Fishless Cycling New 120gallon tank

[eco23]

Hello bcurlacher54,
Mine already foams in the tank, so I just called Totally Awesome and they said to call back in 15 minutes because they are not quite open yet. So I'll do that then post here again. I'm a newbie too at doing a fishless cycle. I tried some bottled stuff twice and nothing happened at all. But thank you for your heads up on this.
Oh, and if they say there is only ammonia and water in it then I'll ask them why it foams up.

Ann, this definitely sounds like bad news :-(. If I were you I'd get on google and really see if anyone has used this brand without negative consequences. There are some people who have used ammonia with surfactants and say there's no problems...but there are different types of surfactants. Some surfactants I've heard of will simply not let the tank cycle, and with others it cycles fine but are toxic to the fish...but I've also heard of people who had nothing bad happen. Try to research your brand of ammonia being used for fishless cycling and see if you can find particular examples of people using it. Sorry :-(

 

[Ann7667]

I called Totally Awesome again and spoke to someone else. The first dimwit I talked to (back in April) said water and ammonia . . . that's all. I asked if that was what was on the MSPS sheets and they said Yes. (grrrr) I told them what I was going to use it for and that it had to be just water and ammonia and they said that's all that's in there and they said that the scientists said that! WOW! So today when I called I asked them to get the MSPS sheet and read the ingredients on it for me and this is what is in it:

disodium metasilicate - corrosive crystalline salt used as a detergent or substitute for phosphates.
butylethanol - alcohol derived from butane used as solvent
exfoliated alcohol - bad
trisodium phosphate - crystalline compound used in cleaning compositions
sodium hydroxide - water mixed with ammonia

This stuff is VERY BAD. I've been pouring this in my tank for weeks! No wonder the ammonia did not show up until I'd put 4 Cups in and since ingredients on labels are listed in order of most to least - there is very little ammonia in it. It's the LAST ingredient. Thank goodness my tank didn't cycle. I was almost ready to put my fish in there and it would have killed them all!

I do have a store that sells ACE Ammonia which, I understand from all the posts I've read, is good. So I'll get that and start again.

So, will this stuff that I've been pouring in work its way out of the tank?
I really feel like I should scrape off the slime on the sides which has some texture to it because I'm sure there is stuff stuck in it.

Would love some advice before I proceed.

There is sand in the bottom because I have eartheaters and they love to put sand in their mouths and shoot it out their mouths and gills looking for food. Is the sand ruined now. Not a problem if it is because I have a source that is inexpensive but getting it out of the tank. But I'll do whatever I need to do.

Thank you so much bcurlacher54 for encouraging me to dig deeper.
Eco23, what do I do now, just start using the Ace ammonia or what. Is my tank contaminated now? Yikes!

 

[librarygirl]

oh no, I'm so sorry about this! At least you found out now before putting fish in. I admit when you said you got your ammonia from the dollar store I was suspicious that it might not be pure ammonia but I wasn't familiar with the brand of ammonia you used and so I figured I was wrong.

If it were me I'd be super paranoid and change out everything in the tank and rinse the tank itself thoroughly before starting over, but that's just me. I'm sure Eco or someone will know for sure what to do. Good luck!

(If it's a consolation, I bet you'll still cycle your tank faster than me and you're starting over lol).

 

[eco23]

I really with I had some good news for you. The only positive right now is that bcurlacher54 made a great catch and prevented some potential problems in the future.

Ready for the bad news? You're gonna have to start from square one. You'll have to completely disassemble the tank, throw away all the filter media, rinse the substrate, decorations, filter housing and actual tank like there's no tomorrow and completely reset it up. You can use a colander (like to drain spaghetti noodles) to rinse the gravel and deco in really hot water in the bathtub, but you're going to probably have to haul the massive tank outside to the hose and really rinse it out good too .

I'm not familiar with each and every one of those chemicals, but for me...I wouldn't want even a trace of them in my aquarium. It'd also be an easier process if you had a smaller tank...but sadly I think you're gonna have a bit of a task ahead.

You're more than welcome to post a new thread and get some others advice on how they would deal with it...some may say carbon will help. The type of person I am though, a complete restart is what I'd do .

I'm very sorry. I know you have been doing everything right and are a super committed and caring person...but bad things like this happen to everyone sometimes.

If I lived near by I'd drive over and help as I'm sure lots of other members would as well.

 

[Deckape]

I really with I had some good news for you. The only positive right now is that bcurlacher54 made a great catch and prevented some potential problems in the future.

Ready for the bad news? You're gonna have to start from square one. You'll have to completely disassemble the tank, throw away all the filter media, rinse the substrate, decorations, filter housing and actual tank like there's no tomorrow and completely reset it up. You can use a colander (like to drain spaghetti noodles) to rinse the gravel and deco in really hot water in the bathtub, but you're going to probably have to haul the massive tank outside to the hose and really rinse it out good too .

I'm not familiar with each and every one of those chemicals, but for me...I wouldn't want even a trace of them in my aquarium. It'd also be an easier process if you had a smaller tank...but sadly I think you're gonna have a bit of a task ahead.

You're more than welcome to post a new thread and get some others advice on how they would deal with it...some may say carbon will help. The type of person I am though, a complete restart is what I'd do .

I'm very sorry. I know you have been doing everything right and are a super committed and caring person...but bad things like this happen to everyone sometimes.

If I lived near by I'd drive over and help as I'm sure lots of other members would as well.

Yes we would help you with all that work. Sorry Ann

 

[bcurlacher54]

im sorry for the bad news, but im glad you hadnt changed your fish over to the tank. i spent hours and hours looking for, and shaking bottles in stores before i got to the ace brand. once youve cleaned out your tank, you shouldnt have any problems cycling with that. sorry again.
brian

 

[Ann7667]

Why you should NOT use LA Totally Awesome Pure Ammonia

Thank you eco23 and deckape and Libray Girl,
I knew I needed to completely break down the tank when I saw the list of ingredients, and you have confirmed that so that's what I'll do.
So I'll start that process tomorrow, but I'm not going to haul the tank outside; we have ceramic tile in the family room so the floor will not be hurt at all. Aww, that's really nice that you'd come help me, but it is a bit of a distance. And this is PERFECT timing because my husband is on a bicycle trip this weekend and he won't have to see me tearing it down. I don't want him to be sad for me; I can manage this. I can have it back together by Sunday night when he comes home. . . then I can tell him. Maybe I can get a friend to help me. But, if not, I'll manage.
So I'll start a new post tomorrow to keep you all informed because even if you are far away, I know you all are cheering for me.
If my fishies knew about all of this, they would be really happy that I found out before putting them in the tank. Close one!
I'll keep you posted on a new thread.
Cheers!
Ann7667

 

[Ann7667]

Thank you burlacher54. I do appreciate that you brought this up because it would have been a disaster for my fish if I had moved them. So thank you.
Ann7667

 

[Kirx]

Hi,
I'm new in this forum and this is one of the full thread that i finish reading since I am also new in aquarium and doing the cycling process.

Ann7667,
I'm interested to read on your updates since it's been 9 days after your last post.

Kirx

 

[Ann7667]

Hello Kirx, I am not using this post anymore. I started a new one called "Fishless Cycling 2nd time around" or something like that. Good luck on your cycling also.