Dr. Tims for cycling aquarium?

[deftonead]

Recently I saw a threat about fish less cycling using ammonium chloride and I was intrigued so I purchased some. Anyone ever used this before? It states on the bottle that 1ml per 20 gallons should bring the ammonia up to 2ppm. Well I'm setting up a 20 gallon quarantine tank and 6mls later I'm now approaching 1.5ppm... is this stuff really this diluted?

 

[luisagos]

This bottle of reagent grade ammonium chloride is for use when fishless cycling. Concentration is 50 mg/L of total ammonia-nitrogen (TAN). Dose 4 drops per gallon of aquarium water.* Use with One and Only Nitrifying Bacteria.

1 drop equals 0.05 ml so this bottle will treat 300 gallons.

Generally during a fishless cycle one needs to add ammonium chloride to their tank 3 or 4 times so this bottle is enough ammonia to cycle aquariums up to 250 gallons.

Some conversions:

1 teaspoon equals about 5 ml which is 100 drops
1 tablespoon equals almost 15 ml which is 300 drops

*NOTE: As of November 1, 2016 we changed the concentration of the ammonium chloride solution so it now takes 4 drops per gallon. The previous version called for 1 drop per gallon. Please see the label on your bottle to determine how much to use. If the bottle say use 1 drop use 1 drop if the bottle says use 4 drops use 4 drops.

 

[deftonead]

Yes... I read this. I have a bottle of their more concentrated batch from before nov. 2016. 20 drops per 20 gallons brings you nowhere near 2 ppm.

 

[luisagos]

The Dr Tim, bottle or the test kit is defective.

Is one of the two, maybe your real lucky and both are bad, lol.

 

[luisagos]

If you trust your testing kit, than get it to 2 ppm.

Using this, will get you cycled within days, Petco sells them.

Instant Ocean Bio-Spira

 

[cnreef]

I've used Dr. Tim's before and it worked very well for me, just followed the instructions.

 

[rfalvey89]

I have used this on multiple occasions and it worked flawlessly.
Actually my brother in law just got the freshwater version for his tank and it did the trick.

Amazon carries it ( decently priced ) and every tank I have had; I have used it , QT , Display , etc..even threw some in my pond.

 

[Snookster]

Couple pinches of fish food or piece of shrimp works great too. May take another week or 3 to do it's work. In this hobby, nothing good happens fast.

 

[Reeferman1019]

I used the dead shrimp method and some microbacter 7


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[rfalvey89]

good discussion on this topic

I did the shrimp method ....but good grief did it stink the house up.
found the Dr. Tim's to not smell.

Thoughts/perspectives?

 

[BryanS4]

I used a combo of Dr. Tims and Fritz Turbo Start on my display that I started a few months back and it worked perfectly.

 

[deftonead]

Well I guess it's my brand new salifert test kit that is faulty... I took a sample to work and tested it with a hach and an API kit and they both read like 8 ppm. I guess I'm going to do a water change, buy a new(different) test kit and start over

 

[cnreef]

I will say if you're interested in buying, never pay full price. He is always running sales on his website quite often.

 

[BryanS4]

Well I guess it's my brand new salifert test kit that is faulty... I took a sample to work and tested it with a hach and an API kit and they both read like 8 ppm. I guess I'm going to do a water change, buy a new(different) test kit and start over

Ditch the other stuff you bought and start with this.

https://www.amazon.com/DrTims-Aquatics-Nitrifying-Bacteria-Cycling/dp/B001LUMZ4C?th=1

 

[riverviewmike]

Mr. Saltwater Tank did a video with Dr. Tim. Apparently he assisted in setting up the Georgia Aquarium using the same stuff.

I used his product and was very pleased.

 

[luisagos]

Dr Tim Hovanec, the creator of biospira.


Just saying, its sold locally, at Petco.

 

[deftonead]

I'm not adding bacteria. I just threw a piece of live rock from my tank in there and cycling it with ammonium chloride

 

[deftonead]

I think maybe I'm confusing everyone and I didn't explain what I was doing. If I add biospira or dr. Tims bacteria it would only seed the tank with bacteria. That doesn't mean the tank is cycled... it needs a food source (ammonium chloride). Only when the bacteria population has multiplied enough to consume 2 ppm ammonium chloride within a 24 hour period is really considered cycled and safe for fish. I was having trouble getting the initial 2ppm to start the cycle because my test kit is garbage. Anything over 5 ppm will kill all your nitrifying bacteria so now I have to start the process over.

 

[luisagos]

I think maybe I'm confusing everyone and I didn't explain what I was doing. If I add biospira or dr. Tims bacteria it would only seed the tank with bacteria. That doesn't mean the tank is cycled... it needs a food source (ammonium chloride). Only when the bacteria population has multiplied enough to consume 2 ppm ammonium chloride within a 24 hour period is really considered cycled and safe for fish. I was having trouble getting the initial 2ppm to start the cycle because my test kit is garbage. Anything over 5 ppm will kill all your nitrifying bacteria so now I have to start the process over.

I understood what you where doing. Once you have 2 ppm, you can add biospira. That is how the complete process works, if you want a cycle less than 1 week.

If not the a live rock would seed in 3-6 weeks.

 

[riverviewmike]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPxExG-FbvI

Watch this video. Very informative. Dr. Tim will explain how his product works to help cycle your tank.