Cycling with AmmoLock (and fish)

J

JoelB

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Jul 17, 2008
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Is it OK, or, what are the drawbacks of cycling with fish, measuring ammonia daily, doing a partial water change and dosing AmmoLock to suit the balance?


The story (for those who are interested)...
Got ich, took my young loaches and knifefish out so I could medicate them more gently. I dug up a fresh 5g tank and used the main tank water to seed. It has only taken three days for nitrites to show up. I have been watching closely, feeding a balanced diet and doing daily maintenance. I understand that having all these things happening at once is a big deal for the fish but they are recovering.

Thoughts?
 
Perfectly fine. What water conditioner do you use? If Prime, you wouldn't even need the Ammo Lock.
 
AmmonLock is another kind of Water Conditioner which I would not recommend to use whether tank is cycling and/or cycled.
Prime seem to be better choice as Water Conditioner although I dont use any personally anymore but age my water or run tap water thru API Tap Water Filter (Purifier).
 
I'm using Wardley Tri-Start. As far as I know, it is a simple chlorine/chloramine treatment.

With regards to changing from Ammo Lock to Prime, I have heard that ammonia's detoxification is volatile. I think Ammo Lock and Prime are different. I wouldn't want to cause a sudden release of ammonia, though I don't really know what will happen.

What don't you like about Ammo Lock?
 
Prime is by far the least expensive way to go, based on the volume of it that is required. Swithching to Prime will not cause a release of ammonia.
 
I might get some Prime. It claims to deal with nitrite as well and I may have a spike before I get these fish back into the main tank.

I have a similar situation when I use copper in my salt quarantine tank and it kills the bio-filter. I have used Ammo Lock there before but since the cost can build with daily changes, how would I go using Prime with ammonia up to, say, 5ppm with daily testing and redosing as required?
 
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