Cycle Question

[aquatica-tech]

Well I just bought a sump that was about 15 to 20 gallons. Well I filled half it up and added some more water to the tank. The last time I remeber my ammomia was at .25, will it be lower cause I added more water or will it stay the same. An what are the max amount levels of ammonia and nitrates, etc... can I add cleaning crew

 

[wangotango]

The volume of water really doesn't have any effect on ammonia. Ammonia and nitrites must be at ZERO before you start adding livestock. I'm assuming that you are in the cycling stage, in which case you need to test ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate daily (IMO) to see when the nitrite and ammonia spike. After they spike then drop to zero, the cycle is complete.
-Justin

 

[aquatica-tech]

Alright I just thought that having water volume increase that it'll affect the levels.
Anyways thanks for telling me.

 

[al mc]

The ammonia level will be lowered slightly by adding more water. If the total
ammonia is the same and you add water with no ammonia the percentage of ammonia must drop (why else would we all be doing water changes to lower our nitrates). However, Wango is correct that it is best to make sure thgat the ammonia and 'trites' go to '0' before you cxan say the cycle is complete.