cycling with pure ammonia

[zacheyp]

my api kit arrived to day and results were the following
ph 8.3
amonia 0
nitrite 5
nitrate 10ish

i have been cycling with live rock and am afraid that i may have only had a minnie cycle

i have a few questions about pure amo as i plan to use it

is clear amonia the same as pure amonia?

how much ammonia do i need for a 20 gal (16 gal of water)?

How long should my cycle take from here on out?

Thanks in advance

 

[zacheyp]

i tried cycling with shrimp but i was told it was not needed and it smelled bad

 

[zacheyp]

considering i already had a minnie cycle, im just gonna put in a gallon of pure amo, is this oK?

 

[eco23]

I'm a FW guy and know virtually nothing about SW, but I'll chime in on what I can. "Pure" and "Clear" ammonia are not necessarily the same thing. You want to make sure the bottle you have is simply ammonia and water. You don't want any dyes, detergents, surfactants, scents, etc... Ace Hardware is a great place to pick it up, and it's also readily available online.

Here's a fishless cycling ammonia calculator. Type in your tank volume, the ppm you're shooting for and the strength of your ammonia. It will give you a guideline of how much to add.
http://www.fishforums.net/aquarium-calculator.htm

 

[bruinsbro1997]

I am not a saltwater perrson, but from my limited research, I thought you just let the tank cycle itself if you have live rock, since there will be a massize die-off on the organisms on the rock that will produce the ammonia and start your cycle, which will last around one to two months? I would think that pure ammonia would kill everything in the tank, including the live rock.

 

[zacheyp]

is it safe to dose today or do i have to wait until the trites go down?

 

[Rutrag]

I don't think you're going to need anything close to a gallon of ammonia in a 20 gallon tank. You want to add about a teaspoon at a time until you reach no more than 4 parts per million (ppm) which you'll use your test kit to check.

If you add a gallon, you may as well use you tank as a mop bucket! You'd be at 1 part per 20, and I'm not sure any bacteria would live in that.

 

[all4wheels2]

i tried cycling with shrimp but i was told it was not needed and it smelled bad

In all honesty, if you're looking for shortcuts, there isn't one. Using pure ammonia over any other method won't do it. Using too much pure ammonia is just going to kill everything off, including the beneficial bacteria.

Put some live rock in there and a piece of raw shrimp or two and just leave it be for a week. And put the lid on the tank if the smell gets too bad.

Nothing good happens fast...please remember that in this hobby.