Ammonia staying the same

[neo-fight]

I am currently trying to fishless cycle my tank. I have done everything I was supposed to do:i.e. increased the water temperature, added extra aeration, used pure water, etc. I used Cycle TM to add bacteria to my tank. I then added pure ammonia and by the way there were all kinds of differing information on the amount you should add in various articles on fishless cycling. The first day I added 7 mm of ammonia to a 29 gallon tank which now has about 25 gallons of water in it. It registered 4 ppm. The next day the ammonia level was at 2 ppm. I added 5 mm of ammonia which brought tha reading back up 4 ppm. The next day the reading was at 2 ppm and I added 3 mm of ammonia. The reading was at 4 ppm. Two days later the reading remains at 4ppm. It hasn't dropped. Is this normal or have I overdosed my tank?

[Lady Hobbs]

No, it is fine. You do need to check for nitrites, tho, and if you now are showing nitrites to add half the amount of ammonia you have been adding. Like to 2.

You do not add bacteria boosters to a fishless cycle when using ammonia. The purpose of bac boost is to hold your toxic levels down so it does little good to add the ammonia to bring them up. One product is fighting against the other.

PS........Those products are for use when using fish to cycle.......

[neo-fight]

Thankyou for the reply. In an article entitled "Using Houshold Ammonia for Humane Cycling of a Tank", James A. Kogan suggests using Cycle before adding ammonia. ??http://www.csupomona.edu/~jskoga/Aquariums/Ammonia.html

[Lady Hobbs]

Dated 1996. Much has changed and much new information is available such as the product CYCLE is about useless.

[Northernguy]

I used Cycle when I first started!It took 5weeks to get the cycle finished.I also cycled with fish.I had not joined the AC yet and nobody up here has ever heard of fishless cycling.I had no choice though,its still the only product available up here.