Cycling The Tank With Fish Flake

[rdoherty]

Hi
I have been round a few chemists and asked at my fish shop but I can't get hold of any ammonia. I have come to the decision to use fish flake although I understand it is harder. Can anyone give me a step by step guide to how this is done?
Thanks
Rach

 

[zig]

This might help

ammonia

 

[Squid]

If your in the UK.... HOMEBASE!

 

[Bloo]

If you're in the UK, Robert Dyas or really any DIY store - even your local corner DIY should have some.

 

[kris-b-]

The thing with adding flake food is that it is so hard to calculate how much to add to get it up to the correct level whereas when you add liquid ammonia its so many drops to add.

 

[annka5]

Won't flake food contain phosphates which will encourage lots of algae to form though?

 

[rdd1952]

Flakes may contain phosphates and they are one of the causes of algae. You will definitely have algae in a cycling tank, especially toward the end of the process, simply from the high nitrates. It generally clears up once you do the big water change at the end though.

As for the ammonia, from looking at your older thread on this, I think you may be looking for the wrong thing. The common term used for ammonia for cycling is "pure ammonia". That is technically not correct as pure ammonia is a gas. What is really meant by "pure ammonia" is a mixture of only ammonia and water without any detergents, surfactants or fragrance.