GuppyTeacher

Okay I tried to do the right thing. I began sunday cycling a new tank fishless. I have been doing all the research and I heard that anything with Pure Ammonia on it would be just great. As well Great Value brand was supposed to be one of the brands on the okay to use list. Silly me I didn't read the label or shake the bottle. Never will do that again. Great Value brand Pure Ammonia has surfactants in it!!!!! I drained the tank, wiped everything down, rinsed it again. Wiped the tank out with vinegar and got all evidence of the stuff outa there. Threw away filter because it was full of white powder. Filled up tank again found Ace Hardware Janitorial Strength 10% ammonia. No suds and no dyes but also no list of ingrediants. I still have white gritty substance building up on the bottom of the tank. Is that something in my water or still left from the Great Value Ammonia?? What should I do

Peterpiper

Hi GuppyTeacher,
was the water treated with Prime or some thing to remove the clorine?

GuppyTeacher

Yes I used AquaSafe to remove chlorine and chloramines.

Shawnie

Hi guppy...I dont know the answer to your question, but great job doing it fishless! Im sure someone will be here soon to help answer it...if you see susitna on, she knows about the pure ammonia very well so give her a shout to see if she can help you...goodluck !!

susitna-flower

HI! WELCOME TO FISHLORE! Good job on all the research...your fish will love you!

I have no idea of what the white is, it might be in your water, so you have gravel in the tank? It doesn't sound like it...try vacuuming it out and see if it continues. You could check this by drawing a container of water and letting it set for a couple of days....

If you had gravel, I would say it could just be dust from that which wasn't rinsed off...

GuppyTeacher

You are correct there is no gravel. I will try vacuming it up but from my last experience it was not real easy to get it to let go of the bottom. Thank you for some suggestions.

COBettaCouple

I've not used ammonia to do fishless cycling, just old fish food so I'm not totally sure on this one, but it could be left over from the GV ammonia. You might want to clean the tank out with a 1 part bleach, 19 parts water mix to clean the tank. Then rinse it out a few times with warm water and fill it up, then put in 4-6 times the recommended dose of dechlorinator and start cycling from there.