Alternatives To Fishless Cycling With Ammonia?

[A creature void of form]

I have failed to locate a pure Ammonia source so far in:

3 seperate Aquarium shops,
Several chemists (high street and local),
Hardware stores (B&Q, local, etc.),
General stores and Supermarkets,
and Online.

I am at a loss to find a source. If anyone know where I can order it online or in a shop, then please tell me (I live in Manchester, UK).

Failing this, is there an alterantive to Ammonia? I have been reccomended bacteria canisters by my LFS(s) but I'm wary of this advice (having not read about it online).

Waht about cycling with Prawns? I'd be very reluctant to do this (the smell! ) but if anyone has information on how to cycle with them, I'm all ears.

Many thanks for any advice.

 

[Musho3210]

use a medium sized raw prawn per 30 gallons water (uhh... 100 liters maybe?) and leave it in there, when it is done decomposing the tank is probably cycled, no need to keep adding hopefully. And i would suggest you wrapping it in a filter bag or stockings or something, they will desintegrate and you will have bits of dead shrimp in your tank....

Another alternative is to use food, just put some food in there every day, food will desintegrate and cause ammonia. Problem with this is its kinda hard to bring the ammonia to high levels and the food will grow fungus.

 

[A creature void of form]

use a medium sized raw prawn per 30 gallons water (uhh... 100 liters maybe?) and leave it in there, when it is done decomposing the tank is probably cycled, no need to keep adding hopefully. And i would suggest you wrapping it in a filter bag or stockings or something, they will desintegrate and you will have bits of dead shrimp in your tank....

Thank you. Do you know roughly how long this will take (15 gallon tank)?

...and do the bacteria pellets not work?

 

[Musho3210]

no idea how long it will take, just test every once and a while for nitrate, nitrite, and ammonia.

 

[Rooster]

I have failed to locate a pure Ammonia source so far in:

3 seperate Aquarium shops,
Several chemists (high street and local),
Hardware stores (B&Q, local, etc.),
General stores and Supermarkets,
and Online.

I am at a loss to find a source. If anyone know where I can order it online or in a shop, then please tell me (I live in Manchester, UK).

Failing this, is there an alterantive to Ammonia? I have been reccomended bacteria canisters by my LFS(s) but I'm wary of this advice (having not read about it online).

Waht about cycling with Prawns? I'd be very reluctant to do this (the smell! ) but if anyone has information on how to cycle with them, I'm all ears.

Many thanks for any advice.

Mail me....

 

[rdd1952]

use a medium sized raw prawn per 30 gallons water (uhh... 100 liters maybe?) and leave it in there, when it is done decomposing the tank is probably cycled, no need to keep adding hopefully. And i would suggest you wrapping it in a filter bag or stockings or something, they will desintegrate and you will have bits of dead shrimp in your tank....

Thank you. Do you know roughly how long this will take (15 gallon tank)?

...and do the bacteria pellets not work?

Cycling can take from 24 to 8 weeks, most likely about 3 to 4. I'm not a fan of using the prawns as I don't want anything rotting in my tank. Grocery stores and home improvement stores are the best places to get ammonia (in the cleaning section). I've never heard of a fish store having it. You won't find it online as it is illegal to ship it in most places. If you can't find it anywhere, I would recommend using fish flakes instead of the prawns although both are expensive compared to a 50 cent bottle of ammonia.

As for the bacteria pellets, nitrifying bacteria can not live in a dried state so there is no way that the pellets can contain the bacteria needed to cycle a tank. Other bacteria in a bottle products are also pretty much useless.

 

[A creature void of form]

use a medium sized raw prawn per 30 gallons water (uhh... 100 liters maybe?) and leave it in there, when it is done decomposing the tank is probably cycled, no need to keep adding hopefully. And i would suggest you wrapping it in a filter bag or stockings or something, they will desintegrate and you will have bits of dead shrimp in your tank....

Thank you. Do you know roughly how long this will take (15 gallon tank)?

...and do the bacteria pellets not work?

Cycling can take from 24 to 8 weeks, most likely about 3 to 4. I'm not a fan of using the prawns as I don't want anything rotting in my tank. Grocery stores and home improvement stores are the best places to get ammonia (in the cleaning section). I've never heard of a fish store having it. You won't find it online as it is illegal to ship it in most places. If you can't find it anywhere, I would recommend using fish flakes instead of the prawns although both are expensive compared to a 50 cent bottle of ammonia.

As for the bacteria pellets, nitrifying bacteria can not live in a dried state so there is no way that the pellets can contain the bacteria needed to cycle a tank. Other bacteria in a bottle products are also pretty much useless.

Thanks. I thought as much about the bacteria pellets.

I like the sound of using fish flakes - just the regular flakes contain Ammonia when broken down?

 

[rdd1952]

I like the sound of using fish flakes - just the regular flakes contain Ammonia when broken down?

Basically anything that rots produces ammonia as it breaks down. I just prefer to have fish food rotting in the tank than other items. I would suggest that you put the flakes in a stocking or something (as mentioned with the prawns) so that hte tank stays neater and there isn't flakes laying every where.

Edit: One problem with flakes or any item other than ammonia is that it's almost impossible to regulate how much ammonia you are adding. Getting the ammonia levels to 2 to 4 ppm is extremely difficult.

 

[A creature void of form]

I like the sound of using fish flakes - just the regular flakes contain Ammonia when broken down?

Basically anything that rots produces ammonia as it breaks down. I just prefer to have fish food rotting in the tank than other items. I would suggest that you put the flakes in a stocking or something (as mentioned with the prawns) so that hte tank stays neater and there isn't flakes laying every where.

Edit: One problem with flakes or any item other than ammonia is that it's almost impossible to regulate how much ammonia you are adding. Getting the ammonia levels to 2 to 4 ppm is extremely difficult.

I see...I thought there must be a drawback.

I suppose the way to go about it is to add a small amount of flakes and keep testing vigilantly over time to increase the ppm.

One quick question: There is no benefit to doing water changes while cycling is there?

Many thanks for your advice.

 

[rdd1952]

No. Water changes during a fishless cycle aren't necessary. Sometimes they help when things have stalled. As for the amount of flakes to use, I would think that you would want to put in a rather decent amount to begin with as it will take time before it starts to break down. Your goal is to get the ammonia to about 4 ppm and it will take quite a good amount of flakes to do that

 

[A creature void of form]

No. Water changes during a fishless cycle aren't necessary. Sometimes they help when things have stalled. As for the amount of flakes to use, I would think that you would want to put in a rather decent amount to begin with as it will take time before it starts to break down. Your goal is to get the ammonia to about 4 ppm and it will take quite a good amount of flakes to do that

Got it. I'm going to give this a shot!

Two more minor questions:

* 'quite a good amount' - any suggestions in grammes?
* Any idea how long the flakes will take to rot?

 

[xxBarneyxx]

I have used frozen prawns in the past to cycle a tank and while it does stink and is hard to regulate the ammonia it does do the job. When I have done it this way though I have never then fully stocked afterwards and always added the fish slowly over a period of a month or two.

 

[A creature void of form]

I have used frozen prawns in the past to cycle a tank and while it does stink and is hard to regulate the ammonia it does do the job. When I have done it this way though I have never then fully stocked afterwards and always added the fish slowly over a period of a month or two.

I think my housemates would really diassaprove to rotting prawn(s) in our shared living room - hence the need for something more ... ... fragrant.

I will add the fish slowly. Which brings about yet another question:

If I add 4 neon tetras after the cycle, and then another 4 in say - three weeks' time - can I expect them to shoal together in unison, or as two seperate rival groups?

 

[Jonno]

I have failed to locate a pure Ammonia source so far in:

3 seperate Aquarium shops,
Several chemists (high street and local),
Hardware stores (B&Q, local, etc.),
General stores and Supermarkets,
and Online.

you dont like near a boots store?

 

[A creature void of form]

I have failed to locate a pure Ammonia source so far in:

3 seperate Aquarium shops,
Several chemists (high street and local),
Hardware stores (B&Q, local, etc.),
General stores and Supermarkets,
and Online.

you dont like near a boots store?

Yes I do, and I was told that they do not keep pure Ammonia in stock, nor could they order it in.

Which is frustrating because I hear people talking about 'Boots household Ammonia' on here from time to time.

EDIT:

And when I look on Boots.m and search for Ammonia, I get 0 results and, the ultimate slap in the face -

Did you mean: armani?

No I did not!


So have Boots suddenly stopped selling it?