Fishless cycling

[quatermass]

In my various experiments into fishless cycling of a tank I came across the inhibiting effect of the ammonia on the nitrite->nitrate bacteria.

I read from a Seachem filtration PDF:


A Primer on Aquarium Filtration by Leo G. Morin, Ph.D
http://www.seachem.com/Library/Articles/A_Primer_Aquarium_Filtration.pdf

That instead of using ammonia to start off, you add Sodium nitrite to kick off the nitrite->nitrate bacteria growth first. Then after this starts to work you add ammonia.

Nice idea. But where do I get Sodium nitrite?


I know its a food additive (E250) so should be cheap.

I suppose Potassium nitrite would do instead.

 

[PsiPro]

Its out there, ebay had some in the US.

http://www.google.com/products?q=sodium+nitrite&btnG=Search+Products

the 'pure' stuff looks expensive....

[PsiPro]

I just read that KNO3 aka Saltpeter and can be bought readily in hardware stores as stump remover (but don't quote me on the purity).

[quatermass]

OK, but Saltpeter is potassium or Sodium nitrate....

[PsiPro]

Damn it i've done that twice now looking for this thread.

[I_Am_That_Is]

I was just online looking up stuff and I saw on there something about fishless cycling. It said adding something organic or a little fish food and letting it decay would start of the cycle. I was wondering if this has any merit to it.

[quatermass]

I was just online looking up stuff and I saw on there something about fishless cycling. It said adding something organic or a little fish food and letting it decay would start of the cycle. I was wondering if this has any merit to it.

Absolutely. But it's so unreliable. You can't control the level of ammonia being produced or when it starts being made. You are also adding organic material which breeds unwanted organisms.
(If you think about it, what is converting the food into Ammonia? - Bacteria and fungus of unknown species that's what!)


Getting a liquid form is not so hard to find. Most small DIY stores sell the raw Ammonia in a bottle or garden shops sell it as plant food. Look for the N-P-K statement on the side with the P & K being zero and the N (nitrogen) at say ~10ppm.
 

See our article on Ammonia - Ammonia#Sourcing_Ammonia

Quite honestly if you do want to wait 5 weeks for the aquarium to cycle go down this route. Me, I've done lots of experiments on fishless cycling now and I now prefer spending a little money and use a decent bacterial bottle and a bottle like Prime. I get the tank set up in a few hours and the tank fully cycles in 3 days with 100% zero harm to the fish with no mess.