URINE vs AMMONIA CHLORIDE powder for tank cycling

Nano, how old is your current tank?

 

3yrs

 

the human body is a fairly amazing filtration system...........honestly the amount of ammonia that is released in your urine is actually going to be fairly low, unless you have some type of liver problem or kidney problems. What you will get is a lot of other things such as sodium, urea, nitrites, etc. Plus if you are on any type of medicine, drank anything, etc it can show up in there. I wouldnt use this method because 1. it would gross me out, 2. i think there are enough other stuff in our urine that it might cause some unknown problems, 3. not enough ammonia to create big enough difference.

I do think you need to use ammonium chloride and not ammonia chloride. The chemical structure is difffent so be careful when buying the powder.
Ammonium chloride - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

ChemSpider | ammonia chloride | H3ClN

 

sorry, shoud clarify you need to add either PURE ammonia or ammonium chloride
Aqadvisor.com - Cycling a new tank

 

just one more note and i'm gonna let it go, i know that human urine is one of the best ways to cycle an aquarium, that urine, that is so gross to some is in your body inside your blood stream it really can't get any more close to you then that, on your hands in the tank would be alot lesser way of contact,
here is one more write up on the benefits for using it.


"Fishless" cycling | The Skeptical Aquarist

 

Your article says that the bac. in bottle is no good. I never trusted them either. but iv never read any bad reviews on products like 1) Seachem - stability,
2) MB7, 3)Dr. Tim - one and only(used by mr.saltwater tank). i guess ill try with Dr.Tim when i setup my new tank to see that it really works..

 

i have no true experience with these products. I have used microbacter 7 when i used Vodka dosing but other than that.

I think some of the bac in the bottle they might have been refering to is some of the earlier stuff that came out. My old lfs that I used to work at many years ago would use some stuff and then throw a bunch of fish into the system with bad results. I think wiht this stuff it goes back again to patience. I dont recommend it for the newbie.......because there is something to be learned from doing a slow cycle. Instant gratification with cycling to a newbie can lead to dumping a lot of fish into the system at one time but someone who understands the whole nitrogen cycle and will test their systems and understand the fact that regardless of how cycled your tank is you still need to go slow probably would have great results!

good luck and keep up up to date on your progress.

 

Bacteria in a bottle has come a long way since that article was written.
I just used a small piece of tilapia to start my cycle using completely dry rock. No buying/measuring ammonia and no animals harmed (other than the tilapia at some point somewhere, but not by me LOL).

 

Well i had come across an article yeras back which i cannot find again. He was a marine biologist and the article was on a fish only tank cycling. what he suggested was to use some rocks and porous sand for bac to grow. he use to add ammonia and test for ammonia every 24hrs. when it turned 0, he would add again and continued the 3 times. once the ammonia and nitrite become 0 after 3times, he would again add ammonia till 3ppm and then wait till ammonia and nitrite become 0 (approx 8hrs). once the nitrates are around 30ppm, he would add a chromis. he would feed it for 2 weeks, and monitir for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. once everything is clear and nitrate go below 20ppm, he would add 2 fish every week and none die......... (there might be some ammonia or nitrite spike when you start the lights after adding the first fish, but it will become 0 quickly) He always said that BACTERIA ARE AIR BORN.

 

This is exactly why I wouldn't do it. I fear no pee.