Ammonia for fishless cycle & where to get it in the UK

RobUK

RobUK

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Apr 16, 2004
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Hi all,
Setting up my new tank and I need to get hold of the obligtory ammonia (for a fishless cycle) but I have gone round all my local chemists and they either dont sell it or are out of stock.
Anyone have any ideas of getting hold of the stuff maybe online (I am based in the UK)

also I assume it needs to be pure but what amounts of it would you use and on what scheldule
 
Living in the UK we dont really have the huge dept stores as such. (just loads of little shops that sell next to nothing :()

I am thinking I am probally going to have to buy it from an online source.

Does it have to be pure ammonia (ie no other chemicals in it, JUST ammonia???)

thanks
 
I believe it does have to be pure. No perfumes or other cleaners or such. I haven't tried a fishless cycle yet myself. I've heard you can use rotting shrimp or something, but I wouldn't be too eager to try it.
 
Hey Rob I found an article on the net - an excerpt from it says this about ammonia bought in stores:

The label on my bottle of ammonia says it contains: "pure ammonia"; despite this, household ammonia in the U.S. is mostly water. It is a solution of ammonium hydroxide (also called "aqueous ammonia"). The strength can vary between 5 to 10 % ammonia (that's 50,000 to 100, 000 ppm). Meyer's latest publication about this method (see below) states that since the concentration of household ammonia can vary, it's best to experiment until you bring the initial level of ammonia in the tank to 1-2 ppM. He suggests starting out with a 0.25 teaspoons (which would be about 1.25 mL) for a 20 gallon tank.


The whole article can be found at: http://www.csupomona.edu/~jskoga/Aquariums/Ammonia.html
 
Here's another article that deals with using types of Ammonia
and it includes this link (a chemical supply house)

The article: http://badmanstropicalfish.com/articles/article14.html

The chemical supply house: http://www.sciencelab.com/
(edit: forget about this place - too expensive - too much)

edit: seems like as long as there are no perfumes added that what is available locally should be good enough (it will be diluted with water)

one of those articles I read said to test to see if it is just ammonia and water is by shaking it - if there are no other addivites it will not foam - perfumes and such will make it foam
 
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Before you order online, have you checked your grocery store? At least here in the States, the grocery stores usually have at least 1 aisle of cleaning stuff...

Fishing Again is right though, if you shake it and it doesn't foam, it's just ammonia and water.

Good luck!

~Tara
 
I'd check your local grocery store first. I picked up a gallon of "clear amonia from my local Shoprite for $0.95 USD and its just water with amonia.
 
WOW:dance
Thanks for everyones help. I will have a read of those articles now. Tommorrow I will go to somewhere with a few more shops and chemists and hopefully get something sorted, my local town is mainly just a tacky tourist resort with "bucket n spade" shops galore :)

Just a thought didnt people use to use Ammonia to dye hair or was that perroxide? because it may be worth asking in a few hairdressers saloons as they may have some I could have.

My bro is just putting some water in the new tank for me now, then I've got to get the filters and everything set-up so hopefully I'll put some pics up tommorrow

Once again, thanks people :D :D :D
 
Hydrogen Peroxide is what they used to use to color hair. It should only be done professionally in a salon. Learn from my mistakes... :o I put peroxide in my hair in high school, before I went into the tanning booth in preparation for the prom... big mistake.

~Tara
 
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