Great Value (Wal-Mart) Ammonia

[No Name]

Is this ammonia ok to use? The ingredients I saw on the label said it contained softened water, ammonia, and a chelating agent. Contains no phosphorous it said.

What is a chelating agent? And how do I use this to cycle a fish tank? Do I just dump all of it in and monitor the levels until I see some Nitrates and 0 Ammonia and Nitrites?

 

[Menagerie]

Encyclopedia.com[/url]]
chelating agents
Related: Organic Chemistry

(kē´lātĬng) . Certain organic compounds are capable of forming coordinate bonds (see chemical bond ) with metals through two or more atoms of the organic compound; such organic compounds are called chelating agents. The compound formed by a chelating agent and a metal is called a chelate. A chelating agent that has two coordinating atoms is called bidentate; one that has three, tridentate; and so on. EDTA, or ethylenediaminetetraacetate, ( - O 2 CH 2 ) 2 NCH 2 CH 2 N(CH 2 CO 2- ) 2 , is a common hexadentate chelating agent. Chlorophyll is a chelate that consists of a magnesium ion joined with a complex chelating agent; heme, part of the hemoglobin in blood, is an iron chelate. Chelating agents are important in textile dyeing, water softening, and enzyme deactivation and as bacteriocides.

I believe this means it's okay, but it's late.

Do you have liquid test kits for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate?

 

[Menagerie]

oh yeah~
[center:aaf7fa3265] Welcome to AA, No Name! [/center:aaf7fa3265]
BTW~great handle

 

[No Name]

Yes, I already have an aquarium that has been up and running for a long time now, and I occasionally test for Ammonia, Nitrites, and Nitrates. I have some other tests in this Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Master Test Kit, but I never use them. I've only cycled a tank by using fish.

 

[Menagerie]

Okay, use enough ammonia to get the ammonia test to read 5ppm and you are set to go! I will try to find a thread that goes into more detail. brb

*edit* perhaps I meant .5ppm Someone help me out!!!

 

[No Name]

I'd really like to just "set it and forget it" like that RonCo Showtime Rotisserie machine. Is there any problem to overdosing your tank full of Ammonia? Won't the beneficial bacteria just convert it all over time? I really don't want to have to keep dosing smalls amounts of Ammonia every day.

 

[Menagerie]

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=25680&start=10&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=101&highlight=
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=15614&highlight=

The first link (I believe) has TankGirl giving advice on how much ammonia to use. The second link is a different fishless cycling method and the third link just talks about cycling.

 

[shawmutt]

The chelating agent is added to form a stronger bond between the ammonia and the water in the jug, it's fine to use in your tank.

 

[TankGirl]

Yes, we are talking 5ppm, not 0.5.

The last fishless cycle I did I was not in a hurry and just put a "glug" of ammonia in the tank every day, as it was a 44 and I knew it needed more than a few drops. It was almost "set it and forget it" because I just ignored it for a couple of weeks and then started testing, but I certainly did not do any precise measuring of the ammonia. At that point I had nitrite and a reduction in ammonia, tossed in some established biowheels and in 3 more days I was cycled.

Now I am in more of a hurry with a 15gal and put in a splash of ammonia every day, starting with 3 established biowheels tossed in and an established filter pad from my other tank that has the same filter, but after a week am still seeing no nitrite and high ammonia - it is the daily testing that makes me impatient.

Good luck and HTH, I do ramble on!

 

[cginflorida]

Welcome to AA, No Name!

In the article listed below, it says that you can overdose your tank by using too much ammonia and that will make your cycle take longer. Follow the link and scroll down to near the bottom where the heading says "Too Much Ammonia"

http://www.tomgriffin.com/aquamag/cycle2.html

Good luck.

 

[TankGirl]

Good point about overdosing, and I guess I should clarify that after so many years of doing fishless cycles I have a good idea of how to get around 5ppm.