Cycling the fishless way

[FancyGuppyGuy]

If you need more ammonia then vaccum your 10 gallon just the very bottom where the wastes/ rotting food are using a pinch method. Get the fish wastes/ rotting food and put them in the 55 gal this will help create ammonia for your cycling. It might not be as exact as putting in x amount of drops but it will give the bacteria a source of ammonia to live on and grow.

 

[Danio35]

Thanks FGG,

mission accomplished. Will check ammonia again tomorrow.

Michelle

 

[TomK2]

I've looked for the thread that you talked about, but cannot find it. Could you lead me to that direction? I want to know exactly how things really work as well. We both must be Type A personalities

well, it wasn't easy! I searched with my isp search engine and yahoo and google and got nothing. I even stopped by the local library and browsed through the chemistry section and could find out nothing about ammonia water test kits. Then a last ditch "askgeeves.com" search eventually got me through a couple of links that DID have the answer!

And the answer is.....

Salicylate testing for ammonia
This analytical method is based upon the treatment of ammonia compounds in a seawater sample with chlorine to produce monochloramine. The monochloramine is reacted with salicylate to form 5-aminosalicylate. Sodium nitroprusside acts as a catalyst for the oxidiation of 5-aminosalicylate to indosalicylate, a blue colored compound. The blue color is masked by the yellow color from excess reagent to give a final color of green. This color change is proportional to the amount of ammonia in the sample and can be determined spectrophotometrically

Sooo…..if you have chloramines instead of ammonia, it should turn color and detect the chloramines! Thus, your positive ammonia level from the tap is chloramine.

So much for the other website that said you needed to dechlorinate first to detect chloramines. but hey, it is pretty confusing stuff so I can understand!

Oh, thread on test kit chemistry is:
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?p=309831#309831

I hope to learn a little

 

[FancyGuppyGuy]

well its been a few days what the verdict?? you getting closer to cycling yet?

 

[Danio35]

Hey Fancy!

Yep, it's time! I'm in the process of acclimating my Danios right now. The Nitrites and Nitrates have plummeted. Ammonia is nil. Thought I'd get my Danio's in there first and see how it goes.

The fishless cycling went very well and much faster than I expected. The only way I varied in your advice was that I didn't use ammonia. I wound up just using seeded material. I thought it would take longer to cycle that way, but the parameters look fine. I'll probably check them again about 8-12 hours after I put the Danio's in and then, of course, I'll check them in the morning.


Mission - almost - accomplished!

Thanks for everyone's advice!

Michelle

 

[Menagerie]

I wound up just using seeded material.

That will speed things up!