Regular Member Kissy Posted July 2, 2005 Regular Member Share Posted July 2, 2005 Okay there is NO plain old ammonia around here. I'm going to one more store tomorrow, but I don't think I'll find anything Would using fish flakes work to cycle the tank? I'd put them in my filter next to the cartrige so they don't wonder off and I can remove them easier. Would the flakes start to rot and get all fungus-y? Are their any other options? I have a ten gallon tropical tank, but its cycling right now so it wouldn't be good to remove anything except dirty water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Gold Ryu Posted July 2, 2005 Regular Member Share Posted July 2, 2005 No, Cause you need to have ammonia in it and nitrites. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Gold Ryu Posted July 2, 2005 Regular Member Share Posted July 2, 2005 I meant because not cause...Excuse my lame grammer... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Kissy Posted July 2, 2005 Author Regular Member Share Posted July 2, 2005 Won't the flakes be broken down into ammonia? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Gold Ryu Posted July 2, 2005 Regular Member Share Posted July 2, 2005 I thought it was the urine and poo that made the ammonia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest VxShady Posted July 2, 2005 Share Posted July 2, 2005 You'll more then likely find only pure ammonia at like an ACE hardware or Home Depot or something. Give those a shot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Drgong Posted July 2, 2005 Regular Member Share Posted July 2, 2005 You CAN use fish flake food to start the cycle.... Might want to buy a fish breeding net and start off with a big clump....then add a nice pinch full each day. ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Slugger Posted July 2, 2005 Regular Member Share Posted July 2, 2005 I think all organic stuff would decompose and give some form of ammonia. The problem with flakes is that the volume may be too small. I suggest a frozen shrimp. Slugger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Kissy Posted July 2, 2005 Author Regular Member Share Posted July 2, 2005 We do have a home depot!! I'm going to try and drap my mom off to there or lowes...but I don't think she will go. Lol yah right my dad would NEVER let me use a shrimpy for cycling a tank lol! As you can tell my parents aren't really fish people..and my mom hates them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Lozbug Posted July 2, 2005 Regular Member Share Posted July 2, 2005 i had heard that fish food can be used to cycle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Chishower Posted July 2, 2005 Share Posted July 2, 2005 I know what your talking about. I think you put the fish flakes or food or such in the foot part of a panty hose, tie it up, and hang it in the tank. That way, it can rot away without escaping into your tank. You can replace it when it gets really bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Drgong Posted July 3, 2005 Regular Member Share Posted July 3, 2005 get a couple of ouches of flake food, put it in a breeding net or pantyhose and heep it in.... and just remember, overfeeding kills many fish since if its on the bottom, it overloads the filter and crashes the tank,,, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Kissy Posted July 3, 2005 Author Regular Member Share Posted July 3, 2005 "and just remember, overfeeding kills many fish since if its on the bottom, it overloads the filter and crashes the tank,,, " ....I think you lost me there? I know over feeding fish is bad but...I can't find the connection? someone help a girl out? lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Drgong Posted July 3, 2005 Regular Member Share Posted July 3, 2005 "and just remember, overfeeding kills many fish since if its on the bottom, it overloads the filter and crashes the tank,,, "....I think you lost me there? I know over feeding fish is bad but...I can't find the connection? someone help a girl out? lol 355029[/snapback] In the Cycle, its based on a set amount of NH3(ammonia) going at the start of the cycle. when you overfeed, between the food rotting on the bottom and all the waste your fish make produce a lot more NH3 then you have the bacteria to process it, thus NH3 suddenly exists and poisons your fish, as it does not have enough bacteria to convert it to NH2- and then NH3-.... A example in my tank, my 29 gallon was cycled for my two moors, then I put a large redcap (debbie) that was more then twice the size of my two moors, and the next day, I notice signs of ammonna issues in the tank, and starting waterchanging, wondering what I did wrong, then I remembered, Debbie is a lot bigger then the other fish, and i more then doubled the output of NH3, so thus my tank had to cycle all over agian, though it does cycle quicker as you don't have to whait for the colonies to start, you just have to wait till they grow to meet the new demand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Kissy Posted July 3, 2005 Author Regular Member Share Posted July 3, 2005 Did I mention that I don't have any fish in the tank so it won't hurt anything? How is the effect you are talking about different than using flakes opposed to ammonia? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Drgong Posted July 3, 2005 Regular Member Share Posted July 3, 2005 Did I mention that I don't have any fish in the tank so it won't hurt anything? How is the effect you are talking about different than using flakes opposed to ammonia? 355319[/snapback] None - I was talking about when you have fiish and your overfeed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Kissy Posted July 3, 2005 Author Regular Member Share Posted July 3, 2005 Ohhhhh... okay All cleared up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member DataGuru Posted July 4, 2005 Regular Member Share Posted July 4, 2005 The bacteria that eat debris in the tank produce ammonia, so yea, adding fish food could work. From what I've read, quite a bit of the ammonia produced in tanks comes from those bacteria. I found the ammonia I used at Ace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Kissy Posted July 5, 2005 Author Regular Member Share Posted July 5, 2005 I don't think we have an Ace out here, and my parents keep putting off taking me to home depot to see if they've got it. Today I cut up a pair of my mom's pantyhose and put a pinch of tropical flakes in each, a rock in the bottom to hold them down. I stuck one behind of the cartridges in my filter and closed the lid with the tops of the pantyhose stickin' out. Am I supposed to add conditioner? On the fishless cycle page it says to add some before you add the ammonia, but on the bottle it says it destroys harmful ammonia. The conditioner I have is Tetra Aqua. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member kortniee Posted July 5, 2005 Regular Member Share Posted July 5, 2005 I think, though I'm not sure, that the conditioner will destroy some of the Ammonia at first, but it will also get rid of the Chlorine. Since you have nothing in your tank that's adding chlorine, this only needs to be done once, and eventually the Ammonia created by the food will be too much for the conditioner to handle. It probably will only delay the process by a tiny bit. I'd go ahead and do it now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Kissy Posted July 5, 2005 Author Regular Member Share Posted July 5, 2005 Good cuz I did it and then thought about the effects after I added it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member kortniee Posted July 5, 2005 Regular Member Share Posted July 5, 2005 I'm sure it'll be fine. If there was really a product that removed all ammonia, we'd probably all own it just in case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Kissy Posted July 5, 2005 Author Regular Member Share Posted July 5, 2005 Yah you're right Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member DataGuru Posted July 5, 2005 Regular Member Share Posted July 5, 2005 Typically ammonia binders just convert ammonia (NH3) to its less toxic form (ammonium NH4). The biobugs can eat either version. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Kissy Posted July 5, 2005 Author Regular Member Share Posted July 5, 2005 That's good to hear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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