What's A Chelating Agent?

[Vegan Peaches]

The fishless cycling begins today; Picked up a $.97 gallon jug of "Great Value Ammonia" and did everything all over again; however, I got bored waiting for the ammonia to settle throughout the tank so I could test the water and I began reading the closest thing to me.. the ammonia. Ingredients : Water, Ammonia, Chelating Agent.

I'm not worried; this is the same stuff I used before, but I'm curious... what is a chelating agent?

 

[Rodders]

Done some googling and it seems chelating combines metal ions into a chelate.
It also pops up in photography too, for fluid development.

Guess it kinda holds all the dirt and crap together when you clean

 

[Vegan Peaches]

But it doesn't affect fish at all, huh? Queer thing that, one google site says it softens water.

Anyways, I'm on to more pressing matters *hijacks own thread* This ammonia solution itself is only .5 ppm; how am I supposed to get the tank water to 5 ppm if the ammonia solution itself is only a tenth of that?

 

[Rodders]

Dunno, I just poured loads in and it did the job lol.

 

[Gazoo]

Here's what I found. Chelating Agent

 

[Vegan Peaches]

Huh... that's really wierd. My tank is up to 8ppm. How is this possible when the solution is so diluted? Maybe I tested it wrong, I don't know, but that is so screwed up. Well, I over shot the ammonia, so I guess I'll be waiting a month or so for fish *bangs head on wall*

 

[rdd1952]

Actually a chelating agent is nothing more that a binder. It keeps the ammonia and water "mixed" so to speak. It is fine and won't cause any problems. The one thing you don't want are surfactants which are detergents.

If you got more ammonia in that you intended, do a partial water change. Since you just started today, it won't have any effect on the cycling (won't slow it down). If you are at 8 ppm and want to be at 6, just do a 25% water change and that should get you where you want to be. On the other hand, if you're planning to use the "Add Daily" method see link in my signature if you don't know what that is), you will be adding more tomorrow anyway. Just cut what you're adding in half (for the one day so that between the 2 days you have put in the right amount total) and then put 3/4 of the first days amount each day after that.

 

[Vegan Peaches]

Lol, the link in your signature is the one I read before I read before adding ammonia. I'm doing add and wait simply because I alread yhave bacteria in the tank (from other tanks) and I don't want to overload it. Should I water change now, or just wait some more?

 

[ncjharris]

You get it in liquid fertilizer too.

I believe its used where you mix two liquids together that would otherwise seperate (a fat and water for example).

 

[Teelie]

It's also found in salt, keeps it clumped together which is bad in that situation.

 

[rdd1952]

Lol, the link in your signature is the one I read before I read before adding ammonia. I'm doing add and wait simply because I alread yhave bacteria in the tank (from other tanks) and I don't want to overload it. Should I water change now, or just wait some more?

If you have seeded the tank, you should be ok just leaving it as is but it won't hurt to do say a 25% water change just to get it back to around 5 or 6ppm. With the seeded bacteria it should go quicker than starting from scratch.