Ammonia with surfactant

[ARay2420]

Hey all,

I have been trying to fishlessly cycle my 10G tank for 3 weeks now with no luck and I just realized I have been using Ammonia with surfactant in it. I already had my plants, gravel, air pump and everything in the tank. Should I rinse everything out the best I can and start over with pure ammonia or should I buy new gravel/plants/air pump?

 

[ARay2420]

Also what should I do with my filter? Its been running for 3 weeks with the surfactant in the water.

 

[BigJim]

Surfactants aren't necessarily bad. Shake the bottle of ammonia and see if it foams. If it foams, you've got bad surfactants. If not, just be patient. I've cycled a couple of tanks with ammonia with surfactants. Three weeks typically isn't long enough to cycle a tank unless you really seeded it well.

If you do have the bad surfactants, drain the tank, rinse everything really well, and start over. You might want to get new filter media just to be safe.

 

[nextgeneration40]

If it helps Ace Hardware makes an Ammonia without surfactants in it (It is what I am currently using)

 

[ARay2420]

Thanks a lot for the help guys. Unfortunately I had the bad surfactant so I will be rinsing out my tank and heading over to Ace hardware tomorrow.