Questions re fishless cycling ? - UPDATE

[TW]

Hi All

you can order clear ammonia in Australia from here http://www.australianhomeguide.com.au/ac.html

It's in a powder form & you make up a stock solution for daily dosing to the tank. I've used it now to cycle one of my tanks & it seemed to go well.

Hope this might help someone out. I've been looking for a source for a long time, so thought someone else might be after some too.

[dean_alicia]

how do you no how much to add?? i will be getting my 6x2x2 tank soon and dont want to overdose too much...

[TW]

By testing. When I bought mine from the site link above, it came with an instruction sheet & rough calculations of how much you need. But you really do need to do your own testing during the process.

[shell42]

I always find 1-3 king prawns from the fish shop works rather well course there is no exact measurement of the ammonia levels but they are really cheap

they do smell however, it's good if you have a husband to remove them for you at the end, but i put them in a coke bottle with holes in it for easy removal and so they will float around.

took about 3 weeks to perfectly cycle a 300L tank with 3 big prawns. I just tested every other day and waited for everything to drop to 0

[TW]

Hi Shell

Yes, i tried the prawns once, but maybe because it was summer, the smell was too strong (overpowering) and there were too many complaints from the family. Our dinner table was just around corner from the smelly tank & they couldn't stand it.

The coke bottle is a good idea. That might have made a difference. Did it contain the smell, as well as prawn mess?

I put my prawns in a bowl, but that still meant disintegrating bits of prawn could make a mess in the stinky water, especially when I remove the bowl.

Nowawdays, I use the ammonchlor clear ammonia I bought from that website, or I often have a spare cycled sponge or canister filter that I can use for the purpose.

[Wendy]

Thankyou Merrilyn for your very clear and simple instructions. I decided last Sunday to try your method on my new 5 x 2 x 2. I used Ammonia solution to get 4.0 ppm in the tank. Today is day number 7 and I have my first nitrite reading. I'ts still less than 0.25 but its a start. I can't believe how excited I am at finding nitrite in my tank.....lol

[swifto]

Have justed started a fishless cycle all levels are 0ppm even after seeding with sub straight from mature tank,lucky 4 me my wife's friend works in chemist and can order me pure ammonia.So I'll b able to order it as I need it.