# Fishless Cycle



## amwilkie (Jun 27, 2007)

I'm trying to do a fishless cycle with pure ammonia. My tank has been set up for two weeks now. For the first week and a half I tried using just fish food, but wasn't getting any results. I have a 120 gallon tank with a Fluval FX5(floss and pre filter in the top tray and biomax in the bottom two trays), I also have an Aquaclear 110(sponge and carbon). I decided to switch to pure ammonia 3 days ago, I ended up putting a bit more than 1 drop per gallon and ended up with a reading for 4.0 ammonia. The last two days I stuck with adding 1 drop per gallon. Today on the third day my ammonia is still at 4.0 and now my nitrites are starting to show at 0.25. My temp is at 85 and I have alot of air running through my powerhead. Should I cut my dose in half now or wait till I show more of a nitrite spike. I'm hoping to get some used biomedia from my brother this weekend which should help out a lot. I'm so happy now that I'm starting to get some results.


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## swack (May 29, 2007)

I'm by no means an expert with fishless cycling but have done it a couple of times, I would suggest still adding ammonia however maybe only like one drop per 5 gallons until your ammo level drops a little and your nitrites are more visible.


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## Guest (May 8, 2008)

swack said:


> I'm by no means an expert with fishless cycling but have done it a couple of times, I would suggest still adding ammonia however maybe only like one drop per 5 gallons until your ammo level drops a little and your nitrites are more visible.


yeah, i would go with something like this, I did a fishless cycle and i added to much ammonia. It took a while but i cut my dosage and soon enough my nitrites and nitrates started going up. I might have done a water change aswell because my ammonia was off the charts.
*just read doctorvtec's post on fishless cycles and i would definately cut the dosage. IMO i think 1 drop per gallon is too much, so cut it to like 3-4 drops per 10 gallons.


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## Kyle2154 (May 12, 2006)

I did mine as a fishless cycle. Showing Nitrites already is great! That means Ammonia is being converted. I followed 1 drop per gallon until nitrites showed, and then I cut it in half. So if you were doing a drop per gallon (120 drops), I would now cut down to 60 drops.

The advantage of keeping up a higher dosage will prepare the tank for a larger bio load. If you plan on having a lot of fish, or even coming close to over crowding, keep up a heavy dosage. I prepared mine for 10 reds.


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## amwilkie (Jun 27, 2007)

Thanks Kyle, I actually read your previous thread and used that as a bit of a guideline. I tested my water this morning, ammonia is down to 2.0-3.0, nitrite is up to .50. I cut my dose in half to 60 drops. I'll see how my water tests tomorrow and adjust it if I have to. I haven't tested for nirate yet maybe I'll do that in the morning as well.


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## amwilkie (Jun 27, 2007)

Finally my ammonia has dropped to 0 and my nitrite is at around 3.0 to 4.0. I also tested nitrate for the first time and its around 10 to 20 ppm. I can't wait to get some fish in there.


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