Quote Originally Posted by allan View Post
I agree, just how much should you put in?

I've never had to add anything to cycle a tank as its going to happen and a lesson in patience is one that will pay dividends later on.

And as you mentioned, there will be die off, and that's where you get a strong cycle with live rock that doesn't weather the transport or new tank well. If the rock and sand is sterile on the front end, any addition to the tank will get the process started. In fact if caution and patience is practiced you can start much earlier, adding that cuc or small fish. If there is nothing to die off, you won't get a cycle. It starts and filtration grows with the slow addition of livestock.

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I have some drops and it says on the label. I added what was on the label and got the 2 PPM of ammonia I was looking for.

I think all the methods work, and you're absolutely right about patience. In this hobby you're either going to have patience, learn patience or fail miserably. For me, being forced to be patient is something I like about this hobby. I felt like its made me a more patient person overall.

Back to ammonia dosing, I was just curious why everyone was hating on it. I guess for someone new, the fish food method is better if you need to cycle the tank. It's be a lot harder to mess up. However, if you need help, I'm an expert. I was testing an auto fish feeder the other night and dropped about 200 pellets in my 38g tank. Needless to say, I put a paper plate under the feeder for further testing. Nothing like siphoning out pellets and doing a water change at 2AM.