what kind of ammonia can I use to cycle with

[David Ries]

I've set a simple ibc system about two months ago, all the plumbing works perfect, I'm using pea gravel, plants are growing like weeds, but with only west facing windows, I'm not getting many vegetables. I have grow lights on the way which I'm pretty sure will take care of that. My levels are staying fairly consistent, around 7.8-8 for ph 

So, I do have about a dozen goldfish from 1 to 8 inches. I moved them to another tank and I want to cycle my system tank. The only ammonia I found in town is janitorial strength formula with 10% ammonium hydroxide from ace hardware. contains no phosphates. no rinse performance. DANGER-POISON PELEGRO-VENEDO . My question is will this work for cycling or should I be looking for a different kind of ammonia? 

Thanks,
Dave

[David Ries]

I have fish, I removed them from my main tank, put them in a separate tank.

My main tank is still watering my plants.  I want to cycle my system to get my nitrite and nitrate up.  from what I understand this is what your supposto do to keep everything happy.  I just need to know if the ace hardware ammonia will work.

Thanks,

Dave

[Alex Veidel]

Yeah, I've used the ace hardware ammonia. Works great. Just don't drink it straight out of the bottle :)

Looks like this?

Randall Wimbish said:

I don't understand your question. Did you drain and refill your system tank? If not your system was cycled by the goldfish. I guess I am one of the few here that has never done a fishless cycle.  I have heard that a lot of people use the Ace hardware ammonia to cycle with.

[David Ries]

other than my label being b&w and the words rearranged a little bit, it looks right.  How many ml should I start adding to get up to 2ppm?

[Alex Veidel]

Well, how big is your system? Are you using a whole IBC as the tank? I added a tablespoon at a time until I got to 4ppm. Word from the wise: whatever you do, don't open the bottle and take a big snort to see what it smells like. That stuff's potent. Even when you're pouring it, keep it at arm's length.  The little whiffs you do get from that distance will still make your eyes water.

[David Ries]

Thanks guys, I'll give it a whirl and see what happens.

I did read somewhere to get it up to 2ppm, you said 4ppm, is there a happy medium of 3ppm?

Dave

[Harold Sukhbir]

Hi David,

How long have you had the goldfish in the main tank? You say plants are growing ok. If you had the fish in there for a while you're probably cycled already and won't need to re-cycle again.

David Ries said:

I have fish, I removed them from my main tank, put them in a separate tank.

My main tank is still watering my plants.  I want to cycle my system to get my nitrite and nitrate up.  from what I understand this is what your supposto do to keep everything happy.  I just need to know if the ace hardware ammonia will work.

Thanks,

Dave

[David Ries]

I've had my goldfish (3@6" and 6@3") in there for a while, 6+ weeks.  I don't believe I've cycled because I've never had ammonia, nitrites or nitrates,  out of my tests

Dave

Harold Sukhbir said:

Hi David,

How long have you had the goldfish in the main tank? You say plants are growing ok. If you had the fish in there for a while you're probably cycled already and won't need to re-cycle again.

David Ries said:

I have fish, I removed them from my main tank, put them in a separate tank.

My main tank is still watering my plants.  I want to cycle my system to get my nitrite and nitrate up.  from what I understand this is what your supposto do to keep everything happy.  I just need to know if the ace hardware ammonia will work.

Thanks,

Dave

[Harold Sukhbir]

Hi David,

If you feed the fish they will excrete ammonia. If there aren't any nitrifying bacteria present(meaning the system has not cycled) the ammonia will stay in the water column and continue to build in concentration every time you feed the fish. Your ammonia readings will continue to rise. Either your testing equipment is defective or you're testing after the ammonia and nitrite are processed completely by the bacteria and your plants are removing all of the nitrates as soon as they are produced. How often did you test? What time after feeding did you test? What are your system FT,GB, plant and water volume ratios?