View Full Version : ammonium chloride crystals
andruboz
04-16-2003, 5:52 PM
found a large bottle of 'f.c.c. granular ammonium chloride' at my lfs for $3.99.
the bottle was kinda dusty. she said in the old days she'd use this stuff to cycle wet/dry systems.
wonder how strong it is? should i try a teaspoon in a gallon bucket before i go crazy on the big tank?
wetmanNY
04-16-2003, 9:04 PM
Watch out! If you dose more than 5ppm ammonia, your cycling will drag on interminably, because NH3 represses the bacteria that turn nitrite to nitrate.
Go with the plainest non-sudsing ammonia at the hardware store.
slipknottin
04-16-2003, 9:22 PM
And your very likely to crash your buffer system, In that case youll have trouble developing any bacteria.
wetmanNY
04-16-2003, 9:35 PM
BTW, isn't ammonium chloride sal ammoniac, better known as "smelling salts." I bet that bottle was dusty. Pressed glass in a discontinued pattern. Aunt Pitty-Pat was the last one to have a snort! And that was about 1872...
Aunt Pitty-Pat was not the last... The first tank I ever fishless cycled (SW) used ammonium chloride, carefully weighed out and added daily. And I am not, contrary to rumor, that old.
PS: Sorry, but I can't help you on the quantities. I use clear ammonia now.
JSchmidt
04-17-2003, 9:13 AM
Yeah, so make that Uncle Pitty-Pat, bub....
;)
Jim
wetmanNY
04-17-2003, 11:18 AM
Wow! that must of bin, like nineteen-eighty or something!
It was definitely dark ages - it might even have been earlier. That was the one in which nitrites were run first, then ammonia.