Keeping A Filter Going With No Fish

[ellena]

My betta died today
I hope to get another, but not straight away, and I'd like to keep the filter going. I'd done a fish in cycle and it had never really settled down.
So my question is, how much ammonia to add? The colony won't be up to processing anything like 5ppm and I have live plants in there too.
Thanks for any advice

 

[waynelle]

Sorry to hear about your betta dying

Believe it or not, when we started cycling our tank up we were advised by a lot of ppl to add urine to the tank as that is pure ammonia and it done a great job
You don't need much, only about quarter of a cup. I know it doesnt sound very nice but it does the job and its free, so what better way of kick starting your filter?

 

[drobbyb]

Sorry to hear about your betta dying

Believe it or not, when we started cycling our tank up we were advised by a lot of ppl to add urine to the tank as that is pure ammonia and it done a great job
You don't need much, only about quarter of a cup. I know it doesnt sound very nice but it does the job and its free, so what better way of kick starting your filter?

Eww.

I'm sure it works, but it's still gross.

 

[Truck]

urine is safe to drink, so i dont see a posable problem.

but i would use ammonia personally

 

[craig855s]

get liquid ammonia and a liquid test kit (API master) and follow the instructions for fishless cycling,keep the tank ticking over that way

 

[waynelle]

Yeah, I knew some ppl would object to it, we did at 1st but after thinking about it...why not? Its perfectly safe and has everything in it that you need to kick start your tank and it doesnt cost you a penny, seems quite a sensible idea when you think about it, but I thought exactly the same as you at 1st lol.

 

[drobbyb]

I know it's safe to drink and all, it just hits my gross button.

 

[waynelle]

Yeah me too, I wouldnt even touch the water once I added that, I waited a couple of days haha.

 

[Bugsvile]

I guess you would not add you on wee wee if you had had a few drinks the night before

 

[waterdrop]

Ellena, so very sorry to hear you lost your betta. You worked very hard for that betta and were a good, responsible keeper.


To add my 2cents about urine as an ammonia source I believe its not considered ideal because of the likelihood these days that it will contain organic residuals from past pharmaceutical products and food additives. Its become nearly impossible not to find these in individual urine and its become a topic in waste water treatment (WWT) situations.

[In fact, interestingly, there was a lot of news this week about the US Geological Survey making a statement about a very large percentage of the fish in North America exhibiting evidence of being "intersex fish" meaning that partially developed eggs are found in the male fish's sex organs. Organics from humans that get through the WWTPs are one of the suspected causes of this loss of pure gender characteristic.]

Bottom line: go with clear aqueous ammonia from the store.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[ellena]

Thanks everyone I have ammonia from my fishless cycle, so I don't think I need to stoop to weeing in the tank
Any thoughts on how much WD? I've added 0.5ml this morning, which I worked out to be about 2ppm.

 

[OldMan47]

The 2 ppm is plenty to keep a filter ticking over nicely. I have done it for over a month when I knew I had new fish coming by just bumping to around 1 ppm every time I thought of it. I am sure I had minor die backs along the way but, when I put in the fish they were good from the first day.

 

[waterdrop]

Agree, of course. Makes sense too that keeping it down at the 2ppm lower end will create less nitrate. -wd-

 

[ellena]

Brilliant! I'll keep with the 2ppm then and hope to have the tank back in action soon

 

[mickspark81]

Yeah, I knew some ppl would object to it, we did at 1st but after thinking about it...why not? Its perfectly safe and has everything in it that you need to kick start your tank and it doesnt cost you a penny, seems quite a sensible idea when you think about it, but I thought exactly the same as you at 1st lol.

Lol i'd have to disagree. You say it doesnt cost nothing however...Surely you are spending a penny every time you do it