the fishless cycle....

[Crystal]

I recently had a big loss of my neon tetras, so I decided to start over with my 10gal. I had cleaned the tnak throughly and boiled everything I could have, including rinsing the tank with boiling water. (The 3 remaining fish are still in the hospital tank with a case of ich (nox ich is not working for them either) ) anyways...
I cannot find a good ammonia source, so I was thinking of using fish food as an ammonia source for a fishless cycle. My question is, can I put the food in anything so it will not make the tank too messy, or should I just scatter it in the tank, also how much do I use? I took a reading of my tank water how it is, after refilling it friday, and it is reading:
ph: 7.2
Ammonia: 0.5
nitrites: 0
nitrates: 5.0

Any help is appreciated guys! thank you!!

 

[LoveMyOscar]

...

 

[Crystal]

haha, I have no idea! It must be something in the suburban water. I should check our tap water for ammonia.

What kind of ammonia do you use? Where do you get it?

 

[Crystal]

I just did an ammonia test on our tap water, and it is definatly there. It read at .25.
How do I solve this problem?

 

[Crystal]

anyone?

 

[LoveMyOscar]

...

 

[skimpy]

Hi Crysal

I do sympathise with your tap water problem. Ammonia in tap water, I would not know what to do either.

What about getting a rain barrel and collecting rain water. Does anyone know if this would work. It might bring with it problems with other bacteriathough, i don't know. The other thing is it would be soft water which depending on the fish you have might be a problem. Rain water is a lot softer than most tap water. Anyway, perhaps its something you might be able to enquire about!

With regard to cycling with food. I used food with my baby tank, but i did start it off with filter media from my main tank. i just used the food to continue to feed the bacteria until the ammonia and nitrites were at 0. This worked very well for me. Perhaps you know someone who could suppy you with some filter media, or try the lfs.

I have heard that you can do it with food from scratch, but I believe this is a very slow process - Not sure cos haven't tried, just heard it can be done.

Anyway good luck and if you do find a way to deal with the tap water/ammonia problem - I would love to hear your findings.

 

[Crystal]

Thanks skimpy.
In regards to the tap water issue, I am going to try bottled water, and my boyfriend is also bringing over some water from his house, which is not running on the same system as my house. He has soft water as well. I hope it helps.
I was not sure about the cycling with food, as I read about it, and wondered if any of your guys knew more. I am picking up ammonia today or tomorrow to use instead.

 

[skimpy]

I think ammonia is the best way to go, I see you live in Canada so you may be OK. Unfortunately, from what I read people in UK seem to have a bit of trouble getting hold of pure ammonia, thats why I went down the route of filter media.

Good Luck - Hope it all goes well.

 

[skimpy]

Edit - Sorry posted above reply twice .................OOPS

 

[luxum]

I just did an ammonia test on our tap water, and it is definatly there. It read at .25.
How do I solve this problem?

Well, atm it's not really a problem since there are no fish, and really that's a fairly small amount. I'd continue to do my water changes with tap water, and simply use Amquel as your dechlorinator once you have fish in there. You'd need to switch to the ammonia test reagent type that reads true with Amquel in the water or you'll get false positives, i can't remember off the top of my head which reagent type you'd need.