Ammonia

[Thyra]

I went back and read my posts about not being able to find ammonia when I first got on this site. OC and Laura were very helpful. I even tried calling Parson’s but got no where. Something still bothers me: One of the bottles I bought at Walgreens was labeled “Clear”(not “Pure”) but it still said “Perfumes and Dyes”. I could see it didn’t have any color to it, and it certainly smelled like ammonia and nothing else, but when I shook it, it foamed and someplace (which I can’t find the source) said, if it foams or bubbles it has surfactant in it. OC had a bottle from Walgreens and hers didn’t foam or bubble. I don’t know what the rules for labeling are on cleaning products. I think more and more cleaning products will have surfactant in them because they supposedly clean better and make the product more “ecologically friendly”. I would really think it would not be good to pour something that foams or sudses into a fish tank even without surfactant listed on the label.

 

[aakaakaak]

Normal ammonia stuff comes out yellow with the random stuff they put in it.
Clear ammonia is designed to look clear, but it has bad stuff in it. (parfumes and dyes)
Pure ammonia will be clear, but have the only ingredient listed as "ammonia".

If there is anything but ammonia on the ingredient list then it is not good for your fish tank.

Note: I think Walgreens sells the "Pure" brand of ammonia, but I'm not exactly sure it's "pure".

That's what I took out of it.

 

[Thyra]

You've just added another level "normal with random stuff" lol No one should be putting "random stuff in their tank either. All I am trying to do is warn people to be careful which ammonia they use and how easy it would be to make a mistake.

 

[aakaakaak]

I was thinking about sterilizing my son's old plastic toys (including a huge plastic castle) and using them as the primary decorations in my new 29 gal, but then I remembered we threw it out a few years ago. I'm really a "random stuff" kind of guy at heart.

 

[achase]

I agree when using ammonia in your tank it's important to make sure to use pure like Thyra said. A good warning for newbies and oldies trying a new method of cycling.

 

[Lotus]

I'm closing this thread as it seems to be attracting a lot of spam. Please PM me or any of the moderators if you need to reply to it. Thanks!