Ammonia to jumpstart a bio filter / new pond

[fishbone]

Has anyone here used household ammonia (without any soap or surfactants) to start the nitrogen cycle in their pond? - without any fish of course.

I have read up on the technique and am ready to try it but I wanted to hear from anyone who has done this.

Pros and cons?

[Flounder]

Yes, I am doing this right now and i was told by others that this works. I used standard unscented household ammonia.

Pros: quicker cycling, no stress on fish since it's fishless, cheap

Cons: Boring!!! no fish to watch

[B.Scott]

I have done it quite often to start my Q-tank in preparation of receiving new fish. It isn't a matter of just dumping in ammonia hydroxide as you really need to calculate the dose. Too much and you will end up inhibiting the growth of nitrite consuming bacteria due to high ammonia levels. Assuming most household ammonia is a 5% solution I try to maintain a level of 0,25. If you want to do this without all the math, you can try adding small amounts and then testing after it has had time to circulate. Eventually you can pretty much guess how much the filter is consuming and the needed doses.

Now having said this, please be aware that this isn't a road to a fast and bullet proof filter. It takes the same amout of time to filter a system this was as it does to do it with fish. Water temperatures must be sufficiant to promote bacterial development as well. Even after the filter has reached the capacity to maintain the ammonia and nitrite levels it will still be fragile and need watching as the relationship and ratios of the various bacterial colonies fluctuates trying to gain an equilibrium. This process will take more than a year in most cases. So it is very important to monitor the system and be frugal and constant with feeding regimes.

What you do have is a small step up the ladder allowing you to add fish and spare them a certain portion or the stress they would otherwise be subject to in a new, clean and completely uncycled system.

B.Scott

[fishbone]

Flounder and B.Scott, thanks for the reply. I'll be giving this fishless cycle a shot now.

[fishbone]

Filter brushes installed. Foam filter installed. Tank and filters full of water.

Ok , the water is circulating and I've added ammonia. First I used a 1/4 teaspoon in 1 gallon of water...ammonia very high. I then added another gallon of water and got the 5% ammonia reading. Then I figured 1/3 of a gallon ammonia for my 2000 + or - gallons.
30 minutes after adding the ammonia the reading is 5%. I used two different test kits and they are both very close to each other.

I'll check it again in the morning and if it needs it I'll dose it with ammonia again.

I should keep it above 3 - 4 % and wait for nitrites to appear correct?

I noticed the ph went up from a 7.4 (my tap water) to 9.0 and assume this is normal?

Water temp is 74 F.

[B.Scott]

Fishbone,

First off WAAAAY too much ammonia! I assume you mean 5 mg/liter and not 5%( !!!). If you have 2000 gallons (which I assume are US gallons and hope you used the meter when filling up) that comes to about 7,500 liters. A 1 liter bottle of ammonium hydroxide is about 5% or 50 grams of ammonia gas. I find a reading of 0.25 mg/ltr gives me the best cycling result. This would be about a 40 milliliters for a little more than 2 grams of ammonia
My guess is you now have this pegged off the the scale I'm willing to bet if you dilute the pond water to 50% you will still show 5 mg/liter. My figures show that 1/3 gallon is about 70 grams. You should be closer to the10 mg/liter than 5. This is much too much and will retard the growth of nitrite consuming bacteria which will not establish until this figure comes down to about 2-3 mg/liter

What ever you do don't add any more.

Did you dechorinate the water as well?

B.Scott

[fishbone]

I said 5% but it's actually 5 ppm. My test kit goes up to 8 ppm so I know it's not off the scale.

My first test was on two gallons in a bucket. I used a 1/4 teaspoon to get the 5 ppm in 2 gallons. For 2000 gallons i needed 260 or so teaspoons..this equalled 1/3 of a US gallon.
I am using US gallons. I used my pond test kit and the ammonia in the pond tested a bit less than 5 ppm.
I didn't dechlorinate since I let the pond circulate a couple days. We do not use chloramine here just chlorine. I didn't use the water meter for my gallons.

I used the measurements of 10' dia x 3.5' deep = 2050 gallons. But I sloped the bottom 6" deeper and only filled the pond to the 3' mark...confused yet ? LOL.
Each filter chamber is very close to 200 gallons each. So my actual H2O total is closer to 2500...

So is 5 ppm too much ammonia to begin with?

[B.Scott]

Just for the record, I have never seen a pond where the volume is underestimated. Most are over estimated by and average of 75%. Sounds cool to say you have a big pond but it can work out a bit differently when it comes to calculating a dosage of something that is a bit critical.



Always use the meter when filling a pond. I just redid my pond and can tell you the volume within 50 gallons.!



Like I said I consider 5mg/ltr a bit high but is you leave it for now you will get there. You may notice that the nitries stall at some point ie no longer go down. Best thing to do then is add some fresh water of some trace minerals like clay

B.Scott

[Rich L]

I would dump some and refill to bring the mix down. When you see nitrites, don't add ammonia yet.

After the nitrites drop off, watch the ammonia level and add enough to keep it around 2.5 mg/l. When it's working you can begin to increase the ammonia so the filter will handle a higher load.

This process allows you to add koi without the need for them to go through the startup cycle. It's tough on them and a lot of work changing & treating water.

A filter does a lot more than converting ammonia. That's what Scott is referring to when he referrs to it taking over a year to balance out. 2 years isn't unreasonable so don't buy so much koi until you're stocked too heavily.

[Lee B]

I've kept bioballs and kaldness in a barrel with a hefty airstone to keep it aerated. I use the household ammonia and watch it. When it goes to nitrItes, I know it's on the way. When it gets to nitrAtes, I know it's cookin'. At this point, I do water changes and keep feeding it ammonia for conversion. I watch this barrel just like my ponds. The biocolony will grow to meet the demand of ammonia conversion; I usually make it high so that I don't have to use ALL the media for a filter, maybe only 1/3 or 1/2 of it. It will seed new media that's added to the filter with it, while maintaining the situation.

By doing this, I have a constant, steady supply of virgin cycled media - especially nice for a hospital situation, because I don't have to worry about introducing other pathogens to an already stressed fish. When I'm done with the media, I sterilize it and add it back to the barrel to be re-seeded.

And if you ever have a friend that's accidentally nuked his filter, you'll be able to offer some to replace it.