Acquiring Ammonia

[Jordan_Deus]

Assuming I get no confirmation about the NH4NO3 I'll most likely go that rout.

 

[Essjay]

Is ammonium chloride available? That's what Dr Tim's One & Only sells for fishless cycling.


If you do use ammonium nitrate, you would need to add it bit by bit to find how much gives a tank reading of 3 ppm rather than the 4 ppm you mentioned in the first post. Then just follow these instructions http://www.fishforums.net/threads/cycling-your-new-fresh-water-tank-read-this-first.421488/

 

[StandbySetting]

You would use 34% less by mass for ammonium nitrate as you would ammonium chloride - for example if you were expected to dose 10g of ammonium chloride, you would only dose 6.62 grams of ammonium nitrate.

 

[Jordan_Deus]

So what you both are saying is that ammonium nitrate will work? I just need to find it without any other additives and obviously add it in very slowly.

Edit: About the ammonium chloride, I'll have to check in a local pet store about that.

 

[Essjay]

Unfortunately, pet stores rarely stock ammonia in any form.

Do you have Ebay or Amazon in Israel? They might sell it.

 

[Jordan_Deus]

Unfortunately, pet stores rarely stock ammonia in any form.

Do you have Ebay or Amazon in Israel? They might sell it.

Yeah there's eBay and amazon here (that's how I'm buying most of my equipment as its cheaper). But I do believe any ammonia I buy will be stopped by customs. I'll give it a shot anyway it's only a few dollar and it's worth a shot, not to hopeful though.

 

[Jordan_Deus]

You would use 34% less by mass for ammonium nitrate as you would ammonium chloride - for example if you were expected to dose 10g of ammonium chloride, you would only dose 6.62 grams of ammonium nitrate.

Sorry to be a bother, I simply don't want to do anything that will harm the cycling process and indirectly the fish. Ammonium nitrate (NA4NO3) is safe and will work on Fishless cycling?

 

[StandbySetting]

Yes it's just a salt, you will need to do some large water changes once your cycle is complete however due to the ammonium source containing nitrate.

 

[StevenF]

One issue with ammonia nitrate it that it can be used as an explosive. It is very difficult to set off so no one was aware of the danger until many years after people started using it as a fertilizer.
http://mentalfloss.com/article/50229/7-other-ammonium-nitrate-disasters

I don't know what restrictions Israel has on it but i would guess it would be hard to find.

Dr time ammonia is your best bet. It's a small bottle of ammonia chloride it's been on th market for some time and appears to work.
http://store.drtimsaquatics.com/Ammonium-Chloride-Solution-for-Fishless-Cycling_p_190.html

Ammonia carbonate and ammonia sulfate might also be useful. Ammonia carbonate was commonly used as a backing powder and some still use it. Some grocery stores sell it but it is easiest to find on line. However some ammonia test kits may not be able to detect these sources of ammonia. To dose the tank you need 1mg per liter of water (1ppm) Or you can mix 1 gram with one liter of water to make a 1000ppm concentrate and then add 1 milliliter of concentrate per liter of water in your tank to get to 1ppm. At that point you would need to just monitor nitrate and nitrite.

Another option is to go to chemical supply companies and look for calibration solutions.
http://hannainst.com/hi4001-03-ammonia-standard-1000-mg-l-ppm-500-ml.html
It's not cheap but it is a pure ammonia solution.

 

[Jordan_Deus]

BTW is ammonium sulfate OK? Because that I can get my hands on really easily. Tim's ammonium chloride is cheap but the shipping is very expensive.

Edit: Just noticed you wrote that ammonium sulfate might work.

Second Edit: I was wondering if the sulfate will harm the fish? A water change needs to be done anyway, but if even small traces of sulfate may harm the fish that means cleaning the whole tank. So if I make a slight mistake (I.E. not heating the water before I add it back) I could kill off the bacteria.