Help need please. Looking to do a fishless cycle with household ammonia.

[Shellbell1986]

Hello,


Firstly a bit of background information. A few months ago my 5 year old son decided he want to get some tropical fish. Since then we have all been hooked.
We purchased a 2ft x 1ft tank set it all up and got a 6 zebra danios(local fish shop advised best way) to cycle the tank with. After doing a lot of research I now know this is cruel and won't do it this way again! To cut a log story short I have spent the last 4 week's being very obsessive keeping a daily check on fish, daily water tests & doing at least 3 water changes a week as soon as anything was rising. We are now showing 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and 5ppm of nitrate so finally there.

As a family we have all got completely addicted and purchased a 4ft bullet tank to upgrade to not cheap but hoping its going to look good once oher half has built it for me.

I have been reading a lot about using household ammonia to kick start a fishless cycle. Has anyone done this? If so is there an idiots guide out there? As it not hard to confuse me!

Look forward to hearing you advise.

Shellbell

[Fresh2o]

Shell - Welcome!
For articles to answer your questions, go to "Freshwater & Brackish - Getting Started" then go to "Stickies".
If you have more questions, then post them. Prolly best in a new thread in the appropriate forum/category.
Most likely household ammonia will not work unless it is free of dyes, fragrances, and surfactants (the latter makes it foamy if you shake it). I am aware of two sources: Ace Hardware or online look for Dr. Tim's Ammonium Chloride. Good luck!

[Slade]

When I first started, I cycled with ammonia. Couldn't find ammonia w/o surfactants or fragrance in HD or Lowes, but I did find it in Shoprite!
Now that you've got a filter with BB, adding some media from that to your new tank will greatly speed up your cycle.