Using Ammonia to Cycle a New Tank

[theawesomeguy]

Hey all,

I've read in a variety of different places around the internet that one relatively efficient way of kickstarting and maintaining the cycling process is to add pure ammonia to the tank. Obviously, it should be pure ammonia without any detergents or other chemicals. I have this bottle of ammonia here: ShopRite Ammonia - Clear at ShopRite
It says it contains nothing other than ammonium hydroxide and deionized water. However, when I shake it, I see a lot of bubbles that stay around for awhile which suggests there are detergents or some other cleaning agent in the bottle, even though both the website and the bottle itself say there's nothing else there. Does ammonia normally bubble like this? Do you think I should use it? Or would you hesitate about dosing pure ammonia at all and prefer some other method of starting the cycling process? I found the following article that gave some pretty decent advice about fishless cycling and using ammonia, what do you think of it? The (almost) Complete Guide and FAQ to Fishless Cycling

Thanks in advance!

[chrisfont23]

Yes, I have heard it works. I have also heard so would peeing into the tank. Most folks around here use a piece of raw shrimp though. In fact, I used a piece of shrimp to cycle my 90g with no issues at all.

[theawesomeguy]

Ah ok. I'll probably just stick to your recommended method then of just throwing in a shrimp and letting it decompose. Thanks again!

[leebca]

I'm glad you posted this question. It is not a very common question, but it does come up every few years!

I started more than dozen tanks using pure ammonia. There is one failure -- the other organics aren't there to start up the other bacteria. I mean, the bacteria that run the biological filter aren't the only ones in the system. There are bacteria that deal with other organics and things we put in the aquarium. I have in the past referred to this as the 'secret cycle.' What adding just ammonia does is fail to start off the 'secret cycle' -- those bacteria and microbes responsible for doing other things in our system.

It is best to use foods. If you follow the start up guide found here: Setting Up a FOWLR Aquarium it gives good advice how to get things going so that the biological filter and other microbes are established and doing their job.

Good luck!

[theawesomeguy]

Wow, that post was really informative. Thanks!I just have a few lingering questions... If I start adding frozen foods, is it normal for ammonia levels to not really pick up for a few days? Why are frozen foods better than just regular flakes or even a raw shrimp?

[leebca]

Ask as many questions as you'd like.

1. Organics (the food) added to the water have to be 'eaten' by bacteria. These kinds of bacteria produce wastes, one of which is ammonia. So there is a lag-time as these bacteria get to work. These bacteria are, in fact, part of those in the 'secret cycle.' Also, if you are using live rock, there may already be bacteria there to begin 'eating' the ammonia. There are many factors involved.

2. Flake and pellet foods contain wheat and land products. They do not feed the 'right kind' of bacteria we want in the system. Fish don't digest wheat products and, going right through the fish, just pollute the water and feed the other lifeforms (we don't want or need there). The frozen foods usually contain some liquids which help in jump starting the aquarium. In general you want a wide variety of foods for the widest possible grouping of 'good' bacteria. Nothing wrong with using a raw shrimp, provided it is from the ocean and not a freshwater shrimp. Krill is a good choice.

All-in-all you want to have a clean up crew eating these things too. Together with the right kinds of bacteria, the crew and live rock pods, etc. that are carnivores, will produce more ammonia/nitrogen wastes to help get the biological filter going.

[theawesomeguy]

So if I were to throw in about .5 grams per 25 gallons (as per your post) of mysid shrimp daily for a few weeks, that would be enough? Or would you recommend some other, better frozen food? And then after two or three weeks I can begin adding some clean up crew and keep adding the mysid?

[leebca]

That is the right approach. Unfortunately people package and sell all kinds of pod-life as "Mysid." The outline you presented works IF the mysis is truly from tropical salt waters. This may be very hard for you to verify. However, this is the right kind of pod to use for this process AND for the future feeding of the carnivorous crew. Remember, some of your clean up crew should also be herbivores -- don't forget you need to feed them, too.

Don't be too generous with the frozen food addition. Too many hobbyists think, A little is good, so a lot is better. In reality this isn't thinking! If there is any visual accumulation of the food, you'll need to remove it every three days, even if the clean up crew isn't eating it, too.

All the above assumes you are using Live Rock in your system. There is a slightly different approach if you don't have Live Rock.

[theawesomeguy]

Yeah, I have live rock and live sand in my system.

I bought this frozen food today from "Ocean Nutrition" called "Formula One: Super Color Enhancing food for Marine Tropicals With Gel Binder to Maximize fish nutrition." I looked through the ingredients and saw things such as krill, plankton, shrimp, clams, kelp, fish hydrolysate, tuna eggs, fish meal, and squid, and thought it must be good since even though nothing was explicitly stated as being marine (it just said "squid", not like "salt water squid"), I don't think there are any freshwater varieties of tuna, squid, clams, krill, and kelp? Plus on the back, part of the description read, "A natural, gourmet diet rich in fresh seafood and algae, excellent for all marine tropicals."

It came in little cubes so I guess I'll throw one in and see how it goes…

Thanks again and happy new year

[leebca]

That sounds fine. The one word that is used for both salt water/sea and freshwater is the word plankton. Plankton can be either from salt water or freshwater. Krill is salt water only.

[theawesomeguy]

After about 24 hours, my ammonia levels doubled from .60ppm to 1.8ppm, nitrite increased from .05ppm to 1.5ppm, and nitrate increased from 0ppm to 1.0ppm. Those numbers went up a lot faster than I thought they would, and this isn't just me wishfully hoping to see my levels increase; the water in my vials were distinctly different colors than they were yesterday. I guess it's because my temperature is a bit higher than it will be when I put in fish (80-81F as opposed to 78F) and I have really great flow around the live rock (about 11.7x total water volume per hour)? Whatever the case, this is really great… thanks for all your help!

I just have one more quick question before I let you go
Why do I have to take out the food after three days if I'm just going to put in another one that's exactly the same as this one especially considering that some people don't ever take their shrimp out if they're cycling with shrimp? (plus it's kinda hard to take out... it crumbled into mush and the water flow is spreading it around the tank lol).

[leebca]

The answer is: bacteria.

The food you add enters into the (desirable) nitrogen waste cycle that feeds the biological filter bacteria. But if it 'rots' and finds places in the aquarium where the oxygen level is low (anoxic conditions is what we call it), like under rock, deep in the substrate, etc., etc. then a different group of bacteria start to 'eat' it. The undesirable bacteria produce hydrogen sulfide which is a poison to marine life. You don't want this, so you want to prevent the food from rotting or 'getting away' from your control.

If you find the control difficult, then don't let it go all over. Put it into a container with holes in it to allow water in and out, but the bigger pieces are kept trapped.

Also, if you begin to see a build up of the food, then stop adding it. If you can see it, you don't need anymore.

Once the cleanup crew gets in there, you don't have to worry about getting it out (except during routine maintenance). They will eat it and their waste will enter the biological filter cycle. BUT, this is the ultimate reason for doing routine cleaning maintenance (to get rid of solid wastes from the system). You'll be doing this maintenance throughout the time you keep your system running.

[theawesomeguy]

Oh I see. So like today I've noticed some white, fuzzy fungus-looking stuff growing on the food… is that ok or should I take out the food now even though it hasn't been 3 days yet?

[leebca]

I'd let it go for the full 3 days -- assuming you know for sure it's the food that is within that time period.