Can i use this ammonia?

[ShepherdReefer]

I would not use it. just me

 

[Reefrookie733]

Cheaper than trying to explain to the divorce lawyers that the only reason you were standing on that ladder urinating in the tank was to help kick start the nitrogen cycle

is that from experience?? lol hopefully no video of that!

 

[brandon429]

Sub in fish feed

outcome is the same. Cycled

the testing portion won’t spike as his instructions say but it won’t matter, look how complex this testless approach is:

add bottle bac and a pinch of fish feed test for nothing.
in one week add another pinch.
in ten days change out all your water, you’re cycled.

if you wanted to prove the cycle you need liquid ammonia to do the final read, but you could skip that, since if you searched fish - in cycle threads on the internet, nobody has lost a new fish to bad bottle bac, they’re all just fine. Any forum, search.

There isn’t a likelihood you have the only dead bottle of bac we have ever seen, so testless cycling works fine because of the feed and number of days given.

 

[canadianeh]

Yep it foams! Crap! I thought this was pure ammonia. Went to 6 different stores and this was the only thing available.

Instead of driving around and visited 6 stores, why didn't you just get Dr Tims ammonia which is less than $10 and call it a day?

 

[Reefrookie733]

Instead of driving around and visited 6 stores, why didn't you just get Dr Tims ammonia which is less than $10 and call it a day?

well when i ordered the one and only (10 bottles) it sounded easy just to grab some from any grocery store or tractor supply or ace hardware according to folks on here, BUT the ones in my area don't carry that. I should have ordered the Dr Tims ammonia to begin with, but it takes a week to get here.

 

[Reefrookie733]

Sub in fish feed

outcome is the same. Cycled

the testing portion won’t spike as his instructions say but it won’t matter, look how complex this testless approach is:

add bottle bac and a pinch of fish feed test for nothing.
in one week add another pinch.
in ten days change out all your water, you’re cycled.

if you wanted to prove the cycle you need liquid ammonia to do the final read, but you could skip that, since if you searched fish - in cycle threads on the internet, nobody has lost a new fish to bad bottle bac, they’re all just fine. Any forum, search.

There isn’t a likelihood you have the only dead bottle of bac we have ever seen, so testless cycling works fine because of the feed and number of days given.

That does seem a bit easier than most but if i am reading everything correctly i would have to do a complete water change and that is around 230 gallons of RO/DI water and that amount took me about 5 days to make the first time. So maybe the ghost feeding or this new bottle of ammonia i bought might work?

 

[Reefrookie733]

This one doesn't foam/bubble up. I think this one might work?? It's from ace hardware.

 

[brandon429]

either way you choose wont matter. if you dont change water after adding ammonia, same algae feed. the source for your ammonia vs fish food wont change anything on your cycle. you can use that, or fish feed, and nothing changes.

 

[Reefrookie733]

either way you choose wont matter. if you dont change water after adding ammonia, same algae feed. the source for your ammonia vs fish food wont change anything on your cycle. you can use that, or fish feed, and nothing changes.

So good point, what percent water (how much of 200G DT and 35G sump) change do i need to do when the nitrates fall.

 

[Reefrookie733]

Found this one that says 40% ???

 

[brandon429]

it wont matter. even if you changed none out, your fish wont be burnt thats all for algae tuning purposes

we only care about the red line/ammonia

that 20 day thing is typically the case/but with ur boosters its more like 5 days. the 10~ days was extra insurance to all line up perfectly as a testless cycle

only ammonia control matters in cycling, the other two do not matter. nitrite has no bearing at all, its been updated to be a worthless compound to measure, and nitrate is simply algae tuning you can change a lot of the water to start low on it, or change only a little water but set up specific filtration schemes to bring it down, so many customizations. I know there's a Dr Tim's video saying nitrite matters, I just find that it does not so we skip it in all my cycles ran for a decade.

your options to get ammonia under control are tight, and dont vary much tank to tank. but nitrate ranges 0 ppm in reefs to 160 ppm in pauls mixed reef, which is a big range. your choice on nitrate.

 

[Reefrookie733]

it wont matter. even if you changed none out, your fish wont be burnt thats all for algae tuning purposes

we only care about the red line/ammonia

that 20 day thing is typically the case/but with ur boosters its more like 5 days. the 10~ days was extra insurance to all line up perfectly as a testless cycle

only ammonia control matters in cycling, the other two do not matter. nitrite has no bearing at all, its been updated to be a worthless compound to measure, and nitrate is simply algae tuning you can change a lot of the water to start low on it, or change only a little water but set up specific filtration schemes to bring it down, so many customizations. I know there's a Dr Tim's video saying nitrite matters, I just find that it does not so we skip it in all my cycles ran for a decade.

your options to get ammonia under control are tight, and dont vary much tank to tank. but nitrate ranges 0 ppm in reefs to 160 ppm in pauls mixed reef, which is a big range. your choice on nitrate.

wow that is a big range, im going to have to get smart on chemistry in the next couple of weeks while this thing cycles. I read somewhere you can add activated carbon somehow and that helps that you dont have to do a 90% water change??

 

[brandon429]

Carbon wont remove nitrate you’ll have to consider other ways, I don’t measure for it in my tank at all

 

[Greg P]

Can you find Goldex Household Ammonia ?
I use it to cycle tanks without issue.

As for worrying about Nitrate levels ...
Cycle your rock in a small tub and add enough NH3 daily to make it spike huge.
Then waterchange the tub a couple times to bring the NO3 to zero, all the time rinsing the rock very well. Test the rock water again as you want 0 NO3.
Then add the rock to your tank.
Much better than waterchanging your whole system.

 

[Reefrookie733]

Can you find Goldex Household Ammonia ?
I use it to cycle tanks without issue.

As for worrying about Nitrate levels ...
Cycle your rock in a small tub and add enough NH3 daily to make it spike huge.
Then waterchange the tub a couple times to bring the NO3 to zero, all the time rinsing the rock very well. Test the rock water again as you want 0 NO3.
Then add the rock to your tank.
Much better than waterchanging your whole system.

Lol...Now you tell me! All of my rock is drilled with pvc and a lot of glue to keep it in place.