Is Ammonia Necessary For The Cycle?

[mark1980]

I am hoping to start the cycle process but I don't have any ammonia. I have read somewhere that I can put flakes of food into the tank to produce ammonia, has anyone else tried this. It seems to be unclear were to buy ammonia from, does anyone know where it is sold in the uk? thanks, Mark

 

[Scunny]

Ammonia Sources

That should tell you where you can get ammonia from. I'm going to try and get the 'kleen off' product for cycling my latest tank. Apparently boots is a good place, and possibly Homebase (i havent tried either yet)

Ammonia is improtant as it basicaly fools the filter into thinking theres fish in the tank, but in reality there isnt, and therefore you wont have any deaths.

I think (im not 100% sure) you can do it with fish flakes, as when they decompose they'll create ammonia, although i'd strongly advise to actualy use ammonia.

Maybe someone can help me with this, but do FS sell ammonia? and if not wouldnt it be a good idea too as we all need it?

 

[Nosnibor]

Ammonia Sources

That should tell you where you can get ammonia from. I'm going to try and get the 'kleen off' product for cycling my latest tank. Apparently boots is a good place, and possibly Homebase (i havent tried either yet)

Ammonia is improtant as it basicaly fools the filter into thinking theres fish in the tank, but in reality there isnt, and therefore you wont have any deaths.

I think (im not 100% sure) you can do it with fish flakes, as when they decompose they'll create ammonia, although i'd strongly advise to actualy use ammonia.

Maybe someone can help me with this, but do FS sell ammonia? and if not wouldnt it be a good idea too as we all need it?

You can definitely get ammonia in the hardware section of Homebase. It's 9.5% ammonia and it's just over £1

Martin

 

[Scunny]

Does anyone know if you can get it from B&Q as im working away from home at the moment and the B&Q warehouse is so close i could spit on it.

If not...looks like im going to homebase this weekend

 

[stuhyde]

Boots!

;-)

 

[ArauraDiscus]

I only use flakes. I've never used straight ammonis before, so flakes work.

 

[K.J.]

If you're in the US, you can get it at Walmart or Ace Hardware.

 

[Robris]

If your in Australia I dont think you can get it, I have asked 3 different local fish shops, they all didnt have it although one of them recommended me ask a chemist so I asked one without any luck, I also check a big hardware house in aus with no luck although I was checking in the Household Cleaning section, and someone just above stated it should be in the hardware section? Is this right?

 

[ArauraDiscus]

Well it should be in cleaning supplies, but if your having so much trouble finding it, why not just add food to the tank like I do. It creates plenty of ammonia if you add a fair amount.

 

[Amunet]

I haven't tryed this, but read on another website, that you can take a piece of raw shrimp or a piece of raw fish (the kind we eat) and chunk it into your tank.
As it decomposes it should release the ammonia that's needed.
But like I said, I've never tryed it but it could be a possible option for ya

 

[Tiger Barb]

Technically, anything that decomposes and releases ammonia will do the job. Hence some people use fish food, others use frozen prawns (normally in a bag or stocking so that you can remove the mushy mess later!). The benefits of these are that they are easily obtainable, and as they decompose they release a steady stream of ammonia into the water - just like a fish would if it was there. The disadvantages are that decomposing items tend to smell (I started to cycle my filter with prawns and it was gross) and that you are not completely in control of the amount of ammonia in the tank.

The more scientific route is to add the ammonia directly. You are then completely in control of the amount of ammonia, and can be more confident in cycling the filter to cope with a large bio-load (i.e. after cycling you can be confident in adding a lot of fish at once). The disadvantage is that you have to add the dose every day - by the end of my cycle I was adding 5ml of 9% ammonia twice a day - and I had enough bacteria to use it all within 6 hours.

I don't think you will find an LFS selling ammonia - they are normally trying to sell you fish and they will sell more fish if you do a stocked cycle cos the poor little beggars lives will be shortened and you will have to replace them! I bought my ammonia (Jeyes Kleen-Off ammonia) from Ebay as I couldn't be bothered to traipse round all the DIY shops looking for it.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Technically, anything that decomposes and releases ammonia will do the job. Hence some people use fish food, others use frozen prawns (normally in a bag or stocking so that you can remove the mushy mess later!). The benefits of these are that they are easily obtainable, and as they decompose they release a steady stream of ammonia into the water - just like a fish would if it was there. The disadvantages are that decomposing items tend to smell (I started to cycle my filter with prawns and it was gross) and that you are not completely in control of the amount of ammonia in the tank.

The more scientific route is to add the ammonia directly. You are then completely in control of the amount of ammonia, and can be more confident in cycling the filter to cope with a large bio-load (i.e. after cycling you can be confident in adding a lot of fish at once). The disadvantage is that you have to add the dose every day - by the end of my cycle I was adding 5ml of 9% ammonia twice a day - and I had enough bacteria to use it all within 6 hours.

I don't think you will find an LFS selling ammonia - they are normally trying to sell you fish and they will sell more fish if you do a stocked cycle cos the poor little beggars lives will be shortened and you will have to replace them! I bought my ammonia (Jeyes Kleen-Off ammonia) from Ebay as I couldn't be bothered to traipse round all the DIY shops looking for it.

beat me to it!

ammonia is best IMHO as it is easily controlled, when you add your ammonia within a few minutes it'll be mixed in well enough to measure if you have your 5ppm therefore you can easily make adjustments and be confident the tank is equipped to deal with a full stocking load. with fish food or anything decomposing it does so slowly releasing ammonia over time so you can't really measure if your up to 5ppm or whatever. in this case i would simply stock relativley lightly after your cycle and build up slowly from there instead of putting most of your fish in at once.