Cycling Without Putting In Amonia

[Beemeeup]

175 litre tank
planted (2 days ago)
no fish
starting to add flake and 'treats' every day

Q. how long would it take approx to complete cycle?

i prefer not to use neat amonia unless i have to - any advice gratefully received.

 

[WILDER]

You could add frozen prawn in a net and remove them and replace them with fresh every couple of days.

 

[Beemeeup]

You could add frozen prawn in a net and remove them and replace them with fresh every couple of days.

thanks for help - will do.

 

[kakihara]

you could also buy some cycle product from your pet shop, I don't know how reliable they are in terms of time scale (some may say you can put fish in after a couple of days) but I'm sure it would help speed up the process.

Plus I don't know how expensive frozen prawns are

 

[dwarfgourami]

you could also buy some cycle product from your pet shop, I don't know how reliable they are in terms of time scale (some may say you can put fish in after a couple of days) but I'm sure it would help speed up the process.

The general consensus of this forum seems to be that the cycle products don't do a lot. What would help would be if you could get squeezings from the filter media of a running tank to pour over new filter media.

 

[PinkyPerky]

I didn't add any ammonia when I cycled my 16 gallon tank, I did add flakes and frozen prawns and it took 5 weeks for readings to peak, then 10 days for then to drop to zero.

 

[itchirichi]

Sorry newbie question : is there a reason why you choose not to add ammonia to cycle?

 

[Boids-n-more]

If you want your tank to cycle you need to add amonia in one form or another. You can do a fishless cycle by adding pure amonia , by adding food or a dead prawn to decay and rot in your water ( sounds the worse to me) , or by adding fish that defcate in the water to add amonia. I'm not sure what your trying to ask here but without amonia you cannot cycle your tank.

 

[Beemeeup]

thanks everybody - I wasnt keen on handling amonia - anyway - i tried today to measure the required amonia - it took 4 drops in a two gallon bucket to get a reading of 4. my tank is 38.5 uk gallons - reducing this figure by the quantity of substrate (about 4 gallons) -

i think i need to put in 69 drops of amonia - (38.5 - 4 = 34.5 / 2 = 17.25 * 4)

i guess i then have to wait until the reading for amonia comes to zero then add some more.

does this sound ok?

 

[Silverlady]

My tank is 30 gallons, when i cycled it i just put in a teaspoonfull of Ammonia and then tested the water. I found that much made the water test out at 5.00. then i only added more when readings went down.
The Cycle took 16 days.

 

[Beemeeup]

My tank is 30 gallons, when i cycled it i just put in a teaspoonfull of Ammonia and then tested the water. I found that much made the water test out at 5.00. then i only added more when readings went down.
The Cycle took 16 days.

thanks for that - my tank is in the living room and i wondered if the amonia in the tank would give off fumes?

 

[Tolak]

No more than a tank with fish would give off ammonia fumes if you were cycling with fish. I cycled a 65 gallon in my living room with ammonia a couple of years ago, the ammonia is so diluted there are no fumes.

 

[itchirichi]

If you want your tank to cycle you need to add amonia in one form or another. You can do a fishless cycle by adding pure amonia , by adding food or a dead prawn to decay and rot in your water ( sounds the worse to me) , or by adding fish that defcate in the water to add amonia. I'm not sure what your trying to ask here but without amonia you cannot cycle your tank.

Sorry I should have been more clearer. Is there a reason why one would choose not to use neat ammonia (as in choose a fishless cycle)?

I ask this because the OP says "i prefer not to use neat amonia unless i have to - any advice gratefully received.", I was just curious whether there is a negative to using neat ammonia.

 

[blue_soda025]

Household ammonia used to cycle a tank shouldn't be very dangerous to handle. The concentration isn't that high and you won't be adding enough ammonia in your tank to give off fumes.

 

[Silverlady]

Just don't smell the opened bottle