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Quick Question about Cycling Tank with Ammonia

2K views 13 replies 3 participants last post by  lakemalawifish 
#1 ·
I plan on using this method to cycle my tank but I have two main questions

Where can I get Pure Ammonia (or Ammonia diluted in water with no other chemicals) WalMart? CVS? Home Depot, Lowes? etc.

Where do the Bacteria that convert Ammonia into Nitrites and Nitrates come from? Are they all ready in the water, and grow with the addition of Ammonia each day? Or do I need to add a bottle of the quick Cycling bacteria to the tank, and then feed them the Ammonia each day?

Thanks
 
#2 ·
I never cycle tanks, I just plant them well and off you go. But if plants are not possible, then using a pure ammonia works. Be careful it is pure ammonia, with no additives. Another similar method is to use fish flake food, or chunks of shrimp; both of these do make a mess with fungus, and can smell from what others have written.

On the bacteria, this is one of those marvels of nature. Once organics/ammonia are present in a tank of water, the Nitrosomonas and then Nitrospira bacteria will appear and multiply up to the level required to handle the ammonia and then nitrite. At least, generally speaking; various factors can affect this, and also how long it takes. You may find my article helpful:
http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/freshwater-articles/bacteria-freshwater-aquarium-74891/

Adding a bacterial supplement is one way of quickly introducing these bacteria. Another is seeding with filter media or substrate or hard objects (wood, rock, even plants) from an existing tank. These bacteria colonize all surfaces under water, so moving these items from an established tank will move over some bacteria.

I always use live plants, and usually I move over solid objects which is a sort of back-up. This is a much safer method, it is easier, and it is instant.

Byron.
 
#3 ·
I never cycle tanks, I just plant them well and off you go. But if plants are not possible, then using a pure ammonia works. Be careful it is pure ammonia, with no additives. Another similar method is to use fish flake food, or chunks of shrimp; both of these do make a mess with fungus, and can smell from what others have written.

On the bacteria, this is one of those marvels of nature. Once organics/ammonia are present in a tank of water, the Nitrosomonas and then Nitrospira bacteria will appear and multiply up to the level required to handle the ammonia and then nitrite. At least, generally speaking; various factors can affect this, and also how long it takes. You may find my article helpful:
http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/freshwater-articles/bacteria-freshwater-aquarium-74891/

Adding a bacterial supplement is one way of quickly introducing these bacteria. Another is seeding with filter media or substrate or hard objects (wood, rock, even plants) from an existing tank. These bacteria colonize all surfaces under water, so moving these items from an established tank will move over some bacteria.

I always use live plants, and usually I move over solid objects which is a sort of back-up. This is a much safer method, it is easier, and it is instant.

Byron.
Byron, thanks for Chiming in..
I,ve read several of your comments on cycling and definilely notice you push for live plant stocking for cycling or instant addition of fish. Im not sure I want plants....for one its more work, keeping them alive, adding chemicals to the water etc. And the Cichlids I was going to keep will probably kill them or distroy them. of course I could toss the pants out after a month or two once the beneficial bacteria had populated to remove the ammonia, nitrates and nitrites the fish produced.......
Any fast growing plants that are hardy enough to thrive off about 13-14 hours of light a day with out the addition of iron supplements or Co2 on the tank??
 
#7 ·
I'll look into both species. On the topic, how many of the plants would be sufficient? I plan on keeping just two species, (havnet narrowed it down to which two yet) with a ratio of 1 male to 4-5 female each species...max 12 fish in my 55 Gal tank.
 
#8 ·
I'll look into both species. On the topic, how many of the plants would be sufficient? I plan on keeping just two species, (havnet narrowed it down to which two yet) with a ratio of 1 male to 4-5 female each species...max 12 fish in my 55 Gal tank.
Floatring plants will quickly spread across the entire surface if allowed to; every second water change in most of my tanks I cull them by removing the oldest (largest) and leaving the smaller (daughter plants). You'll understand this from our profile of Ceratopteris cornuta.

Vallisneria, I would get a clump and plant it in one location. It will when settled send out runners everywhere. They may be nibbled, or you can easily cut them off during the water change.

There are two species of Vallisneria commonly seen, and both are in our profiles. The Giant Vallisneria will easily grow across the surface as it notes therein.

Byron.
 
#12 ·
ok so I need 2-3 floating water sprite and a few of the Valls and that will be enough to support a fully stocked tank while the Bacterial populate? 10-12 fish, juveniles, approx 2" range...?
Once you get the plants in and everything is OK, add the fish slowly, a few at a time with several days between. This is advisable since there are not a lot of plants, and I don't know the size and number of them, though again the floaters are pretty good at this.

Now, I know you are dealing with rift lake cichlids and I am no expert [had some but over 25 years ago] and there may be concerns over which fish at which time. Someone like Tazman who knows these species would be good, send him a PM if he doesn't enter this thread.

Byron.
 
#13 ·
Cj, be sure those plants are non-toxic to your Africans as they will eat them. The problem I have with floating plants is any food you put in your tank is going to collect somewhat on the plant, which will entice the fish even more to eat them. If you try to plant something in the substrate, every African fish I know of is going to continually uproot it because they are sand sifters, that is how they eat. This will cause pieces of plants and roots (if you are lucky to keep it in the substrate long enough to grow roots) to be all in your tank and you will have to keep constantly netting it out. So, the plants eventually die, or quickly die and you have dead plant funk to deal with in your tank, which I am not sure what all that dead funk produces, but I would not want that in my tank water.
 
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