best ammonia source and other newbie cycle questions

[Europhyllia]

I should know this ... but I don't.
Foodwise what is the best ammonia source to cycle a tank?
I've tried just regular frozen cubes of mysis/bloodworms/krill. I am having a tough time getting ammonia to rise. I put in dry food (Ocean Nutrition Flakes) today. Hopefully they produce better waste.
Ammonia just hovers at 0.25 or below. Nitrite is going up a little and Nitrate is staying pretty steady at 10ppm.

I really want to use this cycle and multiply my bacteria.
I already started out with a massive amount of live bacteria (Fritz).

The rocks were bleached, soaked and dried and don't give off any usual ammonia stuff.

I am using good test kits: Salifert.

I need more ammonia!

Also is macro algae bothered by cycling? I want to fine tune my Vortech Wave but it's tough to do without anything moving...

[txg8gxp]

I read this in the past, but have no idea...just sharing a link.
http://saltaquarium.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ/Ya&zTi=1&sdn=saltaquarium&cdn=homegarden&tm=14&gps=257_1916_1259_629&f=11&tt=14&bt=1&bts=1&st=26&zu=http%3A//www.amdareef.com/ho_cycling.htm

[Europhyllia]

I was thinking of ordering some ammonia chloride with my bacteria but decided not to because I read somehwere (Fenner's book) that it's not safe (didn't see any reason why but didn't want to chance it)
Where might I get ammonium chloride here in town?

[txg8gxp]

Looks like maybe a vet or feed supply store...maybe

[jroescher]

I would think the best way would be to get some waste, like filter pad, from an establihed tank. You can put anything you want in, but without established bacterias to break it down it's going to be slow.

[ramsey]

Wouldn't a piece of raw shrimp in a filter bag do the trick?

[Europhyllia]

John I have the bacteria. I went with commercial product rather than anything from my old tank because I don't want to carry any of my old problems over into the new tank.
So I got the bacteria. What I need is the source of waste. I am dumping in a lot of fish food but ammonia still barely shows. It's being converted into nitrtite and nitrate so I know the bacteria is working. What I need is more ammonia (without wasting so much of my good frozen fish food)

[Europhyllia]

what's the filter bag for, ramsey?

[ramsey]

I've heard people talking about cycling with a piece of raw shrimp. Just put it in and let it rot. Seems like the cheapest option. :)

[txav8r]

To keep the rest of the rotting shrimp from disolving in the tank.

[ramsey]

Yeah, I heard use a sock but a filter bag would seem like a better idea. I don't know if I'd feel comfortable with sock in my tank. :P Some pantyhose may work too.

[ismvel]

Never used filter bags, but have always used raw shrimp to kick off cycle in my tanks. Just a couple of them in there for about 2-3 days, where I noticed it was starting to expand and start dissolving and took them out.

[jrsatx20]

I've got one sergeant majors from the coast u can have to help cycle. Just dump them in your sump. That's what I did. But I already had a diatom bloom. I can also give u some of my sand.

[jroescher]

You could always pee in your tank!



I meant that as a joke, but when I Googled it apparently there's been a lot of discussion concerning that.

[BIGBIRD123]

I wanted to say that John but held back...lol. There has been a lot of talk about using urine to start a cycle. It's ammonia.

http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/bionitrogencycle/a/aa042403.htm
http://www.aquariumforum.com/f2/fishless-tank-cycling-using-pure-ammonia-796.html

[ismvel]

You could always pee in your tank!



I meant that as a joke, but when I Googled it apparently there's been a lot of discussion concerning that.

Ha.....that is DISTURBINGLY funny. I know times are rough and all, but if you can't afford to purchase a bag of raw shrimp from the store, do you really feel you can afford the rest of this hobby? LOL

You being figuratively of course, not calling you out John for letting your secret out the bag. LOL

[BIGBIRD123]

There are several others...sounds almost like urine a pickel...had to do it...lol

[Europhyllia]

Interesting!
Don't they say urine is sterile anyway?
I'll google it. Might be the next big thing in cycling!
I might call the pharmacy about ammonium chloride. I read up on the raw shrimp thing and apparently that can introduce some kind of fungal infection to the tank.
Now I regret dropping all of my frozen food in there to rot. :(

[txav8r]

There are several others...sounds almost like urine a pickel...had to do it...lol

Okay... thats funny. wrong but funny!

I have to be honest, the first thing I though of wher I read the OP was... Just pee in the tank! I have seen a ton of threads about it on the in internet lately.

Seriously Karin, the food you dumped in will do the job just fine. Like everything else in this hobby, it just takes time.
Good luck and looking foreward to progress posts and pics! This is truely a unique and well planned build! I envy you.

[ismvel]

...apparently that can introduce some kind of fungal infection to the tank...

I had never seen that when I was doing the initial research on it. I suppose I have been lucky with the the 4 tanks in 7 years I have been in this hobby.

Or I prefer to think this is just someone started up cause they had a bad experience. :)

Either or, this is my method of cycling, as (in my case) it is tried and true with no adverse effects.

I think you will be fine, but that's just me.

[jpond83]

i was actually going to pee in a tank before but my wife told me i couldnt

[kkiel02]

Karin I dont know the details of all this, but if you are trying to get a cycle out of your new tank with your old rock or sand you probably wont because of all the bacteria that has built up on the rock, sand and the new stuff you have added. When I moved the 65 gallon to the 180 I didnt get a cycle since I was using dry rock and live rock, which provided addequate bacteria to process the ammonia before it built up. Even on the 65 gallon I used 50% live rock and 50% dry rock and only saw a slight spike in nitrite.

Now the old algae cycle will come with all the new real estate you provided with the tank upgrade. Diatoms, Red slime, coraline, etc.


Oh yeah and lol at all the pee comments.

[CoryDude]

You can place a cat litter box near the tank. That was an excellent source of ammonia in my tank for over 2 years.

[Europhyllia]

interesting observation:

both tanks are being fed the same stuff
both tanks were inoculated with the same Fritz commercial bacteria product

For a while the readings were very similar. I couldn't produce and big spikes due to having so much good bacteria added early on but after I added the big pellet reactor to the main tank and not the little quarantine tank I've noticed differing results for the first time.

Nitrate is 5 times higher in the quarantine tank than it is in the display tank (that has the bio pellets)

Since the values were almost identical until the pellet reactor I came online I expected it to stay similar so I was surprised when I tested today to find a real difference for the two tanks.

Now it looks like my display tank might be done sooner than the quarantine tank! I can no longer produce even the smallest ammonia measurement and nitrite just barely registers.
Hopefully it's all done and stable soon. :)

Since I damaged the main pump though I am using the skimmer pump as my return pump and the skimmer is off line -not a good thing with bio pellets. They are really pulling pH down. Got to get the skimmer pump pronto. I just didn't realize the pellets would kick in right away.
Per manufacturer they are supposed to take 1-2 weeks to colonize. I guess the Fritz bacteria must have kickstarted them.