the fishless cycle. lots of info here

 

[RTR]

Good article, easy to follow. Thanks, rich.

 

[demon_surfer]

here is another just for comparrison -

fishless cycling

 

[RTR]

Also a good article - I didn't know Chris had done that update. Thanks for that ref also (especially as it refs me )

Neither of the articles stresses the largest danger in fishless explicitly, although the first reference states that the pH must be held in a biologically safe and active range for the bacteria. The issue is high-dose cycling in low-KH water. Nitrification burns up alkalinity, and there have been many threads on arrested cycles or indefinitely extended cycles which frequently boiled down to too low alkalinity and pH crashes.

 

[anonapersona]

Why cycle?

I see that you have several tanks already, Dahlia.

Why don't you just move some bacteria from the existing tanks to the new tank? No need to start from scratch!

 

[Dahlia]

cycling

I did move some bacteria but that doesn't cause a new filter to have a bacterial colony right away. The amount of bacteria present is directly in relation to the amount of "food" (ammonia/nitrites) they are supplied. I'd rather go ahead and have a fully functioning bacterial colony in my filter so I never have to stress my fish.

Thanks for the articles everyone!

 

[anonapersona]

It can work

I added filter squeezings to the 10 gallon Q tank as I added one 1 1/2"fish, and then added a lot of filter squeezings again as I added 8 more. I've never measured any ammonia or nitrite on this tank in the first week. It does also have a couple of smallish swords in it.

Of course, your milage may vary.