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Are these any good?

973 views 13 replies 7 participants last post by  Sheldon31 
#1 ·
#2 ·
the Test kit, would be useful if it is a liquid drop test kit as the dip test kits are mostly inaccurate. the water conditioner would also be useful as it will remove heavy metals, chloramines, chlorine, etc. all of which could have a seriously negative effect on the nitrifying bacteria such as nitrosomonas, nitrosococcus, etc. and the fish inhabitants. The biological, stuff wouldnt be of any use though. most of these products advertise being able to instantly cycle your tank. which in most cases, they don't have to ability to do. bacteria need a number of things to survive, grow, thrive, and colonize, most of which cannot be provided in an enclosed system. such as a closed bottle
 
#4 ·
Hmmm. Now, I'm curious. Aside from pure, not altered, ammonia, is there anything else to look for when using ammonia to cycle a tank? I know instant cycling type kits are false advertising at best but if one were to purchase raw ammonia and place it into a tank, what sort of precautions should be taken? And how much ammonia?
 
#7 ·
Hmm "pure" ammonia seems to be hard to find where I am (Canada) too.
Pure ammonia for cleaning is actually ammonia and water, which reacts into ammonium and hydroxide together.
You can try ammonium chloride, unlike the others it will hardly alter your your pH. You can buy it in hardware stores I hear, but for 1ppm the dosage is 0.011 grams/gallon, so not practical in small tanks unless you have an electric scale. xD
Then there is baking ammonia.. Ammonium carbonate or ammonium bicarbonate. This is a viable option as long as you heat it before adding it in. Put it in water and boil it, since this is the only way to dissasociate it from the bi/carbonate. This will also change it from ammonium into ammonia. Baking ammonia should be easiest to find, however I'm not sure about dosage amounts as it depends on your water:baking ammonia ratio.

Honestly, I vote fish food.
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#8 ·
How would I do it with fish food Olympia? Like amounts and how often etc. It's 10 gallon. How long does it usually take? Are strip testing kids useless or can they be used? My other half is being a *Insert expletive here* and won't let me buy a proper master kit. Don't want this to get into a rant haha.
 
#9 ·
Thats odd, when I started my 20gal, they said put the gravel in, put the plants in, heater and filter, and then fill it with 20gal treated water, leave it for a week then it's safe to put the fish in, worked fine for me...the stuff I use is this:
http://www.leedspetshops.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=72_176_181&products_id=629
and this:
http://www.leedspetshops.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=72_176_181&products_id=631

But this might be a different way to the way you were intending to set up?Not sure?If I'm completely honest it looks like a whole lot of money for something that can be done for about half the price.
 
#13 ·
I did this with my 20g too Becky and I didn't have any issues if I'm honest.
Did what, exactly?
There seems to be so much conflicting advice I'm losing my marbles
Easy, Sheldon. You have a grasp of the fundamentals by now. When you go back and read these threads (as I just did) You'll find very little contradictory advice; just minor variations on the basic principals. There's more than one way to skin a tank. (Or some such mixed metaphor.)
 
#11 ·
Bacterial supplements can work, it's just people have different experiences with them...
I sprinkled in fish food (enough to feed the fish you want in there) every other day... I didn't test anything until the last week, my cycle was pretty blind but it all worked out.
Master test kit is pretty cheap... Strips are about $20 for 25 tests... Master test kit $35-45 for over 100 tests in each category, so it saves you a lot in the end..
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#12 ·
Bacterial supplements can work, it's just people have different experiences with them...
I sprinkled in fish food (enough to feed the fish you want in there) every other day... I didn't test anything until the last week, my cycle was pretty blind but it all worked out.
Master test kit is pretty cheap... Strips are about $20 for 25 tests... Master test kit $35-45 for over 100 tests in each category, so it saves you a lot in the end..
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Strips are £10 for 150 where I go while the master kit is around £35. I've found a good one on ebay for £25 which I might just get and tell a few little white lies ;)

I can't start anything until I get my filter on tuesday so I'm just doing lots of research for now. Seeing what will work out for me best.
 
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