Ammonia Source for Fishless Cycling

[hovlandl]

I just set up my first aquascaped, planted tank, which I want to kickstart without using fish.

I have read that 9% ammonia can be added to start up the ammonia cycle. If this is so…where do I find this stuff? My local pet place doesn't carry any ammonia source but fishies and fish food. And the kid there even tried to sell me ammonia *neutralizer* instead - so much for informed sales help.

Once I find it, how much do I add? The water-only volume of my tank is 58 gallons.

Thanks in advance -

Deborah

 

[Cyclesafe]

Almost all "ammonia" sold for cleaning also contains a surfactant which makes it unacceptable for use in your tank. If you can find some without surfactant, then the amount you use would depend on its concentration. "Ammonia", sold as a liquid, is actually ammonia (NH3), a gas, dissolved in water. Ammonium nitrate (agriculture store) or ammonium chloride (bakery supply) can also be used. Use just a smidgeon of the latter dissolved first in water. I've heared that some people pee in their tanks. I wouldn't do that.

I don't mean to be flippant, but (within reason) it really doesn't matter how much you use. You're trying to get the nitrogen cycle bacteria population up from a low number that will be effective only if increased exponentially. Your ammonia additions will not affect this. For example, "twice as much" will have virtually no effect. So, add a milliliter or two of 9% or whatever daily and check for nitrate. When you get nitrate, keep your ammonia going for another week. Then confirm nitrate, stop the ammonia, and do several successive water changes.

However, if your plant mass is sufficient and your plants are growing, you may never see nitrate. The ammonia will likely be directly used by the plants. To test this, check for ammonia 24 hours after an add. If you have no ammonia, then IMHO your tank doesn't need to be cycled and you're good to go. If you want to be more sure test for nitrite too. If no nitrite, then you're cycled.

I think many people just add a reasonable fishload to a recently aquascaped tank without cycling.

 

[Tom Barr]

If you add lots of plants with roots, then there is no cycle.
The plants are covered with bacteria and remove NH4 directly, so there is no cycle to begin with.........

So there's no need to bother with this step at all.

Never was.........

 

[bigtex52]

True Value's private labeled janitorial strength ammonia works very well for this($5 and change for a gallon, I know, a gallon is enough to cycle about 10000 tanks, but use it to clean your windows or bbq grill with ). Shake it up and if it doesn't foam, that is the one you want. No fragrances or colors. I did a search online and found several sites that detail the fishless cycling process and steps very well. One in particular was the malawicichlid site with an article by Chris Cow PhD. Tom's right, plants with roots are a big help in seeding a bacterial population, but it takes quite a while to build up a large enough population of Nitrifying/Denitrifying bacteria to be able to add much bioload very quickly that way. The population of these bacteria are limited by available nutrients. One other thing I would recommend that works very well is when cycling without any livestock, raise your tank temp to 86-88 degrees until your cycle is complete, then lower it afterwards. This definitely gets the bacteria growing quickly.

Good luck, it takes a bit of patience but it works!

 

[hovlandl]

Cyclesafe & Tom - thanks for your speedy, informative replies.

I've heared that some people pee in their tanks. I wouldn't do that.

Cyclesafe: My husband thanks you. Profusely. He was apparently starting to fear I'd ask him to do the honors ;-)

I've got a fairly well-planted tank, mostly of plants with roots (growing into Eco-complete & fluorite sand substrata). i'm running an eHeim filled with eHeim Substrat biofilter medium, and I've been seeding the tank the past couple of mornings with supposedly live nitrifying bacteria/enzymes. (overkill?)

I know that I could add a few fish and get my ammonia that way, and I know that provided I stick with a modest number of starter fish, that I could save myself the trouble of hunting for the elusive bottle of surfactant-free ammonia (or similar baking/agricultural product). But where would the fun in that be?

Thanks. Again, great to know.

Deborah

 

[hovlandl]

One other thing I would recommend that works very well is when cycling without any livestock, raise your tank temp to 86-88 degrees until your cycle is complete, then lower it afterwards. This definitely gets the bacteria growing quickly.

Bigtex: Raise the temp, huh? I'll give it a whirl. We've got a couple of Tru Values close by; I'll see if I can't score some surfactant-free ammonia there.

Thanks!
Deborah

 

[Tom Barr]

If you are going to cycle a tank, just use the filter and a rich stew in a bucket, no need to bomb the tank as well. Some floating plants tossed ina 5 Gal bucket and then some NH4.

Wait 4 weeks, then add to new tank and fill.
Pack with lots of plants.

I've never once measured any NH4 in a planted tank unless I dosed a fair amount, even then, per day, I've measured 1.0ppm of NH4 removal rates with plants only.
I think it'd be hard to add that many fish.

I also just take the filter media and mulmy muck from the sediment of an old mature tank, this seeds the bacteria and adds precisely what is missing from a new tank.
We did this in the 1970's when I was a kid working at a LFS. This is immediate and nothing can cycle a tank faster or cheaper with less effort and testing.

So there's a couple of options.

 

[hovlandl]

Tom,

Good to know. Will incorporate your suggestions when setting up my quarantine tank. By that time I should have a dirty filter pad to seed the water bucket with (what an odd thing to look forward to…).

D

 

[Tom Barr]

Why folks would go to all this trouble and labor, testing etc..........so add this dirty mulm to a tank is beyond me.
I guess Chris Cow was good at marketing and less at practical stuff.

These are not goals that aquarist honestly want to do and deal with.
Name one aquarist who got into this hobby to learn the joys of testing water?
The fact of the matter is that most experienced aquarist rarely test.

The newbies get goaded into doing so by telling them that it's a good idea, required, needed etc.......the vast majority stop after a few times.
And yet we managed to breed, set up nice scapes etc........

There is nothing wrong with testing per se, just the end result and goal of the aquarist is not met by simply testing most of the time.
A good question is much more instructive than any test kit that is used blindly.

What is the best way to cycle my tank(and here's my goal/s)?
What different ways are there available to cycle my tank?
How might plant growth affect the cycling?

These are good questions to pose.
A test kit rarely is required to answer them.

 

[DukeNJ]

Started just 3 tanks from scratch so far and haven't done anything like this. Never had a problem. You should add fish in phases anyway, for everyone's benefit. Gives you the chance to see how they look and adjust your plan accordingly. Want to tweak your new scape??? No problem, no impact. Let's all acclimate in a less stressful scenario.

Phasing in your bio-load in a planted tank should avoid any cycling issues and has many overall benefits to you and it's inhabitants.

 

[Tom Barr]

Started just 3 tanks from scratch so far and haven't done anything like this. Never had a problem. You should add fish in phases anyway, for everyone's benefit. Gives you the chance to see how they look and adjust your plan accordingly. Want to tweak your new scape??? No problem, no impact. Let's all acclimate in a less stressful scenario.

Phasing in your bio-load in a planted tank should avoid any cycling issues and has many overall benefits to you and it's inhabitants.

I agree.

I see little reason to do FC. Never quite understood why so many folks keep asking this same question and think it's such a good thing. We got by just fine prior to the article somehow.