Has anybody used this ammonia?

FishForums.net Pet of the Month
🐶 POTM Poll is Open! 🦎 Click here to Vote! 🐰

emualex

New Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2021
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Location
Colorado
Cycling my second tank (to be a planted shrimp/rabbit snail tank) and got tired of watching fish food decompose without giving me enough ammonia, so I got this.
1626149353134.png

It doesn't have a fragrance/soap smell, but there was no ingredient list on the bottle. After some internet digging, it has
water, ammonium hydroxide, tetrasodium EDTA, sodium C10-16 Alkylbenzenesulfonate, Sodium Xylene.
I'm kind of hitting a wall researching these chemicals. the only definitive answer i've gotten is that tetrasodium edta is fine for shrimp but that a close chemical relative of it is used as a pesticide for snails.
very confused, tired of watching fish food melt into my gravel, and not feeling that week of shipping for the aquarium-specific ammonia off of amazon.
 
(also i already have plants in the tank)
(also i would move bacteria sources from my main tank, but i just had an ammonia spike in that tank because i had to take the water level way down (and accidently dried out my filter) to move it across the room to make room for the new tank)
(and yes i have been putting the old water from my main tank into the new one but it's barely ever hit above .25 ppm, and i'd feel more comfortable getting higher levels)
 
Ammonium hydroxide is what you want.
Tetrasodium EDTA is the metal binding chemical found in most water conditioners, so that's fine as well.
But........
Alkylbenzenesulphonate is an anionic surfactant.
Sodium xylene is another anionic surfactant.

Surfactant is another word for detergent. We can't use ammonia which contains detergents for cycling, I'm afraid.



Many American members use ammonia from Ace Hardware - is there one near you? Alternatively, look on Amazon or eBay. In the UK, those sell Dr Tim's Ammonium Chloride which is meant for cycling. Even if it takes a while to arrive, if you can't get pure ammonia locally it may be the only option.
 
I think you should look up what a surfactant is and then decide if these surfactants are safe or not, most are organic products. Personally I would never cycle a tank using Ammonia.
 
It's not whether they are organic or not, it's that they prevent the bacteria from growing because of their nature. No detergent should be put in a fish tank.
 
Ace hardware sells Ammonia for cycling, they offer shipping too. There site seems to be having issues, but here is a link:


I bought one years ago and still have 2/3 of the bottle left after cycling many tanks.
If you find other ammonia, shake the bottle to see if it foams. If it does move on, lol.

If you are cycling the Fritzzyme Tubo is a good way to kick start a cycle, I don't normally like cycle-in-a-bottle products, but this one has worked well for me. Its refrigerated.
 
Ace hardware sells Ammonia for cycling. There site seems to be having issues, but here is a link:

I don't trust that "clean scent" part of the description, sounds like it's perfumed, which is not good for cycling....this is the one I've always used, but not sure if they sell it anymore, I still have some in the original bottle I bought years ago
 

Attachments

  • Ammonia.jpg
    Ammonia.jpg
    14.6 KB · Views: 57
I don't trust that "clean scent" part of the description, sounds like it's perfumed, which is not good for cycling....this is the one I've always used, but not sure if they sell it anymore, I still have some in the original bottle I bought years ago
I think they changed the label, as its the only one they offer now. Mine has the same label you have, but the site is spooling for the past 20 min so I can't get anything else but the image.
 
I think they changed the label, as its the only one they offer now. Mine has the same label you have, but the site is spooling for the past 20 min so I can't get anything else but the image.
I'd like to see the ingredient list, the "old style" bottle listed ammonium hydroxide and water, which is what we want....
 
Here's the MSDS, looks like it contains ammonium hydroxide and "anhydrous" ammonia...
 

Attachments

  • MSDS.pdf
    464.8 KB · Views: 65
So its good to cycle with 👍

According to Google:
Anhydrous ammonia (NH3) is the foundation for all nitrogen (N) fertilizers. ... Ammonia in this form is also known as ammonia gas or anhydrous (“without water”) ammonia. At room temperature, ammonia is a colorless, pungent-smelling gas and is lighter than air. At minus 28 degrees Fahrenheit, ammonia is stored as a liquid.
 
Hello :)
Why don't you let Mother Nature in charge of cycling ?
Is it this tedious to wait 4 little weeks ? Yet it allows to observe and notice the changes in the aquarium...
 
Bacteria need ammonia to grow, leaving a tank sitting for 4 weeks without anything to feed the bacteria you are encouraging to grow will not cycle a tank. Not sure what other natural way there is as this is natural?
 
Did I say "without anything" ? When I set up a tank I put neutral substrate, roots, many plants, and water. Cycle does itself without adding anything else.
 

Most reactions

trending

Staff online

Members online

Back
Top