Wrong ammonia used for cycle

[tjm80]

Hey guys, It's been a while since I've posted. I ended up taking my tank down (new baby on the way and my "storage" room is being converted into a nursery)

My cousin has recently decided to start a reef tank though and has been coming to me for advice. I advised him to get some Ace ammonia and to shake it to make sure it doesn't bubble up. My aunt had some "pure ammonia" (misleading label lol).

He put an ounce of it in a 93 gallon tank. I told him to do a big water change and use activated carbon. He's since resorted to using raw shrimp to cycle and his ammonia currently reads 0 with high nitrites and nitrates which means his tank is cycling obviously.

Is there anything else I need to advise him to do, and would the detergent prevent the tank from cycling if he used too much?

 

[Grizz]

I think the detergent would have killed off any bacti. Id change out the carbon and when the nitrItes drop to 0 do a large water change then add a cheap invert, hermit crab or a snail to be sure the tank is safe.

 

[ivan_dalmatia]

First off, I don't know why you would put detergent into a tank??? Nitrates are high cause you have no beneficial bacteria!!! Maybe form adding detergents!
Buy some bio-zyme (the red one), it's $2.00, prob cheaper than detergent??? It should kick start the proses. And as mentioned change any filtration you have as its prob no good. Bio spira won't help you unless your water parameters are good

 

[Rare]

You mean that the ammonia your cousin added has detergent. Not that your cousin added detergent per say.