Will high ammonia level destroy the BB during tank cycle

[moonstone]

Hi, I am wondering if ammonia level of 8ppm/litre will destroy the entires BB? I am having this question here is because I am cycling my 24 gal tank with 5 fish and now into the third weeks I still get ammonia at 8.0 ppm/litre, nitrites >0.3, nitrate 0. Maybe bb not growing? I have checked tap water is ammonia 0 and every WC put in anti-chlorine. So now what's happening here. Can anyone advise me?

[Goondoo]

Hi, I am wondering if ammonia level of 8ppm/litre will destroy the entires BB? I am having this question here is because I am cycling my 24 gal tank with 5 fish and now into the third weeks I still get ammonia at 8.0 ppm/litre, nitrites >0.3, nitrate 0. Maybe bb not growing? I have checked tap water is ammonia 0 and every WC put in anti-chlorine. So now what's happening here. Can anyone advise me?

Ammonia should be falling soon and Nitrite rising. The cycle might take up to 6 weeks, have some patience.

PS: BB feeds on ammonia.....

[moonstone]

Ammonia should be falling soon and Nitrite rising. The cycle might take up to 6 weeks, have some patience.

PS: BB feeds on ammonia.....

Thanks. I hope so. Been running out of patience. I have just washed the ceramic rings with aquarium water yesterday as there was an outbreak of algae problem lately, will I do any damage to the BB?

[Goondoo]

Thanks. I hope so. Been running out of patience. I have just washed the ceramic rings with aquarium water yesterday as there was an outbreak of algae problem lately, will I do any damage to the BB?

Likely you did. The cycling process might be even longer than expected now.
Try not to wash any media inside the filter with tap water. I would normally rinse them with aged water or water siphoned out from the tank.

I would strongly advise you to be more patience.

[valice]

Ammonia should be falling soon and Nitrite rising. The cycle might take up to 6 weeks, have some patience.

PS: BB feeds on ammonia.....

You can shorten this cycling period to one week with good filter substrate medias like ADA BioRio or Biohome Plus which already has a rich amount of bacteria in there.

It also helps to have a bacteria rich substrate. The entire cycling can be cut down tremendously.

[moonstone]

Likely you did. The cycling process might be even longer than expected now.
Try not to wash any media inside the filter with tap water. I would normally rinse them with aged water or water siphoned out from the tank.

I would strongly advise you to be more patience.

Er... I didn't rinse it with tap water. I just use the water siphoned out of the tank to rinse it. Guess that should not be any problem?

[moonstone]

You can shorten this cycling period to one week with good filter substrate medias like ADA BioRio or Biohome Plus which already has a rich amount of bacteria in there.

It also helps to have a bacteria rich substrate. The entire cycling can be cut down tremendously.

Wow. Thanks Valice! But does C328 has Biohome? How much should I put into the tank.

[valice]

Should have. But find it more expensive to use than ADA.

[Goondoo]

Wow. Thanks Valice! But does C328 has Biohome? How much should I put into the tank.

There are also cycling media you can consider. My friend had swore by a bottled liquid call "Cycle". He told me he set up a 4x2x2 tank, dump in a bottle and about 100 assorted fish with zero casualties. I had tried the powder type when I rescaped my tank years back as well with extremely low casualty (Can't really remember if there is any). I remember Cycle can be bought from Petmart.

[moonstone]

No choice, this is the first time I encounter this cycling time that take so long. As I read on internet that the ammonia will decrease abit by the 2nd or 3rd week but mine still rocket high at 8.0ppm or maybe more as the test kit turn Dark green! And nitrite is like 0 all this while, really got on my nerve.

[moonstone]

There are also cycling media you can consider. My friend had swore by a bottled liquid call "Cycle". He told me he set up a 4x2x2 tank, dump in a bottle and about 100 assorted fish with zero casualties. I had tried the powder type when I rescaped my tank years back as well with extremely low casualty (Can't really remember if there is any). I remember Cycle can be bought from Petmart.

I try to put Biohome plus to see how. As during the past weeks I have spent quite alot on those API Stress Zyml, Fritz, Sera Nitrivec.

[Quixotic]

Be aware that there are absolutely no guarantees that whatever you do will work, and mileage may vary.

It is also best that you understand what cycling is all about, so you will know what are the risks involved and how to deal with them in case it doesn't work.

Cheers.

[moonstone]

Be aware that there are absolutely no guarantees that whatever you do will work, and mileage may vary.

It is also best that you understand what cycling is all about, so you will know what are the risks involved and how to deal with them in case it doesn't work.

Cheers.

Thanks Quixotic. Will keep your advice in mind.
Anyway, I bought 1kg of BioHome plus and had dump into the filter compartment yesterday evening. Now is to be patience as you all have mentioned.

Cheers.