I just started a fishless cycle for my son's tank (10g). Are there varying levels of potency for pure ammonia? I picked some up at Ace hardware today, and I am 100% sure it is pure ammonia with no additional ingredients. No one warned me that this is some wicked stuff! I popped the cap, and went to measure out my teaspoon over the lip of the tank, and when it hit me in the face it really blew my hair back! Maybe scorched it! What with blindness caused by watering eyes, and lack of oxygen (now I REALLY feel bad for cycling my first one with fish!!!), the initial shock caused a slight amount of over spill, but nothing too bad. Less than a teaspoon?
I went to test a few hours later, and knew something was wrong when the ammonia smell wafted out at me. The test was off the charts. Not the darkest green it could be, oh no, this stuff was blue BLACK. I did a fifty percent change, and it still smelled so I didn't bother to test. I siphoned all but substrate level of water (My plant bulbs are probably gonners), and pulled out all my petrified wood.
I can add fresh water, but how about my wood? I personally hunted for this stuff with my dad a few years ago, and desperately want to use it in my tank. It's porous stuff right? Do you think I've transformed it into irreversible fish killing ammonia wood now? I've got it soaking in a new bucket of water that is dosed with Prime. I know that removes ammonia... but I'm afraid they are forever going to release ammonia into the tank!
I went to test a few hours later, and knew something was wrong when the ammonia smell wafted out at me. The test was off the charts. Not the darkest green it could be, oh no, this stuff was blue BLACK. I did a fifty percent change, and it still smelled so I didn't bother to test. I siphoned all but substrate level of water (My plant bulbs are probably gonners), and pulled out all my petrified wood.
I can add fresh water, but how about my wood? I personally hunted for this stuff with my dad a few years ago, and desperately want to use it in my tank. It's porous stuff right? Do you think I've transformed it into irreversible fish killing ammonia wood now? I've got it soaking in a new bucket of water that is dosed with Prime. I know that removes ammonia... but I'm afraid they are forever going to release ammonia into the tank!