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This method uses plain
old household ammonia. Look in the grocery
where cleaning supplies are found. What you
are looking for is pure ammonia with no
fragrance and sudsing agents. It is
dirt-cheap!
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DO
NOT ATTEMPT add ammonia to the
tank or pond that contains fish
or plants OR they will die quickly. |
Fill the pond and or
tank with clean water. Start your pump and
filter and air supply, if you use one. Make
sure there is plenty of media in the filter.
Check you your kh
(carbonate hardness or total alkalinity).
This number should be around 200. If it is
not around 200 add baking soda (good old Arm
and Hammer) to bring it up to at least 200.
When adding the
ammonia mix it in a bucket of water and
slowly pour in the pond taking care not to
get it directly on the filter or bio-media.
Add enough ammonia
to bring the level up to 5ppm. I can not say
how much to add because each system is
different and the gallons of water vary from
tank to tank or pond to pond.
Start with a small
amount of pure ammonia. Wait and let the
water circulate for an hour or so. Using
your ammonia test kit, test the ammonia
level in the water. If it is not reading
5ppm then add a bit more household ammonia.
Let the water circulate in the pond and test
again. Example: in a 1500-gallon tank it took
1 cup of ammonia to get to 5ppm on the
ammonia test kit. But your results may vary
because every pond of water has its own
make-up.
Repeat until you get
a reading on the test kit of 5ppm.
Once you get the
5ppm reading continue to test the water
daily around the same time until you get a 0
reading with the ammonia test kit.
Once the reading is
0 you can add fish. DO NOT under any
circumstances add fish until that ammonia
reading is zero, none, nadda!
If there is going to
be delay in adding fish to the pond or tank
you can add small amounts of household
ammonia every 24 hours to keep the tank or
pond cycled. You can actually do this
indefinitely. About 24 hours before you plan
to add the fish stop using the ammonia. Test
the water with a test kit and make sure the
ammonia and nitrite are both reading 0. I
know in my case that in a 1500-gallon tank I
need to add ¼ cup of ammonia every 24 hours
to keep it cycled.
Once the ammonia
drops to 0 that means that the ammonia is
being converted to nitrite. Add salt at the
rate of 1 pound per 100 gallons. This will
protect the fish from nitrite poisoning
Keep adding the
ammonia daily and start monitoring the
nitrite (not go be confused with nitrate).
You will see the nitrite peak and then
gradually begin to fall to zero.
Once both the
ammonia and nitrite are 0, it is safe to add
your fish and or plants.
I would also like to
add that there are a lot of variables on how
fast this method works. Water
temperature is a huge factor. The
water the water, the faster it will cycle.
There is also YOUR water's make-up. No
two water sources are the same as each will
contain its own mineral make-up.
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