Fishless cycling

[On_a_dishy]

How best to start the ammonia build up?

 

[jaylach]

I would suggest that you start with the following on-site link as to cycling a tank.

Cycle Your Tank! A Complete Guide For Beginners

Fishless cycling https://www.fishforums.net/threads/cycling-your-new-fresh-water-tank-read-this-first.421488/ Silent or plant cycling https://www.fishforums.net/threads/planted-silent-cycling.470400/ Fish-in cycling...

www.fishforums.net

 

[Essjay]

The best way to get ammonia into the tank is by adding it from a bottle. It is getting harder to find pure ammonia these days, most of the ammonia on sale contains detergent. But there is a product made for cycling tanks - Dr Tim's ammonium chloride which is available on Amazon and eBay. Add the number of drops it says, wait half an hour for it to mix in then test for ammonia to make sure the level in the tank water is around 3 ppm.

Then follow the fishless cycling instructions in the link jaylach gave.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

There are more option than Dr. Tim's. Fritz makes two products. One is way more than you need (I use this) but the other is similar to the Dr. Tim's. For single use it is absolutely fine to use.
Fritz Aquatics Fishless Fuel Ammonia Solution for Aquariums 2 oz

By way of an explanation. In water, ammonia turns mostly into ammonium. So we have more NH4 (ammonium) than NH3 ammonia in our water, But one can clear ammonia by removing either NH3 or NH4. As soon as we remove one some of the other converts to that form to maintain the balance. This means removing just one form means removing it all. When we test for ammonia, most kits read Total Ammonia which is the sum of NH3 + NH4.

 

[Essjay]

Since the OP is in England, I'm not sure what else is available besides the Dr Tim's product. @On_a_dishy If you can find the one TwoTankAmin suggests, then yes, use that one.

 

[On_a_dishy]

Thank you, all!

 

[TwoTankAmin]

https://www.finestaquatics.co.uk/fritz-fishless-fuel-nh3-solution-2oz-60ml-treats-300-gal
or check Amazon UK

 

[Ichthys]

I’m in the UK. I would use Waterlife Biomature, to add ammonia and other essential minerals.

 

[On_a_dishy]

Thanks, Ichthys! I've just found some online.
I have some Seachem Stability but I'm thinking the bacteria will have nothing to munch on unless they have some ammonia.

 

[Essjay]

Yes, the bacteria do need food to grow. Ammonia from a bottle (or fish) then the nitrite made from that ammonia.

Just a word of caution - Stability may help with the ammonia eaters but not the nitrite eaters as it contains the wrong species. If you want to speed things up, look for Tetra Safe Start or Dr Tim's One & Only.

 

[Ichthys]

If you want to speed things up, look for Tetra Safe Start or Dr Tim's One & Only.

...or Waterlife Bacterlife.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

The nitrifying bacteria that keep our tanks safe do not form spores. They reproduce by dividing when there is more ammonia or nitrate than they need.

Read the FAQ on the SeaCem site for for Stability:

Q. Why does Stability™ not need refrigeration? If there's living bacteria in the solution, how do they stay alive for so long? Or is there something else besides bacteria in the product altogether?

A: The bacteria in Stability™ are alive but not active. They exist in a spore form. They can withstand extreme temperatures and do not require food to survive. When you add them to your aquarium they become active due to dilution.

The bacteria that require refrigeration are active. Refrigerating them slows down their life cycle and they require less food when cold. Because they are active they do require food, and that is packaged with them. They also will not survive extreme heat or cold and will die when they run out of food.

https://www.seachem.com/stability.php
The entire last paragraph is not correct.

Here are the facts from the PhD who discovered the exact strains of bacteria in aquariums.

How can bacteria live in a bottle and not die for 6 months or a year?

A common misconception about bacteria in general is that they die if they are not fed. From a human being point of view this sounds perfectly reasonable: if you don’t eat, you die. However, bacteria are not human beings. Bacteria operate much differently than people and have a variety of ways to deal with those times when resources are not available for them to grow and reproduce. Some bacteria when stressed (from say lack of nutrients) form spores and go into a resting stage, waiting for conditions to improve. Nitrifiers do not form spores but have other mechanisms to deal with nutrient deficient periods. For nitrifiers, one way to deal with stressful conditions is to form a protective “shield” called EPS. EPS stands for extracellular polymeric substances and is, in simplistic terms, an organic protective shield that research shows inhibits various organisms from attacking and breaking open the cell wall of nitrifiers. Nitrifiers belong to a very old line of bacteria (millions of years) and they have developed ways to cope with very long periods of “drought.” Because the nitrifiers in DrTim’s One & Only are grown on a substrate, they can form EPS when needed and last 6 to 12 months in a bottle.

It doesn't matter much when cycling. But that 1 year limit does not mean there are 0 viable bacteria in the bottle on day 366. What it means is that there are no longer enough to speed up a cycle. However, some number can last a whole lot longer. Bear in mind to create a viable bacterial colony anywhere requires only one live individual to start. Having just a single bacterium for ammonia would mean you likely would need a lot of months months (maybe years?) to cycle tank.

 

[Ichthys]

Having just a single bacterium for ammonia would mean you likely would need a lot of months months (maybe years?) to cycle tank.

Actually you can cycle a tank with just ammonia and tap water. The relevant bacteria will appear. Given that they both reproduce roughly once a day (with enough food present etc), 1 ammonia bacterium would become about 500,000,000 in a month. So it doesn’t actually take that long. We used to do it that way in the ‘old days’.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

That was an example. Under optimal conditions the ammonia ones can double in 8 hours and the nitrite ones in about 13. On the other hand a single bactermium would need an extermely tiny amout of ammonia to survive. Plus the situaution where viable colony of nitrifying bacteria dies off to the extent that there is just a single ammonia and nitrite bacteria and then they were in and environment with the right lvevel of ammonia to wake them and have them multiply is goinf to be pretty specific.

Aslo, using the old trick question of which would you rather have 1 penny which gets doubled eveyr day for 30 days or 1 million dollars right now. The answer is the penny, since in 30 days it would be worth $5,368709 but not $500,000,000.

However, the amount of ammonia needed to cause one bacteria to wake up and then reproduce is likely not measurable. And much more would likely kill it.

You are correct about what happens in a tank. Most home plumbing has bacteria living in it some where and this can easily provide seeding. And if that is not the case there are some of the bacteria floating in the air as well. But, as often as we say the nitrifyers are not free swimming (or motile) that is not quite true.

A small percentage of them are. What percentage is a function of the available nitrogen in the environment. Remember NH# and NH$ both contain nitrogen as do NO2 and NO3. When N availability drops, more of the bacteria will become motile. This means there is a great chance some may end up in a better place. When N is more plentiful, the numbers are lower. There is a pretty constant supply of ammonia in most stocked established tanks.