Fishless cycle

[ssimon15]

Hello, I have started a fishless cycle approx. 3 1/2 weeks ago following instructions on the internet , i put 1/2 cup of pure ammonia in the water ,and put a large amount of filter media from a established tank in my aquacear 70 filter (also running a aquaclear 50 as well) Ithen proceeded to add the proper am"t of api stress zyme biological filtration booster,and to remove chlorine and such i added th proper amm" of your prime. after 2 weeks there was as much ammonia as when i started, i proceeded to change 50% of the water .and add the same products (not ammonia) and know after a week and a half my ammonia still hasn't gone down at all. Icalled your help line and the young lady said i could be getting a false ammonia reading.Since i am using a api test kit , i went and bought your ammonia alert , and it read high ammonia also. Please tell me what to do (they don't carry your other test kits anywhere near where i live ) Help Stuart Simon p.s my tank is a 56 gal.

[Tech Support DD]

We understand your frustration! The ammonia level in your tank is probably so high that your biological filter is having a difficult time establishing itself, let alone trying to lower those levels and cycle your tank. We recommend performing regular water changes to initially lower that very high ammonia level. Also, adding Prime every 48 hours will detoxify those levels; however, you do not need to do that since you are performing a fishless cycle. You also may want to consider adding more biological filter media to house a greater amount of beneficial bacteria in your tank. We recommend using our Matrix along with Stability; these two products will allow you to quickly and efficiently establish your biological filter. Here are the links to Matrix and Stability:

http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/Matrix.html
http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/Stability.html

We can assure you that you will be able to cycle your tank; it just may take some time :-)

[jschall]

I used 1.6 capfuls of 10% ammonium hydroxide in water (from ACE hardware) in 75 gallons, and it gave me 5ppm of ammonia. 1/2 cup is going to be more like 20-50ppm, likely enough to kill the bacteria meant to remove it. Try about an 80% water change.

[Tech Support DD]

Thanks for the helpful post, jschall :-)