Hi,

I’m cycling a U3 filter with ammonia. I have no seeded media (my display tank crashed in December, my lfs has whitespot and my friend has a snail problem including in the canister!).

What I’m struggling to work out is:

1. I am cycling in a 39l as that’s all I have but the filter will be going in a 70l with 9 x emerald eyespot rasbora and 8 x celestial pearl danios.

2. Because of the discrepancy in tank sizes should I up the 4ppm ammonia to form a cycle that can hold the 70l? If yes, what to? 6ppm? Will this be difficult with testing? I use NT Labs and Salifert. The U2 currently in the 70l will be removed and used in the 39l.

3. Then based on 1 and 2 how much Dr Tim’s ammonia do I need? I’d like to make sure I’m covered without going mad overbuying as things are going out of stock left right and centre.

According to Aq Advisor stocking calculator my 17 nano fish in the 70 litre are:

U2 63% stocked at 201% filtration

U3 63% stocked at 268% filtration.

In the 39l:

U2 113% stocked at 201% filtration

U3 113% stocked at 268% filteation

Would that translate somehow? If at 4ppm you’re meant to 50% stock then would 6ppm be better for 63% stock?

Brains a bit frazzled!

Thanks

The simplest way to work this out is to use the ammonia calculator at the bottom of the article on fishless cycling and enter 70L as the tank volume. However, you will need almost twice as much ammonia to do that, and using more than 5ppm can prevent cycling from happening as at higher concentrations ammonia will inhibit bacteria. You may need to limit to 4ppm for 39L and stock the fish a few at a time. https://www.fishkeeping.co.uk/articles ... hless-cycling-article.htm

How much ammonia you'll need is impossible to say as every cycle is different and it can take as little as 3 weeks, or much longer. I would use ordinary household ammonia which is considerably less expensive.

4ppm is enough to stock to 100%.