Fishless Cycling

[Steve]

I have read up on this and it sounds like a great approach. The ammonia I have is described as "clear" and the ingredients are: purified water, ammonia and a
chelating agent. Does anyone know if the chelating agent would be a problem?

Any hard core chemists or aquarists out there with the answer?

Steve

[Jeff Dantzler]

Steve > wrote:
> I have read up on this and it sounds like a great approach. The ammonia I have is described as "clear" and the ingredients are: purified water, ammonia and a
> chelating agent. Does anyone know if the chelating agent would be a problem?

> Any hard core chemists or aquarists out there with the answer?

The chelating agent is probably EDTA or something similar. Don't worry too
much because most tap water conditioners also have a chelating agent.
It removes metals from solution and is fairly harmless.
Besides, you *are* going to do a BIG water change once your tank is
cycled, right? You'll end up with a ton of nitrate if it works and you
don't want to add your fish with all that nitrate in there.

Cheers--Jeff Dantzler

[Steve]

Thanks for the info. I did plan on doing a 50% water change. Should that
be enough?
Steve
"Jeff Dantzler" > wrote in message
news:1065138058.642077@yasure...
> Steve > wrote:
> > I have read up on this and it sounds like a great approach. The ammonia
I have is described as "clear" and the ingredients are: purified water,
ammonia and a
> > chelating agent. Does anyone know if the chelating agent would be a
problem?
>
> > Any hard core chemists or aquarists out there with the answer?
>
> The chelating agent is probably EDTA or something similar. Don't worry too
> much because most tap water conditioners also have a chelating agent.
> It removes metals from solution and is fairly harmless.
> Besides, you *are* going to do a BIG water change once your tank is
> cycled, right? You'll end up with a ton of nitrate if it works and you
> don't want to add your fish with all that nitrate in there.
>
> Cheers--Jeff Dantzler

[Alan Silver]

In article <w35fb.663532$YN5.511551@sccrnsc01>, Steve
> writes
>Thanks for the info. I did plan on doing a 50% water change. Should
>that
>be enough?

There's actually no reason why you can't do a 100% water change if you
want. It's not totally necessary, but fishless cycling often leads to
very high levels of ammonia and nitrite in the water, so the more you
change the better.

You need to measure the levels in the water and see how much a 50%
change would dilute them. If that's sufficient, then OK. It depends on
how much seed you put in in the first place.

Bear in mind that only a very small percentage of the bacteria live in
the water, so you won't do any harm by changing more and you may save
your fish from a nasty death.

HTH

--
Alan Silver