How much Ammonia
- Thread starter ziggy2
- Start date
i'm read you should add anywhere from 4ppm (parts per a million/ mg per a litre) to 6ppm pf ammonia. I aimed for 5ppm in my 225 us gallon tank. In the middle of the cycle right now, ammonia is done, waiting for nitrites to spike and zero off. I was using a 9% solution of ammonia and it took about 13-14 tea spoons to reach the right concentration for me.
The ammount of ammonia you use will depend on the bio load you plan to have in the tank. 4 PPm is a good starting point. 6 PPM if you want to stock heavilly right away.
Remember if you start out lower and then add fish slowly the BB will grow and adapt and you'll have a safer tank in the long run than you would if you guess...
Remember if you start out lower and then add fish slowly the BB will grow and adapt and you'll have a safer tank in the long run than you would if you guess...
you need to wait for the bacteria to multiply to a sufficient population to oxidise all the ammonia into nitrite, then another type of bacteria that will further oxidise it into nitrate.
At this point measure your ammonia every day or two. You should notice after some time, the ammonia will begin to decrease and you should begin to detect nitrite. eventually you'll notice your ammonia should have zero'd but your nitrites are getting higher and higher. YOu'll need to feed some ammonia daily now to maintain your first set of bacteria whilst waiting for the second set (nitrite>nitrate) to multiply.
At this point measure your ammonia every day or two. You should notice after some time, the ammonia will begin to decrease and you should begin to detect nitrite. eventually you'll notice your ammonia should have zero'd but your nitrites are getting higher and higher. YOu'll need to feed some ammonia daily now to maintain your first set of bacteria whilst waiting for the second set (nitrite>nitrate) to multiply.