Fishless Cycling Situation

[Captain Retardo]

Okay, Thank You Very Much!

 

[vic]

http/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surfactant
Have a look at this web site. looks to me like something you need to get rid of. I would suggest draining and scrubing thoroughly with sea salt and a weak bleatch mixture. Multi rinses and start over with usp ammonia. the danios aren't a bad way to go either. Simple and no chance of contamination.
Cheers

 

[Captain Retardo]

I didn't read every single word, but it says that it is just used for easier spreading. And is used in detergents, but I guess it is not a real detergent.

And according to Wiki, detergent is not necesarly soap, if you use water for cleaning, it is considered detergent!

It also said detergents are often used for surfactants in general and surfactants are not used for cleaning, they are used in ammonia only for spreading, such as cleaning a window with having to rinse it off!

 

[Captain Retardo]

So, Is surfactant safe then???

 

[Kairi]

I have no idea... but I know it's not ideal. It doesn't cycle as well... something about the bacteria not liking it?

 

[qwikimpss]

Always better safe than sorry tho, yanno, the fewer chemicals in your tank (IMHO) the better.

 

[Captain Retardo]

It's way too hard to find the right ammonia though, and Cycling with Fish seems like too much of a hassle (with the water changes and slowly adding fish)

 

[Kairi]

it is hard to find it.... but you will eventually

 

[Captain Retardo]

The thing is that my dad cannot take this annoying ammonia game anymore! One person from another forum that I go to that is local to me said that she used some ammonia from a hardware store, it was Janitorial Strength and didn't have ingredients, it bubbled but it definetely did not fizz and the bubbles popped right away when you stop shaking it, she used it and she was fine, but she only used it on a teeny tiny tank.

 

[Kairi]

if it weren't such a dangerous chemical i'd give you half my bottle... but i don't think the US Postal Service would appriciate me shipping that Call grocery stores, hardware stores, convience stores, etc from home and ask them if they have ammonia- talk to an associate on the floor and ask them to go shake it... (sounds weird, i know)... and ask them if it bubbles. then you won't have to drive everywhere to find it

 

[Captain Retardo]

thanks for the advice!

Just a quick question:Why don't pet stores sell it? Is it because they haven't caught on to fishless cycling or something?

 

[Kairi]

Why don't pet stores sell it? Is it because they haven't caught on to fishless cycling or something?

They won't make money off it. I wondered the same thing as I went to check at Petco one day.... unfortunatly I ran into a girl who thought she knew everything about fish and basically called me a "dummy" saying I had no idea what I was doing- and I was going to kill everything (except I had nothing but gravel in the tank... go figure). I walked out so mad that I wrote quite a letter to the company (she doesn't work there anymore, thankfully)...