house hold ammonia to kick start a nitrogen cycle

[jimmy frag]

What Is Household Ammonia Made of? Nitrogen
Physician and chemist Daniel Rutherford discovered nitrogen in 1772 when he removed oxygen and carbon dioxide from air. It exists in both liquid and gaseous forms. Nitrogen does not support life on its own. Earth's air contains 78.1 percent nitrogen. All life forms on Earth contain nitrogen. In fact, it is one of the primary fertilizers for plants and is essential to their growth. In addition, nitrogen is an element in all proteins.

Hydrogen
Discovered by chemist Robert Boyle in 1671, hydrogen is the most common element in the universe. The universe is comprised of 90 percent hydrogen by weight. It is one of the two elements that make up water. This makes it essential to life on Earth, since water is present in every plant and animal. Most of the hydrogen we use is chemically produced by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen, or by adding acids or compounds to metals to free the hydrogen.

Water
Household ammonia is a diluted form of NH3, also known as ammonium hydroxide. Typical household ammonia formulations feature a 5 to 10 percent concentration of ammonia. Added water controls the strength of the compound,

so is it safe ? why are we not all using house hold ammonia to kick start our nitrogen cycle

 

[Crit21]

You have to know if there any additives to the ammonia, like detergents, scents, etc.

Sent from my VS930 4G using Tapatalk 2

 

[rayjay]

Many already do use it and have been for many many years.
I myself have been using ammonium chloride powder for almost 19 yrs now and it is very convenient to use also.

 

[Northside Reef]

Do you guys have a particular brand name or source to share?

 

[Northside Reef]

RayJay,

This the stuff?

 

[jimmy frag]

any hardwere store and most shopping markets carry ammonia. some products have additives for "fresh sent" .... i also believe ammonium chloride powder is ammonia and acid added together, heated up to a boil to evaporate moister and changeing its state to a powder. (anyone ?)

 

[disc1]

any hardwere store and most shopping markets carry ammonia. some products have additives for "fresh sent" .... i also believe ammonium chloride powder is ammonia and acid added together, heated up to a boil to evaporate moister and changeing its state to a powder. (anyone ?)

Close enough. Ammonium chloride is the product of ammonia and hydrochloric acid. It is a convenient way to get it to powder form where it doesn't evaporate away like it does in solution and also cuts down how basic it is.

 

[jimmy frag]

thank you David, was hoping you would chime in. would you use liquid ammonia to jump start a nitrogen cycle in the aquarium. Lemon free of course

 

[disc1]

thank you David, was hoping you would chime in. would you use liquid ammonia to jump start a nitrogen cycle in the aquarium. Lemon free of course

I've never personally done it, but I wouldn't be scared as long as it is good purity and no detergents or scents. I think I would prefer the powdered NH4Cl for just that reason but either should work.

 

[wooden_reefer]

The major problems with ammonia from a bottle is unknown concentration and unknown additives.

Dont scream! Ammonium nitrate fertilizer sold at HD and Howes can be used as a good source of ammonia that is odorless, if you plan on changing 100% of the water after the cycle, and rinse the medium, to be used in QT especially.

 

[rayjay]

There are probably localized brands most people buy but as mentioned, as long as nothing else is added, the liquid stuff will work just fine.
Add until you have the ppm of ammonia you wish to start with and let it go. Some add a bacteria starter as well but I've never bothered.
As for the fertilizer link, I believe that the fertilizer is mixed with something or it would say 100/0/0 so I wouldn't use that product myself.
I bought a small jar of ammonium chloride, pharmacy grade, probably less than 3 oz from the pharmacy near me and I use so little per occasion that I still have plenty left after all the years I've been using it.

 

[jimmy frag]

what bacteria starter would be used. is that the stuff in a bottle from the LFS ?

 

[Northside Reef]

here is the spec sheet for what I linked above

http://n.b5z.net/i/u/10066364/i/Ammonium_Sulfate_Spec_Sheet.pdf

David could you please look it over and tell me if it is safe to use?

 

[jimmy frag]

arsnic 3%, lead 10%, iron 10%

 

[disc1]

here is the spec sheet for what I linked above

http://n.b5z.net/i/u/10066364/i/Ammonium_Sulfate_Spec_Sheet.pdf

David could you please look it over and tell me if it is safe to use?

Is there any specific reason you choose the sulfate over the chloride? No more of it than we're talking about using I wouldn't think it would upset the ionic balance too much, but it just seemed a different choice.

As far as the specs on it go, it doesn't look bad. There is lead in there, but you won't be using enough of it to really introduce much lead. If you dose to ppm levels of ammonia then you'll only be adding parts per trillion of lead. And that is IF it is at their maximum accepted level, it's probably far below that in reality.

 

[Northside Reef]

Is there any specific reason you choose the sulfate over the chloride? No more of it than we're talking about using I wouldn't think it would upset the ionic balance too much, but it just seemed a different choice.

As far as the specs on it go, it doesn't look bad. There is lead in there, but you won't be using enough of it to really introduce much lead. If you dose to ppm levels of ammonia then you'll only be adding parts per trillion of lead. And that is IF it is at their maximum accepted level, it's probably far below that in reality.

I didn't. I clicked on the wrong link they're right next to each other

http://alphachemicals.com/msds___specs


Here is the correct spec sheet I am sorry about that. You'll notice in the original link I did link the chloride. But when I went to the manufacturer web site I clicked the wrong spec sheet.

http://n.b5z.net/i/u/10066364/i/Ammonium_Chloride_Spec_Sheet.pdf

 

[biodegraded]

I use Ace janitorial strength ammonia cleaner. It's 10% and has no surficants or perfumes and costs like $3 for a quart. I ground through the numbers a while back and it worked out to within measuring error that 1 ml of cleaner raises 5 gal of salt water to 5 ppm NH3.

 

[bertoni]

I agree that ammonium chloride should be fine, if pure enough. Personally, I just add a bit of fish food.

I personally don't bother with bacterial supplements.

 

[wwanthony]

Yes. Get the clear white stuff at any Supermarket. Don't get the lemon scented or any of the other variations. Clear and White.

W

What Is Household Ammonia Made of? Nitrogen
Physician and chemist Daniel Rutherford discovered nitrogen in 1772 when he removed oxygen and carbon dioxide from air. It exists in both liquid and gaseous forms. Nitrogen does not support life on its own. Earth's air contains 78.1 percent nitrogen. All life forms on Earth contain nitrogen. In fact, it is one of the primary fertilizers for plants and is essential to their growth. In addition, nitrogen is an element in all proteins.

Hydrogen
Discovered by chemist Robert Boyle in 1671, hydrogen is the most common element in the universe. The universe is comprised of 90 percent hydrogen by weight. It is one of the two elements that make up water. This makes it essential to life on Earth, since water is present in every plant and animal. Most of the hydrogen we use is chemically produced by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen, or by adding acids or compounds to metals to free the hydrogen.

Water
Household ammonia is a diluted form of NH3, also known as ammonium hydroxide. Typical household ammonia formulations feature a 5 to 10 percent concentration of ammonia. Added water controls the strength of the compound,

so is it safe ? why are we not all using house hold ammonia to kick start our nitrogen cycle

 

[disc1]

I didn't. I clicked on the wrong link they're right next to each other

http://alphachemicals.com/msds___specs


Here is the correct spec sheet I am sorry about that. You'll notice in the original link I did link the chloride. But when I went to the manufacturer web site I clicked the wrong spec sheet.

http://n.b5z.net/i/u/10066364/i/Ammonium_Chloride_Spec_Sheet.pdf

It looks about the same. Cadmium is scary, but it's only going to work out to parts per quadrillion. I think we can live with that. Anything you can find that is food grade or pharmaceutical grade should be OK.