Ammonia with surfactant

[Vivo]

I'm having trouble find ammonia... covid I guess. A friend gave me ammonia with surfactant. Can I use this in a fishes cycle? If not is there anything else. I've already done the fish food thing and it's not starting up my cycle. .

 

[tomiyama]

Sadly, no it needs to be pure ammonia....
Fish food should work, how long has your tank been running? You can increase the temperature with a heater, it does take weeks.

 

[ZMAN3]

I recommend Dr. Tim's ammonia. You can buy it from most aquarium supply websites, chewy.com, and I think even Amazon carries it. It's meant for fishless cycling and includes directions for dosing.

 

[Vivo]

Sadly, no it needs to be pure ammonia....
Fish food should work, how long has your tank been running? You can increase the temperature with a heater, it does take weeks.

It's been over a month with one and 2 weeks with the other. I put Stability in it for the week, longer for one and fish food. 0 everything! I just ordered the 64 oz today that I'll NEVER use, lol and Tetra Safe Start and I'll start over. Frustrating. Thanks for answering. Once I put in the ammonia, how long until I see nitrites?

 

[tomiyama]

Unfortunately it can take a long time, even over 2 months. I think the 55 g I restarted at the beginning of covid took 6 weeks to cycle, AND that was using filter media from my well established 45 gallon. I would:
1) increase the aeration of the tanks by lowering the water level so that there is more of a "splash"
2) Increase the temperature of your tanks to at least 80 (but not over 82F because I think if it gets up to 85F that is too hot for the good bacteria).
3) See if you can get some filter media from a healthy fish tank for a jump start, like a friend or a reputable store. Filter stuff is the best but if you can't get that you can try some handfuls of gravel (keep wet of course to keep the bacteria alive).
4) Keep the lid open so that you can "catch" impurities that will also help feed the bacteria.
5) I think getting the ammonia reading to 1-2 is a good idea as that is a nice strong bacterial base for your tanks.
6) It is frustrating to wait, I went through that recently and I'm the queen of delayed gratification, haha. I find a watched kettle doesn't boil so don't do a reading every day, it will drive you crazy (and cost you more money). I wouldn't even bother testing for other readings except for ammonia until that starts to climb.