Question: Ammonia for Cycling

[InMemoryOfKoNa]

Hi! So I have a 20L tank that I need to cycle, and I was planning on doing a fishless cycle with pure ammonia. I was wondering how much I should add and how many ppm it should be for 2 axies. I've heard so many conflicting accounts and most of them were for fish, so I wanted to be sur ethat however much I added would be enough for an axolotl since they have a much larger bioload than fish. If you could reccomend a brand of ammonia to use that would be great as well.Thank so much!!

 

[LSuzuki]

When you said 20L, you meant 20 gal long, right? (When I first read it, I read it as 20 liter, and was going to recommend a larger tank immediately. ;-) ) a 20 long might be a bit cramped when they are full-sized.

I don't know ammonia brands, but you want "plain" ammonia. If you can't find it at the grocery store, try a hardware store.

For axolotls, 4 ppm is a good level to keep it at - if it can handle 4 ppm in 24 hrs, it can handle your axolotls with ease. That takes a very tiny amount of plain ammonia, like, a couple of drops at most. To make it easier to measure, you can dillute the ammonia, like, 1 tsp per cup of water, and then figure out how much of the diluted mixture it takes to raise the tank by 1 ppm. Then you can easily add the right amount more when the ammonia starts to drop.