Ammonia, Hard to Find -- Poss Solution?

I'm a bit mystified by this thread. Where's the fire? I understand wanting the tank to cycle quickly( GOTTA GIT THEM FISH IN THERE NOW ) but 3 days? 1 day? When I bring up a new tank I use a couple ounces of gravel from an established tank. In my case this is made easier by the fact that I use blasting sand in all my tanks. Onikun gave you some sage advice; a couple food flakes work well. If your gravel isn't the same or whatever, a small net bag filled loosely might fit in your filter. I use my wife's old knee-highs in stead of buying those expensive bags at the LFS.(don't think she's caught on yet) I know this is old school. I just don't understand the urgency. It's been my experience, fishkeeping since 1968, that the only thing that happens fast in an aquarium is an emergency. LOL on the chemical search.

Mark
 
I bought it at my local grocery store called Pathmark. Its the store brand and it is labeled clear ammonia. When I shaked the bottle, it did not foam and the ingredients were listed on the side.
 
I'm a bit mystified by this thread. Where's the fire? I understand wanting the tank to cycle quickly( GOTTA GIT THEM FISH IN THERE NOW ) but 3 days? 1 day? When I bring up a new tank I use a couple ounces of gravel from an established tank. In my case this is made easier by the fact that I use blasting sand in all my tanks. Onikun gave you some sage advice; a couple food flakes work well. If your gravel isn't the same or whatever, a small net bag filled loosely might fit in your filter. I use my wife's old knee-highs in stead of buying those expensive bags at the LFS.(don't think she's caught on yet) I know this is old school. I just don't understand the urgency. It's been my experience, fishkeeping since 1968, that the only thing that happens fast in an aquarium is an emergency. LOL on the chemical search.
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Fishless cycling is no quicker than fishy, you can achieve higher stocking levels at the end of the cycle, so it is faster from start time to fully stocked, but still not a huge time difference. Food flakes are an option, but not a measurable one that will produce the results we are after. It's too hard to regulate amounts and add specified dosage. adding bacteria will of course speed things up but one still needs a viable ammonia source for the full cycle, and the idea of this thread was to help folks with brand names that have proven safe, not to debate the finer points of cycling methods available.
Dave
 
daveedka said:
Then the common instruction is make sure it has nothing but ammonia and water, so when they see ingredients like cheleating agents if they don't know what those are they hesitate to buy the ammonia. All in all it can be pretty intimidating when buying the wrong thing leads to disaster.
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I did this yesterday- was planning on a fishless cycle but had almost given up tonight and was thinking about raiding a pet store for a guppy or two to get the new tank started this weekend. If Great Value will work, I'll get some. It's $.99 a GALLON. I guess I'll use the rest to mop the kitchen floor.

What's a chelating agent anyway?
 
Transferring bacteria from old tank to new...

mooman said:
Edit: I should mention that if you already have a tank running, then there are very few instances where you should have to cycle another tank. Keep extra sponges in your existing filters. They will become colonized with bacteria and you can move them directly into a new tank. As long as you don't go crazy with stocking right off the bat, you should never have a problem.
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This post from mooman is a few months old but says pretty much what I am wondering concerning my old 10g and new 75g. (There is no room however, to store a third sponge in my internal Fluval 2 Plus). After the new tank is set up with substrate, plants, lights, canister filter, heaters and the temperature of the new tank stabilizes, can I simply transfer my old (internal) filter, plants, gravel (top layer), and decos to the new tank, plus add the nine fish I have in the 10g? Will the danios and tetras be harmed by doing this instant transfer? I would run the internal filter for a month or so until the new filter has an established bacteria load. With this method could I start adding a fish or two a week or should I still wait the whole month to six weeks of cycling? I have the water testing equipment needed to check nitrite, nitrate, ammonia, and pH.

I have asked something like this question before but I don't understand the cycling theory enough to be comfortable with it. I don't see how I can keep the nine fish I have now in the 10g if I "steal" half their bacteria for the new tank. Won't this start a minicyle or worse for them? And wouldn't the new tank's bacteria die off unless I provided it with fish or dosed it with ammonia like the fishless cycle requires? Wouldn't it be better to transfer the whole tank rather than this 'half n half' idea? Of course, by canibalizing the 10g I leave myself with no quarantine tank for new fish, which becomes another problem.

Another question about transferred bacteria: Does one group these transferred items (gravel, old filter, decos, etc) around the intake tube of the new filter or spread everything around the tank?

Sometimes the twists and turns of my reasoning powers tire me out.


:o
 
hey roan art,
we do have a law that is called the "right to know act" which means that we are entitled to iformation on MSDS.
Im gonna post some info in a little while about where to go for this information.
 
Ok..This might seem like a stupid question :confused: but....I dont get it......I am trying to get Ammonia OUT of my tank....Why would you want to put Ammonia in your tank??? What purpose does it serve???
 
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