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Where can I buy pure ammonia?

4K views 26 replies 7 participants last post by  Pilot00 
#1 ·
I am about to start cycling my 10 and 20 gallon tanks, but I need some ammonia first. I went to wall mart, but the ammonia they had contained surfactants, which are bad for fish. Where is the best place to buy pure ammonia for cycling?
 
#3 ·
Ace Hardware. That's where I got mine. It's full name is "Ammonia Janitorial Strength". I bought this big bottle of it for $2.99 and I'm cycling my 20 gallon with it. It seems to be 9/10ml for 2.0ppm. It's REALLY concentrated!!
 
#4 ·
Thanks for the advice, I'll go get some this weekend. Should I add about 2 tsp a day to my 20 gallon to cycle it? I think that is 10 ml.
 
#6 ·
No, you don't add ammonia everyday. Just test the water after 2-3 days of the dosing and add ammonia whenever it's 1ppm or below. Don't go over 6ppm as this will stall the cycle since it's too high for the bacteria to grow. Read this sticky. It's post #2 but listen to the dosing I said. I followed the calculator's dose and it was over the charts! I had to do a 50% change so you shouldn't follow that. ^^"
 
#23 ·
Ummmmmm..... How is a fish less cycle supposed to have naturally occurring ammonia? That's why we put ammonia in, to replicate the waste of fish.. Since there are no fish, there will be no ammonia...

I have always used Austin's Clear Ammonia. It has no sulfactants. Any kind of ammonia will work as long as it has ZERO SULFACTANTS. The dosing is different for each brand because each brand has a different percentage of ammonia.

I take one gallon of water, measure the amount of ammonia it takes to raise it to 4ppm, then do some math.. I will keep setting the ammonia level back to 4ppm anytime it drops until I get nitrite readings, then I cut the original amount I added to the tank to bring it to 4ppm and cut it in half. Add this amount EVERY DAY until you have zero ammonia and zero nitrite when you test. Test 12-24 hours after adding the ammonia. Toward the end, you will be able to dump pure ammonia into your tank, and if you feel like it, you can watch the level drop by testing it every half hour (just for fun, there is no reason to actually do this).
The two main reasons we do fish less cycles are as follows... 1. We don't kill or subject any fish to ammonia or nitrite poisoning to set up a tank... 2.. We can fully stock the aquarium safely after the cycle completes instead of slowly adding fish every couple weeks until you reach full stock levels...
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#11 ·
Oh, LOL. Sorry!!
What do you mean by naturally? A fish-in cycle or a fishless cycle is the owner's choice. Never mind, there's no hope for my brain. >.>
 
#12 ·
If you allow the water lay still for a month or so. With the filter working (OFC, fully setup aquarium) and do an occasional water change the cycle gets complete without any fuss.

Don't worry about not understanding what I say, I am pretty much not sober right now ha! But I think I am right of the above. At least thats what my brain tells me I did for the past 15 years.
 
#13 ·
Hm... Now I understand. But where's the ammonia source? Wait, LF has 1ppm in his tap water. If he adds some throughout the week, he doesn't need to use pure ammonia. I haven't even reached 15 years yet. ;w;
 
#14 ·
You answered yourself. Tap water has it inside in small quantities waiting to take over. Especially if you let the water still, so to speak.
 
#15 ·
My tap water has 1ppm ammonia, but I want to add a little more to make it around 2 or 3ppm so the cycle goes faster and can handle more.
 
#16 ·
I just got back into betta hobby after 3 years of retirement. However, in the past, I hardly ever cycled my tanks before placing fish in there, or at least I cycled them with the bettas in there and they seem super healthy the whole time lol. Especially fry's. I just set up my 55 gallon, dechlorinate it. Add a filter. Slowly acclimate the fry into the 55 gallon and voila. Healthy healthy healthy me, I eat fruits and vegetables that are good for me lol. However, I strongly recommend cycling your tanks. You would be doing the right thing.
 
#17 ·
The issue is Leopard's fish is too ill to do a fish in cycle. He's suffering serious fin rot from the ammonia in the water. Hardware has ammonia, it works well though your water seems to have a good supply of it as well >. I wish you tons of luck on cycling.
 
#18 ·
I added my betta without cycling to the 10 gallon and though the ammonia never got super high, he ended up with fin rot which is now so severe that he could die. I will always cycle from now on because it's just not worth it the time saved by not doing it if the fish get sick.
 
#20 ·
Thank you and I hope so too. His fins haven't gotten any worse today, so I think the Triple Sulfa may be slowing it down. He's been battling fin rot for over a month, so I really hope he can get better.
 
#21 ·
Either your fish is stressed out a lot or your water quality is very poor. Non-cycled water, from my knowledge, does not cause fin rot. But I already agreed that cycling your tank is good, but not necessary if you carry out with bi-daily partial water changes. Your fish probably has a bacterial infection, so I don't think a cycle tank solves that at this moment. Your fish needs PWC and treatment. One last thing, be sure the water you use to do PWC is dechlorinated and similar if not exact to the tank water. Usually when fish are stress or have poor water conditions, this increases chance of disease such as fin rot. Fish can live in non-cycled tank, but like I said, it needs daily pwc. And when you do pwc, you have to be subtle about causing stress to the fish as his home is small and he will experience an earthquake lol. Good luck and good day.
 
#24 ·
I mean, when you start, you can cycle tank with fish and it's okay. At this time, it is a non-cycled tank. However, don't do 100% water changes as you will NEVER be able to establish a cycle tank. A cycled tank is the goal...Do 25% water changes just to keep the ammonia down. What I'm saying is, whether tank is cycle or not, I continue to do water changes. So, it really doesn't matter for me.
 
#27 ·
I ve been using this method for more than a decade and I have never lost a fish, or failed to have acceptable parameters. To me its the safest, yet slowest method. I just don't like risks and want the tanks to mature on their own so to speak. As they say choose your poison.
 
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