Ammonia Added To First Water Tank

[craigmac]

Hi again,
been reading up a little on the water cycle

my water is misty at the moment with the water cycle and has just started to clear and is about 1 week old but i have been reading to add ammonia to the water?

Is this correct? do i need to add ammonia to a new tank if so can you please tell me the reasons behind it please as i assumed you shyed away from high ammonia levels.

Sorry for such a qustion but i am a little confused as i am a novice to fish keeping and just want to learn as much as i can before added fish to my tank.

 

[LionessN3cubs]

Hi again,
been reading up a little on the water cycle

my water is misty at the moment with the water cycle and has just started to clear and is about 1 week old but i have been reading to add ammonia to the water?

Is this correct? do i need to add ammonia to a new tank if so can you please tell me the reasons behind it please as i assumed you shyed away from high ammonia levels.

Sorry for such a qustion but i am a little confused as i am a novice to fish keeping and just want to learn as much as i can before added fish to my tank.

Im not sure how to add the link you need to read but at the top of the forum page, there is a link for beginners resources...read the pinned article on fishless cycling.

You do need to add ammonia to the tank to do a fishless cycle. The ammonia levels in the tank will make 2 different kinds of bacteria grow that will be present when you finally add fish. 1 kind "eats" the ammonia (bad for fish) your fish will make and changes it to nitrite (still bad for fish) ...the 2nd kind will "eat" the nitrite and change into nitrate (safe for fish). Since fish produce ammonia and its bad for them, we do fishless cycling. That way your purposely adding ammonia to the tank and growing the bacteria you need BEFORE you put fish in...this way no fish are poisoned while the nitrogen cycle is being established.

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forum Craigmac. Both you and Lioness are right. Ammonia will harm your fish so you don't want any in the tank. Fish produce ammonia so you must deal with it the best that you can. The easiest and most consistent method that is used to control ammonia in a modern aquarium is to use a colony of bacteria in your filter to remove it. The question becomes, how do I get that colony of bacteria to grow without harming any fish? The answer that is used today is called fishless cycling. In order to fishless cycle, you place the ammonia in a tank while there are no fish to be harmed. That ammonia feeds the bacteria that naturally are present and get them growing and reproducing. When you have enough bacteria reproducing to take care of your fish, you get rid of the artificial ammonia and the resulting nitrates and you then put the fish into the tank. Since the bacteria are already present in large numbers, the fish are safe from the ammonia effects the first day they go into the new aquarium. There are instruction threads on the forum here that will tell you the details of getting the bacteria established. I have a link in my signature area that leads to a fishless cycling thread that explains how to do a fishless cycle.

 

[waterdrop]

Hi Craigmac,

Just wanted to add another voice of welcome and say that I agree with the good posts above by OM47 and Lioness. Your future pet fish are among the tiny percentage of lucky ones who will have a fishkeeper who found out about the important basics of providing good water -prior- to them being chucked in to their future home!

~~waterdrop~~