Okay. I've got a 10 gallon tank (used) that I re-caulked and I plan on using it as a quarantine tank (QT). I put water in it for 48 hours to make sure it didn't leak. I placed it in a big rubbermaid box so it wouldn't leak everywhere. Today I put in my 100 watt heater and a new Tetra Whisper power filter that does 100 gph. It's the little one that hangs on the inside. I put a new filter in it that has activated charcoal. I also replaced an old filter in my main 29 gallon aquarium and I cut out little rectangular pieces of the filter and placed them on both side of the new filter before I started running the new power filter. I did this to jump start the cycle. However, now I'm wondering about adding ammonia to feed the good bacteria. And, how do I keep the tank bacterial flora active when there are no fish in there? Do I just add ammonia? Is houshold ammonia good enough? I'll be looking through the posts for answers too.
10 gallon QT cycling
- Thread starter dax29
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Household ammonia is fine as long as it is PURE ammonia. Many ammonias sold in grocery stores, etc. have other ingredients added--most often perfumes/scents that are intended to make the ammonia smell less intolerable. Which is fine for cleaning, but deadly to fish. So just check the ingredients and make sure there is nothing else in there and you'll be fine.
TomK2
Aquarium Advice Addict
Ace hardware sells their own brand of a 10% ammonium solution. 0.34 ml gets you 1 ppm in a 10 gal tank. I bet you could feed the bacteria with less than that. If you don't have a syringe, just add a few drops and see what it gets you. Household cleaners almost always have stuff added to it, ace sells theirs as an "economy" cleaner, cuz nothings added.
ammonia
I bought a bottle for $0.89 but it has a surfactant in it. That just helps it spread and breaks the surface tension but I wish I could just find some plain old ammonia. I'm gonna check the hardware stores tomorrow. Thanks for your help.
I bought a bottle for $0.89 but it has a surfactant in it. That just helps it spread and breaks the surface tension but I wish I could just find some plain old ammonia. I'm gonna check the hardware stores tomorrow. Thanks for your help.
mattrox
Aquarium Advice Addict
surfactant is not good for fish. It will damage sensitive membranes in the gills.
Okay. I can't find any ammonia with no surfactant. I've looked everywhere within a reasonable distance and it doesn't exist. I guess I'll either have to look for ammonia at an ACE hardware (I'm not sure where the closest one is) or I let some fish cycle the tank for me after I do a MAJOR water change. Once again, this is a quarantine tank.
Fishyfanatic
Aquarium Advice Addict
What you can also do is put your filtration unit from your QT into another tank. Let it cycle and get all the necessary bacteria in the pads. When you need to use the QT, take the filter out and put it into the QT with tank water. Instant Cycle. Even better than a good batch of bio-spira. Also, most lfs sell Ammonia chips. At least they do around here.
10 QT jump start
I put a new filter in the QT that has activated charcoal. I also replaced an old filter in my main 29 gallon aquarium and I cut out little rectangular pieces of the filter and placed them on both sides of the new filter before I started running the new power filter. I did this to jump start the cycle. I just did a 100% WC on the QT and replaced it with water from my main tank. Could this be like an instant cycle. I also added one of those bubble curtain thingy's for aeration.
I put a new filter in the QT that has activated charcoal. I also replaced an old filter in my main 29 gallon aquarium and I cut out little rectangular pieces of the filter and placed them on both sides of the new filter before I started running the new power filter. I did this to jump start the cycle. I just did a 100% WC on the QT and replaced it with water from my main tank. Could this be like an instant cycle. I also added one of those bubble curtain thingy's for aeration.
Fishyfanatic
Aquarium Advice Addict
That is correct. You could also just add a couple snails or something into the QT to keep it going between usages.
Fishyfanatic
Aquarium Advice Addict
A lot of the times the snails are dispursed in tanks with fish. Some places have tanks just for snails. Ask around, you may just find that they are dispursed in the tanks at your lfs. I'm not exactly sure about shrimp keeping up with the necessary bacteria output.
Fishyfanatic
Aquarium Advice Addict
Just be sure to get Apple snails or something along the same lines, not MTS. From what I've heard, the MTS will reproduce like crazy. IME, I have yet to see an apple snail reproduce and we have 12 total.
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