Fishless Cycle Question

[Bucketeer]

Hi,

I'm trying to start a fishless cycle in a 29 gallon aquarium. All the literature suggests that ammonia should be clear and free of surfactants. I cannot find surfactant free ammonia. Will carbon remove the surfactant after the cyle is complete?

Thanks,

Bill

[FishLover888]

toss in a raw/cooked cocktail shrimp. It will provide all ammonia for your cycle

[Bucketeer]

toss in a raw/cooked cocktail shrimp. It will provide all ammonia for your cycle

Pure genius!!!!

[Tad]

Bucketeer,
Pure or clear ammonia can be bought at the local grocery,or hardware store. Most often its the cheapest off brand ammonia on the shelf. The ingredients should indicate "pure ammonia, clear ammonia, 100 percent ammonia etc", if it list other additives you will not want that brand. Also shake the container if it doesnt suds up it means it's surfactant free.

hth,
Tad

[rcomeau]

I used Ammonium Hydroxide for a fishless cycle and had a problem with PH drop because of loss of buffer. I should have used Ammonium Chloride according to badmanstropicalfish.com (http://badmanstropicalfish.com/articles/article14.html).

[Bucketeer]

Pure or clear ammonia can be bought at the local grocery,or hardware store. Most often its the cheapest off brand ammonia on the shelf. The ingredients should indicate "pure ammonia, clear ammonia, 100 percent ammonia etc", if it list other additives you will not want that brand. Also shake the container if it doesnt suds up it means it's surfactant free.

hth,
Tad

Thanks Tad.

I looked at two grocery stores today and found only ammonia with surfactant. I'll have to take a look at the local hardware stores.

Thanks again,

Bill

[sleonard]

All the local Ace Hardware stores around here carry the pure ammonia.

Scott

[dishpanhands]

I get my ammonia at my local Family Dollar store. It is the cheapest brand they sale.

[FishLover888]

Pure genius!!!!

I can't take credit for that. I read it from TFH magazine few months back. It has 3 pages of how to deal with cycle and this was the best idea.

[Alight]

The raw shrimp will work. If you use organics such as shrimp, fish food or chicken, you may well want to add one of the many "cycle" aids out there, like Seachems, or other stuff that touts having "nitrifying bacteria". They don't really have these bacteria, but they do have euthrophic bacteria that will break down the organics to ammonia more quickly than just letting the stuff sit for a couple of days.

This is one of the cases where this stuff actually works. It won't help much when fishless cycling with ammonia.

As to ammonia hydroxide and pH crash, consider that you are adding a very basic substance (ammonium hydroxide) which is being converted to a slightly acid product, one of which is nitric acid. This accounts for the pH drop. This is unavoidable and will happen with fish waste as well.

Just watch your pH and be ready to buffer the water accordingly. A small amount of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) will solve the problem.

Remember that you must do a 100% water change after you have cycled your tank. You don't want any of the water you did the cycling in left when you add the fish. Just make sure you add the fish within 24 hours or the bacteria will have nothing to eat, and begin to die.

[Bucketeer]

I found some at the local Tru Value Hardware Store!

Thanks for all the advice everyone. This is new territory for me. I plan on putting Discus in the tank and am trying to do everything right.

If were any other species of fish here at home I'd squeeze a sponge it would be done. In fact I did just that when I transferred a new breeding pair to a new tank over the weekend. The water parameters haven't budged. The pair are supposed to be F1s of Wild Scalares, and look too small to be laying eggs. :rolleyes:

Thanks again,

Bill

[Graham]

Bill why wouldn't you do it for the discus.........actually try using both...seed the tank with the mulm and then feed it with the NH3

G

[Bucketeer]

Hi Graham,

The tank I would gather the mulm from is a well established community tank. After reading many posts in this forum I was under the impression that I could introduce parasites as well as pathogenic bacteria that are tolerated by angelfish, etc, but not Discus.

Is this true?

If not, I'll seed it from the community tank. Would be much faster.

Thanks,

Bill

[Graham]

IMO bacteria are bacteria and are capable of infecting any fish that has a lowered immune system, species isn't all that critical... Ambient levels of assorted parasites are always there.

If the sponge was coming from a tank that had extremely low water quality, excess mulm which lead to high bacteria counts then I might think twice but from a well maintained tank, I'd use it

[Bucketeer]

Thanks Graham. I'll inoculate the new filter tonight.

I really appreciate the help.

Bill

[GrillMaster]

Sorry to get off the cycling bandwagon, but if yer not gonna put a breeding pair in this tank... Its to small!!