fishless cycling and measuring ppm??? How???

I want to do the fishless cycling on my new 55 gallon freshwater tank. I have 2 bio whell power filters, heater and gravel set up. I've read I need to add the correct type of ots ammonia, and that's fine, but how do I measure ppm when evaluating the ammonia levels?

Hello Steve,

You need a liquid test kit. It is a must if you want to get accurate readings from your aquarium water.

The following article on aquarium nitrogen cycle explains it all with recommendations on necessary products including the most commonly used aquarium water test kit and ammonia products for fishless cycling.

Article: Aquarium Nitrogen Cycle and Fishless Cycling

In this article it also explained how you add the right amount of ammonia.


Good luck!

Have you had experience with the "bacteria in a bottle products?" If so, have you heard if they are successful/helpful in producing the desired result or speeding up the cycling process? Any insight is appreciated.
Thanks,
Steve

I highly recommend you to read the article throughly before ask more questions. The answers to your questions are all in there.

Tetra SafeStart is proven working. It has the correct species of bacteria required to jump start your aquarium nitrogen cycle. I have used it on multiple occasions to jump start the cycling in several of my new aquariums. It has always worked. It is not just me. We have done a survey on another forum a while ago, majority of the (hundreds) people who had tried it all claim it had worked for them. With Tetra SafeStart, it will cut down your cycling time considerably.

You need to be careful with some other live bacteria products. Many others are not having the correct species of bacteria.

(09-24-2013, 11:04 PM)SteveKCMO Wrote: Have you had experience with the "bacteria in a bottle products?"  If so, have you heard if they are successful/helpful in producing the desired result or speeding up the cycling process?  Any insight is appreciated.
Thanks,
Steve

Some products work, some don't.

The ones work are Bio-Spira, Tetra SafeStart, One and Only.    They are basically the same product invented by the same Dr. Timothy, then it was rebranded by multiple companies.    Tips to Speed up Fish Tank Cycling 

The ones do not work (pretty much everything else which was not mentioned above) all have one thing in common.  They have land-based nitrogen cycle bacteria.  These bacteria will temporary make it look like the tank is cycling or cycled, but these bacteria will eventually die in the water and crash the cycle.  With these bogus products, you will have to keep dosing them every week in order to maintain the nitrogen cycle in your fish tank.

If you use Bio-spira, Tetra Safestart or One and only, once your aquarium is cycled, it is permanent unless something was done to kill off the bacteria such as wash the filter media in untreated tap water, or not giving a source of ammonia for more than a few days.