Ammonia, Hard to Find -- Poss Solution?

[mishi8]

If you do a fishy cycle, then the bacteria only develops to support the fish in the cycle, no? Everytime you add a fish or two, the bacteria has to expand to meet the needs of those fish and there's always a chance of a spike, large or small, while that happens?

Is there anyway to cultivate a particular size bacteria colony? Or predict just how many fish your cycle will support?

Fishless cycling is a method of growing the largest possible biofilter for your tank. If you are working with ~4ppm ammonia in your tank, you are developing a large enough biofilter to add the maximum number of fish to your tank immediately afterwards. If, after you are done the cycle, you only add a couple of fish then your biofilter will adjust to support only that number of fish (ie some bacteria will die off due to lack of food). Any additions after that would cause the biofilter to grow again, and could cause a spike just as with the traditional method of fishy cycling and adding fish a few at a time.

 

[ParadoxLiz]

Where can I find MSDS sheets online for American products? Is there a central location at all?

I don't think you're required to list all the ingredients on household cleaners, cuz I bought some ammonia, that had no ingredients listed (just the big label on the front that said "clear ammonia") but it foamed, so there must be more than just water and ammonia in there...

I expect MSDSs can be found on the manufacturer's web site, or you can request it be shipped with the product. There are web sites out there which maintain MSDSs for pretty much everything on the planet, but you have to pay for access...

FWIW,

Liz

 

[Hannys_Papa]

I bought a store brand "clear ammonia" without ingredients list aswell - there wasnt even a manufacturer mentioned on it - just "produced for....".
I contacted the company i bought it from and they sent me the MSDS 2 days later (free). I think i read somewhere that the MSDS of a product must be available if requested. You just wont find them all online.

 

[ParadoxLiz]

I bought a store brand "clear ammonia" without ingredients list aswell - there wasnt even a manufacturer mentioned on it - just "produced for....".
I contacted the company i bought it from and they sent me the MSDS 2 days later (free).

And did the MSDS list all the ingredients?

Liz

 

[Hannys_Papa]

Yes - which in my case was ammonia (hydroxide??) and water. I have to dig it out again if i didnt throw it out yet. It was just a copy - 2 pages - low quality and nothing fancy but it gave me some piece of mind seeing that i had already added a few drops to the tank and then got the "chemical contamination paranoia".

 

[ParadoxLiz]

Yes

Excellent! This is really good to know. An easy way to find out for sure if your ammonia is safe.

Thanks!

Liz

 

[OddFish]

I am new to the forum and work in a lfs. What products would you like to see available at your lfs? I am curious what you consider better products to fishless cycle....since someone made faces at "Cycle" .

 

[Roan Art]

I am new to the forum and work in a lfs. What products would you like to see available at your lfs? I am curious what you consider better products to fishless cycle

Bio Spira and ammonia.

....since someone made faces at "Cycle" .

Someone? Almost everyone makes faces at Cycle. Cycle is garbage :

My opinion! Mine!

Roan

 

[daveedka]

Someone? Almost everyone makes faces at Cycle. Cycle is garbage

Cycle does not contain a bacteria that will live in our tanks for extended periods, additionally, it is not usually stored and housed in a manner that keeps it alive at all. So even if it comes to us freah and vibrant, it will not do the job it is sold to do. To date the only bottled product that actually gives us the correct bacteria in a useful manner is bio-spira. Since bio-spira requires certain handling paractices, and needs to be fairly fresh, many LFS's do not consider it worht their time and money to carry it. Others do.

I second the idea that LFS's should carry bio-spira and ammonia. Or better yet, they should float bio-balls in all of their tanks and sell the cultured bio-balls at a reasonable price to their customers. Then they could make and keep fresh all of the bacteria they need, sell it to their customers along with ammonia and have a much better success rate even than that of bio-spira.
I'm sure the bio-spira people just put me on their list of people to kill though :laugh:
dave

 

[mishi8]

Or better yet, they should float bio-balls in all of their tanks and sell the cultured bio-balls at a reasonable price to their customers. Then they could make and keep fresh all of the bacteria they need, sell it to their customers along with ammonia and have a much better success rate even than that of bio-spira.

I like that idea! As it stands right now, one cannot buy BioSpira in Canada anyway...it sure would be helpful to be able to purchase fresh bacteria from the LFS, rather than waste money on Cycle or another similarly useless product.