TotalNoob wrote:
After some reading and research, I fond some janitorial ammonia and introduced it to my tank until the test read ~6-7 ppm (I was aiming for 5, but overshot it during my initial dosing). 5ppm is what most articles and vids I have read said you should start at.
A system will cycle just fine with 0.5ppm of Ammonia, I've done it a couple of times. Most people used to aim for somewhere between 1.0ppm-2.0ppm... before a particular book came out that stated you needed 5.0ppm. Having a higher Ammonia level during cycling will not shorten the cycling period.
TotalNoob wrote:
The system did run for quite some time just with water (no ammonia or attempt to cycle it) while i was setting it up and testing that everything worked. Could the cycling have happened during that time?
If the system had anything decaying in it, ie: Leaves, twigs, dead bugs etc, even the smallest amount, this would've started the cycling process, and once the bacteria colony is established, no matter how small it is, it will grow very rapidly once more Ammonia is introduced to the system. Even frogs swimming and urinating in the system would provide Ammonia.
Another possibility is your source water. Tap water containing Chloramines would also provide an Ammonia source and get the cycling ball rolling within a day or two of the water being added and circulated. So depending how long your system sat there with just water in it, the cycling could very well have occurred then. Once cycled, you will very rarely see Nitrites when more Ammonia is added, as the conversion from N02 to N03 is a quick process.
If you want to keep the bacteria colony ticking over in preparation for the fish, adding a capful of Maxicrop per 100 gal every couple of days will feed any seedlings and provide some Ammonia for the bacteria. If you keep adding just Ammonia, you will get plenty of Nitrates, but nothing else.
Backyard Aquaponics
