Dr. Tim’s Aquatics Ammonium Chloride Aquarium Treatment for Fishless Cycling – Chlorine Free, Fish Tank Cleaner for Saltwater, Freshwater, Reef Aquariums – 100% Natural – 2 Oz.

Really nice to have, for the purposes of accelerating the cycling a new aquarium without any animals in it. It lasts a very long time, as well. Provides an ammonia source, essentially food for bacteria, in order to accelerate their reproductive rate. Be sure to read all instructions and guides before you use this.

Excellent product for getting your cycle going in a new tank.

So when I bought my 54 gallon aquarium... I did not know much. I was told at the LFS to buy this API quick start (good product) and some stress cost stuff and all good start adding fish... so I setup this tank and put the API quick start in and planted plants - one melted and the others did well but 3 days later my tank had a chalky appearance. So I took the filtering system apart EHEIM ( great product) washed the pre-filter and everything cleared. Perhaps it was the rotting plant? Needless to say I had to take the tank down and reset it up at home- same thing chalky after 3 days. So what I learned is that is a bacterial bloom but i provided no fish and no ammonia (fish excrement). So basically the bacteria bloomed and died. Ok I got this now. So did a 50% water change and started over again after receiving the DR Tim’s Ammonia Chloride. Put in API Quick start again and now added 216 drops of ammonium chloride- tested in the morning after. Ammonia was NOW at 4ppm. That evening tested and had a twinge of nitrite - just a barely there. Next morning tested and ammonia about 3ppm and definitely at .50 nitrite. Tested that evening now at 3ppm ammonia and 2.0 ppm nitrite - tested nitrate just a smidge. This thing is just rocking and rolling along in days!!! Only days !!! Following the exact path line! Wish I knew then what I know now - don’t use raw fish or raw shrimp or a bunch of fish food to generate ammonia - get a good product for starting quick with bacteria and this ammonia AN you’re set! This sooo speeds up the process!!! I’ll keep updating... UPDATE: next day: ok now ammonia is at 2ppm; nitrites at 2.00ppm; and nitrates SMIDGE... between 0ppm and 5.00 ppm. Plants in tank are thriving NOW! UPDATE 4 days in: Ammonia 2 ppm down from 4ppm Nitrites 5ppm up from 2ppm Nitrates now 10ppm up from trace 5 days - ammonia 1 ppm (when it gets down to about .50 I’m gonna have to add some more in) - nitrites 5 ppm - nitrates 20 ppm now 6 days Ammonia at ZERO - gotta add a full dose again. Nitrites 2 ppm Nitrates looks like 2 ppm a teensy bit darker but only a smidge - Nitrates going down? WELL water is crystal sparkling but apparently I have to add more ammonia....so gonna do it Plants looking REALLY good - I wonder if the plants are taking care of some of the nitrates? Tested Ammonia after 6 hours after putting it in and ammonia is back up at 4ppm 7 days Ammonia BACK DOWN to only .25 ppm! Nitrites at 2 ppm Nitrate at 5 ppm <- I believe the aquatic plants are using up the nitrates! And keeping it in check. 8 days Ammonia 0 ppm (adding another 1/2 dose 2 drops per gallon approximately 106 drops) Nitrites 2 ppm Nitrates 2 ppm

One drop per gallon and ammonium level perfect. Be advised, if you do use this product and an API test kit -- the API test kit does not test for lower levels of NH4, only NH3, so your results on that test might show lower than what is actually present. This problem does not exist for kits from Nutrifin or other tests that specifically test for NH3/NH4. Using this product, I cycled one tank in 5 days with a bacterial starter. I did add a little bit more ammonium chloride to keep the bacteria alive because I didn't anticipate the tank would cycle quite that fast and wasn't ready to go buy fish to sustain the nitrogen cycle. There is enough in this bottle to cycle more fish tanks than any one person will have for many years. Do not use household ammonia to cycle your tanks trying to save a few dollars. They contain surfactants, buffers and stablizers. The surfactants you can test for by shaking the bottle, but you probably don't have lab equipment at home to reduce the cleaning product and find out what else is in there. Not to mention, this process would involve heating the ammonia, making your house reek and probably get you sick in the process. DrTim's product is solid and he has been in the business of providing fish care products for many, many years. He developed Tetra's Safe Start, as well as Bio Spira and his own One and Only bacterial starter that you can find here on Amazon. Thumbs up Doc!!

I ordered 2 2 oz bottles because I could get them overnight vs 2 days on the 4 oz bottle. This is my first time using chemicals to cycle a sw tank. I usually add some raw shrimp to a mesh bag. That way takes about a month to cycle a tank but it’s effective. I have a WB 230.6. The tank has 100+ lbs of dry rock and 120 lbs of Caribsea live sand. The dosage is 2 oz per 100g. Although some of the comments read to use half. I added bacteria the day before and both bottles of the ammonium chloride the next day. 24 hrs later I tested my ammonia using a Sailfert kit and it’s reading 1.5 PPM. I’m happy that the cycle has started but was hoping it would be 2 or higher since there are no fish in the tank. Now I’m asking myself to get to 2 PPM do I order more product? Start adding fish food to the tank? Or let it ride and see what happens?

I like how small/compact the bottle is, I did not want a ginormous bottle of ammonia from like a hardware store. I also like how easy it is to administer the drops with a flick of the little tube thingy on the top, less chances of spilling and minimal smelly smells. I am on day 6 of my fishless cycle and between Dr.Tims ammonia and one and only fresh water nitrifying bacteria, I am starting to see nitrites go up and ammonia slowly going down. Soon I hope to see some nitrates, I know it wont be long. Here's to hoping I will have my tank cycled within another week or 2! It was shipped to me super fast with accurate tracking. I would definitely recommend this product to anyone who wants to give the fishless cycle method a try.

Right now i’m currently in the nitrite reading stage of the cycle. Took 2 weeks for that to happen. It also works way faster with a higher pH. My first attempt i had really soft and acidic water and there was no change for the whole month i was testing. After a water leak scare (false alarm) i refilled the tank and basically started over but added crushed coral. and like i said, it took about 2 weeks for nitrite to start showing which didn’t happen at all in the first try. This stuff works. Definitely faster than using fish food as an ammonia source.

This is a great way to get an ammonia source to start a tank cycle without having to sacrifice a fish or constantly be adding fish food. The bottle suggests 4 drops per gallon (1 per Liter), which seems like a lot but didn't seem to make a huge dent in even this little bottle in my 30 gallon tank. Will last a long time, although I would hope my cycle won't crash and I won't need it.