Pure ammonium hydroxide cycling aquariums ?

[audioaficionado]

OK I did a search on 'Pure ammonia and fish less cycling' and didn't get anything recent here on TPT.

Lots of jugs labeled 'Pure Ammonia' but they all had surfactants listed as an ingredient or they failed the shake the bottle test. One looked promising as all the bubbles and foam dissipated in less than a minute, but surfactant was the third and last ingredient listed.

Anyone know the exact brand name of truly pure ammonium hydroxide solutions you can get in a retail store?

[VeeSe]

Yes. ACE ammonia janitorial strength, from Ace Hardware. It's a 10% ammonium hydroxide solution, no other ingredients. I've used it to cycle all my tanks.

[audioaficionado]

Thanx a bunch!

Roughly how many drops/gallon to get a consistent 3-5ppm?

[tlyons01]

I have Blue Ribbon Clear Ammonia. I had found others that used this as well, it must not be full strength as it took more than just drops to get the ammonia readings to start showing. Bought mine at a local mom and pop hardware shop

[audioaficionado]

The absolute maximum strength of atmospheric pressure room temperature ammonium hydroxide solution is ~28%. Get a whiff of that and it'll knock you back a few feet at the very least. We used it as a lab reagent and I remember getting it at the local drug store when I was a kid. Don't think they do that anymore.

[wintu]

+1 ACE ammonia janitorial strength, just bought one yesterday . i put 25 drops to 17 gal tank with readings around 3ppm but its better to use couple of drops , test and add more and test again

[audioaficionado]

I'm gettin' some tomorrow, wringing out my poly sleeve from my 45 tall into my 20L and juicin' it up with soma dat ACE.

[Doc7]

Mcmaster.com sells pure ammonia as well and for me anyway they ship same day for free to my workplace (we get two delivs a day at 10 am and 2 pm)

Sent from my BlackBerry 9650 using Tapatalk

[Nubster]

You'll need 5-8ml in 45g to get 3-5ppm.

[somewhatshocked]

Here's a link to a great calculator that helps you determine how much ammonia you'll need for fishless cycling.

[audioaficionado]

Originally Posted by somewhatshocked

Here's a link to a great calculator that helps you determine how much ammonia you'll need for fishless cycling.

Thanx. Looks like I'll need only 3.6ml for my 20L.

[Diana]

So only put in half, allow it to circulate, and test. If it really is only 2-3 ppm then add more. You start the fishless cycle with 5 ppm.

[mistergreen]

You don't want anything above 4ppm. It's toxic to pretty much anything, plants, bacteria etc..

[audioaficionado]

Got the ACE ammonia for $5. Absolutely no suds when shaken. That's the stuff

I'll do a water change, hard scape, plant some mini microsword and a couple anubius, EI ferts, bring up the ammonia up a bit and seed the tank with my 45g canister filter.

[jccaclimber]

Originally Posted by mistergreen

You don't want anything above 4ppm. It's toxic to pretty much anything, plants, bacteria etc..

I've been wondering what the upper limit for ammonia is on the beneficial bacteria. Can you point me to a source for that? For some reason my Google-Fu has failed me.