Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Damnit but I'm getting desperate.

Alright, what if I do a 90% water change after the bacteria colony establishes itself? Actually, if I try to cycle with the incorrect type of ammonia, would the bacteria even be able to establish itself in the first place?

Ammonia shake: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjxTF1QeaZA

Just buy some "urea" balls from the gardening section...

The urea breaks down into ammonia pretty quick... and you don't need much...

But your system will probably still take 3-6 weeks to cycle properly anyway... depending on temperature...

Patience....

I'll look into that. Wall-mart's gardening center?

That might work. Apparently urea is 46% N, so if you can find something that says 46-0-0 or, better yet, urea, you are good to go.

http://www.simplot.com/agricultural/pla ... rt4600.cfm (general info)

http://www.home-improvement-superstore. ... map=714124 (an actual product you can order)

I don't think I would use that ammonia if I couldn't be absolutely sure it was only pure ammonia. Problem is if there are any "soaps" or "detergents" added to it, they are sufficants that will coat everything in the system and be nearly impossible to get rid of from the system later no matter how many times you might change the water. Getting rid of soap from an ap system would essentially mean taking it apart and rinsing each piece of gravel individually till everything is clear of all soap. This would kinda defeat the purpose of cycling up since very little bacteria could survive that process.

Also, the sufficant nature of soap or detergent might also inhibit the bacteria in the first place.

Finally, soap and detergent are death to fish since they coat the gills and sufficate the fish.

Hum, so what to use for ammonia.

If you can find urea balls, that should work but I'm not used to seeing them at garden centers around here.

I know that soaking some alfalfa pellets in water for several days will come out smelling much like manure. So if you were to make some alfalfa tea and then strain out the bits of alfalfa, perhaps you could use the alfalfa tea as an ammonia source. It might be worth brewing some up and then running an ammonia test on a diluted sample. This will only work if you have a place you can soak a few hand fulls of alfalfa pellets or something similar in some water. Keep checking on it since it can get smelly if left too long.

I wonder if simply buying a little bottle of fish emulsion fertilizer might be better but I don't know if anyone has tried this.

Ahhh heck with it, I've been doing some googlin' and hunting down threads in two other fish forums and some folks have mentioned using the Goldex brand from wal-mart with success. My one active thread in another forum has 1 5000 post member thinking it should be fine to use and the moderator agrees as it's only air bubbles, and not foamforming.

Not a big deal if things go worst anyways.

if some one else has used that type of ammonia to cycle up an aquarium that fancy fish went into, then it is probably ok.

Does the label show ingredients?

Nope, the company's product sheets suck too. Not much detail. I e-mailed them... I wonder if they'll respond.