Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

For those that have tried fishless cycling with pure ammonia I have a couple of questions:

did you get a large PH change during the cycle?
if so did it stabilise after the cycling was complete?
Did you do any water changes during the cyclling?
How long did it take and what amount of water were you cycling?

Where did you get your ammonia supply from?

Thanks

Hi skygazer:

No, not that I noticed
N/A
No
2 weeks, about 150 gallons (560L)
Weis grocery store chain (regional in Eastern U.S., tried half dozen other stores and they either didn't have it or it foamed which means it had detergents which would kill the fish)

What about good old Human Compost Activator? Aka pee?

Urine is much more easily sourced than pure ammonia. Be sure the donor is healthy and free of medications. Be careful of fecal contamination. And don't tell your wife.

I agree - urine is easy to get and works well

I agree... don't tell your wife

I agree.. be careful of fecal contamination

For sure.... this is certainly no fecal matter

i'm not touching this one LOL

Thats fine, but how much will I need to start a 2000L system?

well, originally SOME people thought you'd need a football team...........VB should be able to give you a rough guide, but you'll probably be more likely to run into overdosing situations rather than not having enough!

The concensus seems to be... surprisingly little..... try some then test the next day or two after.... if need be add extra and test again...

I say put in as much as you can, if it can cycle on more than whats required then that is a good thing. You know then you can have more fish straight away...

Tim, there are scattered reports (and some confirmations) that over a certain ppm ammonia might inhibit good bacteria growth.

I'd say get a test kit, "dose" till you have say 2ppm, then "re-dose" when it comes down to say 0.5ppm.

you can probably consider yourself cycled when it will process the 2ppm down to zero in a day and you have no nitrites.

Steve

I've had the bacteria working fine at over 8ppm ammonia, but I agree it is probably best to work up to it. Get the biofilter processing as much as it will handle and you will be in good shape for when you add the fish - because the bacteria will then reduce to the required level.