# Fishless Cycling and Ammonium Chloride



## Demigod (Mar 22, 2013)

I'll be setting up a new tank very soon and will do a fishless cyle on it. It will be my first, and I have a few questions.

1. I purchased Dr Tim's Ammonium Chloride. The instructions baffle me. It says to add 4 drops per gallon to achieve 2ppm, which I've read is where I want it to be. I have a 70 gallon tank. I cannot imagine adding 280 drops of a solution to my tank. I know that's what it says to do, but it just sounds absurd. If it really means 280 drops, would getting regular ammonia at the store be less tedious and more concentrated and a better way to go?

2. I plan on driving 400 miles to a large fish supplier in Portland once the tank is ready so i can pick out my fish in person. Once the tank is good to go how long can I maintain it in ready mode before adding fish? I might not be able to get fish in the tank for 2 weeks once I know its ready.

3. I also bought Tims One and Only bacteria. How long can I expect the process to take once I start it up?


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## Walt (Feb 21, 2017)

Demigod said:


> I'll be setting up a new tank very soon and will do a fishless cyle on it. It will be my first, and I have a few questions.
> 
> 1. I purchased Dr Tim's Ammonium Chloride. The instructions baffle me. It says to add 4 drops per gallon to achieve 2ppm, which I've read is where I want it to be. I have a 70 gallon tank. I cannot imagine adding 280 drops of a solution to my tank. I know that's what it says to do, but it just sounds absurd. If it really means 280 drops, would getting regular ammonia at the store be less tedious and more concentrated and a better way to go?
> 
> ...


I would suggest reading the very good article on fishless cycling here. viewtopic.php?f=4&t=239823

1. Ammonium chloride in its purest form is a solid, but since the instructions are in drops, you have a ammonium chloride solution. This is fine, you will just need to follow the directions on the bottle, since we don't know the concentration. I usually shoot for between 2 and 3 ppm. There are about 20 drops per milliliter, and 5 milliliters is equivalent to one teaspoon. Given your calculation based on the instructions, I would recommend just going with a 300 drop=15 mL=3 teaspoon=1 tablespoon dosage. I use a 10 ml syringe (you can get them from a pharmacy counter) to dose ammonia. Once it is added, wait about 20 mins then test for ammonia and see what your concentration is, and adjust accordingly.

2. Once you are able to take a dose of ammonia and convert it to nitrates with zero ammonia and zero nitrite in 24 hours, you are cycled. If you are not ready to add fish at this time, you will need to keep feeding your bacteria every other day. Just be sure to keep up with water changes to keep nitrates at acceptable levels.

3. It is really hit or miss with bottled bacteria. I have never had a tank that was immediately cycled as they claim on the bottles. I used 2 different products on my last tank, and it sped up the process, yet still took 3 to 4 weeks.

It is worth noting that I was only answering the questions you presented here, and the answers were not intended to encompass the complete process. I'd recommend again reading the article that I linked above.


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## gillmanjr (Jan 27, 2017)

280 drops sounds wrong to me although I've never used that stuff. I used the Fritz's ammonium chloride, which is solid white crystals, and it took less than a teaspoon of it to get 2 ppm in my tank, which is 50 gallon.

If it really does take 280 drops I would return it if I were you and get something else. The process is likely to take at least a month and you are going to be dosing your tank often. You'll end up spending hours putting drops of that stuff in.


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## Walt (Feb 21, 2017)

gillmanjr said:


> 280 drops sounds wrong to me although I've never used that stuff. I used the Fritz's ammonium chloride, which is solid white crystals, and it took less than a teaspoon of it to get 2 ppm in my tank, which is 50 gallon.
> 
> If it really does take 280 drops I would return it if I were you and get something else. The process is likely to take at least a month and you are going to be dosing your tank often. You'll end up spending hours putting drops of that stuff in.


Why does it sound wrong? If his tank is 1.4 times bigger than yours, it seems pretty reasonable IMO, even if the solution is saturated (~40% at room temp).


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## gillmanjr (Jan 27, 2017)

Walt said:


> gillmanjr said:
> 
> 
> > 280 drops sounds wrong to me although I've never used that stuff. I used the Fritz's ammonium chloride, which is solid white crystals, and it took less than a teaspoon of it to get 2 ppm in my tank, which is 50 gallon.
> ...


I was only speculating, I've never used that stuff or even heard of it. But who wants to stand in front of their tank and put 280 drops of anything in there? For the last 2 weeks of my cycling I dosed my tank with ammonia every 24-48 hours. There is no way I'd be counting out 280 drops of a liquid solution every time I did it. Thats crazy. If I was him I would either get rid of it and get the solid stuff or figure out exactly how much volume the 280 drops corresponds to and use another method, like a measuring spoon. Even then its easier to use a solid form.


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## Demigod (Mar 22, 2013)

Thanks guys. I see I'm not the only one thinking about the trouble I would go through putting 280 drops in a tank every time. Craziness. I'm sure putting 300, and/or 1tbsp, would work just fine, and would use up the entire bottle in 4 uses. It didn't cost much, and I think I'll just pass on it and find some regular ammonia and follow the steps outlined on the link that Walt provided.

If dosing the tank every 24/48 hours after its cycled will keep it cycled, I'm good to go and will be able to plan a weekend trip to the supplier once the tank is ready. From what I've ready the One and Only bacteria additive I have will speed things up a bit, and that's why I bought it.

Thanks!


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## tanker3 (May 18, 2015)

280 drops is about right. I remember years ago when I had to use ammonia to cycle my tanks. I too bought a small syringe from "Local Pharmacy store" and just did the calculation. In a 75gal, 10 drops or more, +/- will not make a big difference. You will still need to measure and adjust anyway. In cycling a new tank, do not worry about the exact drops, we get too caught up in this----Ex: Opps, I put in 3 drops too many, or was I at 240 or 250 drops. You will still need to measure and adjust anyway. Just RELAX


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## Walt (Feb 21, 2017)

gillmanjr said:


> Walt said:
> 
> 
> > gillmanjr said:
> ...


Fair enough, i just thought you might be seeing something that I didn't. When I did my last fishless cycle, I needed 200 drops or so of ammonia each dose, but I used a 10 mL syringe and it was really simple. The fishless cycling article talks about that conversion, and I would be very surprised to see anyone actually count out 280 individual drops.


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## Walt (Feb 21, 2017)

tanker3 said:


> 280 drops is about right. I remember years ago when I had to use ammonia to cycle my tanks. I too bought a small syringe from "Local Pharmacy store" and just did the calculation. In a 75gal, 10 drops or more, +/- will not make a big difference. You will still need to measure and adjust anyway. In cycling a new tank, do not worry about the exact drops, we get too caught up in this----Ex: Opps, I put in 3 drops too many, or was I at 240 or 250 drops. You will still need to measure and adjust anyway. Just RELAX


In my over a decade of schooling, the most important thing that I learned in organic chemistry, or lab in general, is when I need to be precise, and when I don't. Things are easier when you don't have to stress about everything.


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## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

One & Only works. It's not an instant cycle, of course, but it should cut down on your cycle time significantly.

Once your tank cycles your bacteria will not die off if you stop dosing. It certainly won't hurt to do so, either. As long as your media/tank stay aerated you're fine. Without a food source(ammo, nitrite) the bacteria you've developed will go dormant.


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## wryan (Dec 6, 2015)

Iggy Newcastle said:


> ... Once your tank cycles your bacteria will not die off if you stop dosing. It certainly won't hurt to do so, either. As long as your media/tank stay aerated you're fine. Without a food source(ammo, nitrite) *the bacteria you've developed will go dormant*.


Thanks very good info to know ... thanks ! :thumb:


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## Demigod (Mar 22, 2013)

I found Ammonia Hydroxide (10%) at ACE. The tank is actually about 67 gallons, and not quite full, so I added 5mL to it. We'll see how it goes.

I'm going to finish cycling the aquarium on main main setup thread here.


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