How Much Ammonia?

[dt3000]

I have a new 22L (5.7gal) tank which I'd like to do a fishless setup with. Just bought some household ammonia from Homebase with a 9.5% Ammonia content. How much of this should I put into the tank to kick things off?

 

[Squid]

I used the following calculation to work out how much to put in. (depends on the % solution of your ammonia)

so.. 5ppm

if 1 litre is 1000 ml, then 1000 litres is 1 million ml...

then 5ml of pure ammonia is 5 ppm in that soltion..

so

100,000 ml of water would require 0.5 ml ammonia

10,000 ml of water (ten litres) would require 0.05ml of ammonia

the solution is only about 10% ammonia, so that would need 0.5ml of my solution (in fact it was the homebase one.. but i rounded it up)

so i tested this in a bucket and it went green (somewhere over 4ppm, but not entirely sure as the kit is not that clear over 4ppm)

so..

my 180 litre tank would require 18 * 0.5 =9ml of my solution..

Hope that helps, but as you can see, it depends on your ammonia solution. I also used a syringe to get the ml right instead of drops, so it depends on how many of your drops there are to a ml. You can get a small syringe from a chemist.. or use one of those medicine things or a small measure (be careful if people are using it for medicine still might no be the right thing to do there).. lol

Cheers
Squid

 

[dt3000]

Cheers squid

I used the following calculation to work out how much to put in. (depends on the % solution of your ammonia)

so.. 5ppm

if 1 litre is 1000 ml, then 1000 litres is 1 million ml...

then 5ml of pure ammonia is 5 ppm in that soltion..

so

100,000 ml of water would require 0.5 ml ammonia

10,000 ml of water (ten litres) would require 0.05ml of ammonia

the solution is only about 10% ammonia, so that would need 0.5ml of my solution (in fact it was the homebase one.. but i rounded it up)

so i tested this in a bucket and it went green (somewhere over 4ppm, but not entirely sure as the kit is not that clear over 4ppm)

so..

my 180 litre tank would require 18 * 0.5 =9ml of my solution..

Hope that helps, but as you can see, it depends on your ammonia solution. I also used a syringe to get the ml right instead of drops, so it depends on how many of your drops there are to a ml. You can get a small syringe from a chemist.. or use one of those medicine things or a small measure (be careful if people are using it for medicine still might no be the right thing to do there).. lol

Cheers
Squid

 

[OohFeeshy]

What fish are you having in there? If you're hacing a (comparativley) heavy bioload, the more you put in the more bacteria present on the filter to handle the waste.

 

[dt3000]

Only a couple of Platys to begin with.

What fish are you having in there? If you're hacing a (comparativley) heavy bioload, the more you put in the more bacteria present on the filter to handle the waste.

 

[OohFeeshy]

From your other posts you want platys and tetras... The tank is too small for tetras and platys. In a tank that small you're very limited.

 

[mark.w.jones]

Id put 10 litres of dechlorinated water in a bucket. Add 5 drops of ammonia or so and do an ammonia test. If it's not 5 - 6 ppm then repeat. Obviously keep count of total number of drops needed. When finished multiply up to get the number of drops needed to get 5ppm in your main tank.

It'll be your tank volume in litres divided by 10 then times the number of drops in the bucket. Add this number of drops to your main tank and retest ammonia levels. If youre worried you dont have to put the full number into the tank straight away. Add half and test again etc. Be as careful as you like

 

[dt3000]

Bought an ammonia testing kit yesterday and I did one test which was about 2ppm added another two droppers worth and retested reads about 6ppm.

Id put 10 litres of dechlorinated water in a bucket. Add 5 drops of ammonia or so and do an ammonia test. If it's not 5 - 6 ppm then repeat. Obviously keep count of total number of drops needed. When finished multiply up to get the number of drops needed to get 5ppm in your main tank.

It'll be your tank volume in litres divided by 10 then times the number of drops in the bucket. Add this number of drops to your main tank and retest ammonia levels. If youre worried you dont have to put the full number into the tank straight away. Add half and test again etc. Be as careful as you like

OohFeeshy - what about a variety fancy guppies...would they be ok?

From your other posts you want platys and tetras... The tank is too small for tetras and platys. In a tank that small you're very limited.