Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

So has anyone found a source for clear ammonia with guaranteed no additives?

If not is there a (trying not to use the word market ) for some.

Have been contemplating procuring some anhydrous ammonia gas and making some up.......................

lol. macgyver to the rescue.

You could use bicarb of ammonium instead (dry white powder), as a leavening agent it must be fairly safe.
Might be easier to find than ammonia gas too

not if you're a fridgie

is the ammonium bicarbonate easy to get pure? baking soda usualy only had small % of NH4HCO3 if i remember right as it has fallen out of favour as a levening agent BESIDES i want an excuse to by some ammonia!

hello? Asio?

hehehhe i never knew it was so easy to make AN

im finding that most things are a lot easier to make yourself than we all think

Hi Steve,

Do you particularly need to use pure ammonia?

Fishless cycling can be achieved with a variety of nitrogen sources.....including fish food.

Gary

think he just want to play with NH3 Gary. Steve try shrinking some Dollar bills in a bucket of liquid, works a treat.
I would not think keeping NH3 in the house to safe unless ye have a pressure relief valve installed. Depends on the charge of course.
For fun have a look at the (crosly ball) I think its called. Neat little fridge device. Ya could make one of those!

or (crosley icyball) rather.

Gary, decomposing fish food can quite happily provide a food source for saprolegnia, Troutman can better familiarize you with its devastating effects.



True



it would be in the garage and refrigeration bottles are well equipped to store it unless severely overheated

And back to the ammonia, having a source of known concentration aqueous ammonia takes the guesswork out of other methods of fishless cycling.

10 drops will always give you X ppm of ammonia in your tank, which you can monitor and "top up" daily. once the system processes a known ppm in 24 hrs (cant remember the ppm) and has zero nitrites it has cycled.
Without the possibility of a huge colony of fungus ready to attack a fish stressed by relocation.

Sometimes it`s a case of having to make it yourself.. if it `s not on the shelf you can`t buy it

ice ball looked like it was cutting edge back in the day!

sad that we have "forgotten" such simple devices

today on an isolated property you would need a solar panel, inverter, battery and bar fridge to accomplish the same thing

Steve,



Since Saprolegnia is a naturally occurring fungus in water and soil, would it not be a prospective risk regardless of the nitrogen source that was being used for fishless cycling......or has it been found in the fish pellets?

If not fish food.......what about fish meat from a healthy fish as a source of nitrogen?

Fishless cycling has been in use by aquarium-keepers for the past couple of decades and, although I see references to the use of pure ammonia, I haven't yet encountered anyone who can actually find the stuff (except perhaps someone like yourself who works with large-scale refrigeration).

Gary

Gary,
much like our nitrifying bacteria colonies growing in size in response to their feed source (ammonia) the naturally occurring sap. that has decomposing fish food will do the same.

There is much info available on the topic. here is one link. http://www.fishdoc.co.uk/disease/fungus.htm

Over feeding can cause the same thing, i have personally experienced that (there is a whole thread on it, i think its in the fish section)

10% ammonia (more likley 25%) ammonia could probably be bought and shipped from a lab supply place and even a very small qty would service a large group of like minded individuals.

Your right about the ammonia refrigerant, although i've never touched the stuff. Just looking for an excuse to play with some i figure between making up some AP ammonia and building a solar ice maker i might get through a bottle.

Steve