# Fishless cycle



## integra (Oct 9, 2005)

I'm trying to cycle the new home for my 3 super reds and I am trying a fishless cycle. 
Problem that I am having is the only bottle of ammonia that I could fin is Goldex and it does not indicate what percentage the ammonia is has anyone tried this brand?


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## Kohan Bros. (Aug 24, 2004)

Look on the bottle and see if it says pure ammonia. Also look to see the ingredients, look for soaps or fragrances listed because u want to use pure ammonia and pure wont have anything. If u cant tell i wouldn;t use it.

hth


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## Dr. Giggles (Oct 18, 2003)

Shake the bottle real good. If it foams up don't use it.









Edit -- Good news. This is what my research has found out. Goldex Ammonia is a brand made by RW Packaging. It contains 5% pure ammonia, the rest water. Your good to go.


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## integra (Oct 9, 2005)

Awesome news except for the 5% part damn thats gonna be alot of drops!

Thanks guys


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## Dr. Giggles (Oct 18, 2003)

integra said:


> Awesome news except for the 5% part damn thats gonna be alot of drops!
> 
> Thanks guys


No it won't. Thats how it is sold usually. Some stronger some weaker. 100% ammonia is next to impossible to purchase these days due to security concerns. You should not fray from the fishless cycle procedure. You may wind up bringing your cycle to a crawl. Remember 5-6 drops per every 10 gallons of tank water per day until you reach nitrIte spike. Then 2-3 drops per 10 gallons of tank water per day until cycle is complete.


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## integra (Oct 9, 2005)

5-6 drops even though it's only 5%?


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## Dr. Giggles (Oct 18, 2003)

integra said:


> 5-6 drops even though it's only 5%?










For every 10 gallons of water. If your tank is a 30 gallon you will use 15-18 drops a day until nitrIte spike. Try doing it the same time every day.


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## integra (Oct 9, 2005)

jerry_plakyda said:


> 5-6 drops even though it's only 5%?










For every 10 gallons of water. If your tank is a 30 gallon you will use 15-18 drops a day until nitrIte spike. Try doing it the same time every day.
[/quote]

The first few days I put the minimul amount in and no ammonia was showing in my test so I added more and more every couple of hours till it hit 1.5 ppm which took alot more than the 6 drops per 10 gallon I did this for a few days to keep it around the same measure and now my nitrites are at 1.6(my tank is heavily seeded) so do I just cut the amount that I had added by 50-60 % or ween it to the 2-3 drops per 10 gal?


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## Dr. Giggles (Oct 18, 2003)

I would continue with 6 drops per every 10G until nitrItes have hit 4 ppm then cut it to 3 drops per every 10G.


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## integra (Oct 9, 2005)

Any idea how long this should take?
It's not that Im getting impatient I just want to make sure that I'm on the right track because my nitrites have not budged.


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## Dr. Giggles (Oct 18, 2003)

Fishless cycling without bio-spira should take 3 weeks total unless you overdose on ammonia which will then take longer. For nitrItes spike it should take about 10-14 days.


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## integra (Oct 9, 2005)

WTF? I just tested my water and instead of nitrites going up they went to 0 and my ammonia level is around 3-3.5. what would cause this?
Forgot to mention that I have 5-6 plants and my nitrates are about 5ppm.


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## Uncle Rico (Sep 4, 2005)

Is the 5-6 drops rule based on the 5%(household) ammonia he has or the 10%(janitorial strength) ammonia?


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## doctorvtec (May 15, 2004)

Peerahnya said:


> Is the 5-6 drops rule based on the 5%(household) ammonia he has or the 10%(janitorial strength) ammonia?


Follow the faq, it works.

The point of doing the 6 drops per 10 gallon is to build it up to 2 ppm gradually over a few days. If you try and stray away from it and try to manipulate the numbers yourself, you will get too high of a spike that can severely slow your cycle down.


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## Donq8 (Oct 16, 2005)

Intresting


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