Ammonia And Bacteria Starter Sources

[Ch4rlie]

That's interesting actually, since I used a 35% strength bottled ammonia, using the forum calculator I got my dosings pretty much spot on every time except once when dosed to 4ppm and did about 20% water change to bring ammonia back down to 3ppm, that once was the only time I overdosed.

Well, according to my API test kit anyway.

I used a 1ml syringe and did not find dosing of 1or 3ppm with any problems at all.

In fact I have now Fishless cycled 3 tanks was cycled without any problem with this 35% ammonia.

I find this just fascinating as never thought once I should dilute my ammonia therefore possibly making dosages more accurately easier.

Perhaps I was lucky but I was extremely careful when came to making sure I had the right dosages each time.

An excellent tip

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Its not necessary, but its nice to have options.  Plus, the weaker the solution, the less fumes you'll breathe in while dosing the tank.

 

[Gruntle]

The 25% solution to dose a 200l tank to 3ppm was 30 drops. So a fair bit of control (31 drops = 3.1ppm). Although with a smaller tank it could get out of control if you lost count.
And yes, the stink is amazing by the time you get to drop #30. Lucky I don't have a 1,000l tank!

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Having a 'drop' control is nice.  I bought a gallon jug, so I had to add the ammonia via a syringe... not a fun task.

 

[tunagirll]

Hmm maybe I should make up some more ammonia solution and put them up on ebay with droppers?
I wouldn't use 13.4 M (25%) myself, don't like it around kids. I use a 2.6 M solution which is about the same dilution as for domestic use.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I think that sounds like a pretty good business venture, honestly...  If I had any interest in selling things online, I'd probably do that myself.  But, seeing as I don't, I won't.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Hmm maybe I should make up some more ammonia solution and put them up on ebay with droppers?
I wouldn't use 13.4 M (25%) myself, don't like it around kids. I use a 2.6 M solution which is about the same dilution as for domestic use.

Sounds good

Could also put up in classified on this forum!

 

[Meep]

I'm on my way to hunt ammonia source now - frustratingly after looking at the pics I see that the store I work in used to sell two of them (Kleen-Off and Stardrops) until very recently, so UK it might be worth trying your supermarket.

 

[Ch4rlie]

I'm on my way to hunt ammonia source now - frustratingly after looking at the pics I see that the store I work in used to sell two of them (Kleen-Off and Stardrops) until very recently, so UK it might be worth trying your supermarket.

 
Thats annoying for you, well, at least you know now.
 
BTW "Stardrops"?

 

[Meep]

Stardrops is another brand of cleaner like Kleen-off, I saw it suggested on another set of cycle indtructions but didn't save the link. 
Know theres at least two varieties, one with added bleach so no good.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

My dilution advice is also based on the available tools one has. If you have a very accurate syringe or pipette, working with small quantities becomes much easier. But most fish keepers lack good small measuring devices. So it helps that there is a way for them to do reasonable accurate diluting without great effort or expense. This is more true on the testing side of things since they work with ml amounts in the test tubes.
 
it is way easier to be accurate adding 4 ounces of tank water to 4 ounces of ro/di than doing it 5 ml and 5 ml.
 
That is the attraction of Dr Tim's ammonium chloride- one drop from his bottle per gallon doses a tank to 2 ppm ammoni-n. This is roughly 2.56 ppm on an API kit.

 

[Meep]

An ebay.uk offering (I would have gone for this had I not just clicked buy on amazon) is this kit - instructions, syringe, ammonia - HERE seems like a good idea.

 

[Ch4rlie]

An ebay.uk offering (I would have gone for this had I not just clicked buy on amazon) is this kit - instructions, syringe, ammonia - HERE seems like a good idea.

Thank you for your input on this, is much appreciated.
 
Which ammonia did you buy on Amazon by the way and why would you have rather gone for this particular one out of interest?
 
Looks ok to me, not used or heard that one before, so cannot comment if this is recommended or not since I do not know of anyone successfully cycling a tank with this particular brand.
 
Contains 30ml of 9-10% with a pipette and instructions, although do note that this is for tanks up to 70 litres only.

 

[Meep]

 

An ebay.uk offering (I would have gone for this had I not just clicked buy on amazon) is this kit - instructions, syringe, ammonia - HERE seems like a good idea.

Thank you for your input on this, is much appreciated.
 
Which ammonia did you buy on Amazon by the way and why would you have rather gone for this particular one out of interest?
 
Looks ok to me, not used or heard that one before, so cannot comment if this is recommended or not since I do not know of anyone successfully cycling a tank with this particular brand.
 
Contains 30ml of 9-10% with a pipette and instructions, although do note that this is for tanks up to 70 litres only.
 

I bought the household kleen-off pictured on the thread here.  Its a long time since I've done science so I'd have been second guessing myself like crazy had I bought one not listed here.
 
I'd have probably gone with the kit due to it being put together specifically for the process and even being with instructions - I've only just started cycling my tank (day three) and have now read the instructions posted here several times too many in fact there will more than likely be a posting in a few days of the 'are things progessing right' variety.  Its a learning process but I want my fishies to have the best chance possible.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Not a problem Meep, its easy at times to lose sight of the forest for all the trees.  That's why we are here.