ammonia question!

[taranatar]

hello everyone!

i wanna fishless cycle.
ive looked everywhere for ammonia but could not find any. but by luck i found amsall garden shop that had powder which is PURE Ammoniacal Nitrogen 21%

thats all the ingrediants. will this also work? as long as i meassure it out then test for ammonia in the tank

Shall i give it a try

i have diluted 10ml of the powder in some water stired it and have added to tank will tank test in 30mins
cheers
taran

 

[G_Sharky]

To make sure that the Ammonia you got was pure, Shake the bottle and if there's bubbles being produce then there's a mixture on it and shouldn't be use, but there's no bubbles then you get the green light. GoodLuck on the fishless cycle....

 

[Dorsal]

I think you need amonia hydroxide NH3. Keep looking

 

[taranatar]

i report good news!!

seems to be working.

the powder is pure ammonia just in powder form. i added 10 Mil of powder to Half a pint of water, and added it to tank. tested water after 30mins.

and had a ammonia reading of 5.7ish so it was a tad too much, but now i just add the same ammount each day till i see nitrites .

and if it dnt work as in no nitrates in a few weeks, then ill just empty tank and try with fish cycling.

but seems good so far.

 

[mrV]

If you got ammonia level as ~5 mg/l, it's very good level. Now keep it in that level and when nitrites start to increase, you can change ammonia level to 2,5 mg/l.

http/fish.orbust.net/forums/index.php?sh...ndpost&p=212874

When nitrite spike is gone, do huge water changes before you put any fishes in your tank. After that check your water values: ammonia and nitrite must be 0 mg/l, nitrite under 20... Check pH too.

 

[crazie.eddie]

Don't forget to add in the bacteria colony, like from an already established tank. An older filter media, some gravel or decor will help. There's a 50/50 chance with some of those bacteria starters, so I wouldn't rely on them. Otherwise, without the bacteria, nothing's going to convert the ammonia to nitrites, then to nitrates.

 

[mrV]

It's not necessary add bacteria, but yes, it will speed up cycling process.

There's a 50/50 chance with some of those bacteria starters,

Reason why those starters don't seem to work, it is that they have used (or not using) wrong bacteria. Long time it has been thought that only Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter are needed, but recent studies have shown, that there actually isn't Nitrobacter in fresh water aquarium but there is Nitrospira )*. If I don't remember wrong, only commercial bacteria-product, that contains exactly those bacteria we need, is called "Bio-Spira". It contains Nitrosomonas (NH3/NH4+ -> NO2-) and Nitrospira (NO2- -> NO3-) bacteria. People have told that it works excellent. I don't know, because I haven't seen it in our stores and haven't had chance to test it...

)* Something about those bacteria shortly in english (click link where is NO2-).

 

[crazie.eddie]

Yeah, I heard about bio-spyra, but I have not used it myself either so I can't say anything. I'm a skeptical and it's hard doing the research on that stuff since I don't have anyway to check it out unless I had a microscope to examine if there is actually LIVE bacteria in there.

 

[jeepie]

I used bio-spria a couple of months ago on a tank that was not cycled and full of fish (thanks petsmart) I was doing daily water changes just to keep getting rid of the ammonia. I had zero nitrites and nitrates, after I added the bio the tank cycled in about 7 days. The bio must be kept refridgerated so there probably is something to it.

 

[crazie.eddie]

You actually can't say the bio-spyra worked, becuase the stocking of the fish added bacteria and the daily water changes helped remove the excess ammonia/nitrites. If you added the fish slowly, like 10% of stock per week, you would eliminate the daily water changes. I basically like the slow, easy approach. My fish appreciate it not having to go through ammonia/nitrite spikes/drops.

 

[taranatar]

just to let you know!

the ammonia powder which im using but diluting it before adding is working fine! if it all turns out ok its something esle people could use!

ive added it for only 2 days now to a 35gal tank. and have allready got nitrites on the chart! without anything from an established tank or anything!

cool huh, its not alot mind only o.2 but its there i checked 3 times lol.