Quote:
Originally Posted by djrichie
This is a very humane way to cycle at ank and I have used it in the past myself, however the hard part is find pure ammonia, with out any additives.....I found mine a ACE Hardware. I just mention this because that seems to be the question that I have been asked more often than any other when talking about fishless cycle. Also, I read on another forum site, that I guy in AU use his urine, don't know if that was true but he swears he did it that way......... to each him own I guess
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Both sides of the argument can be backed up with facts. Here are the facts on the pros and cons list.
Reasons why you could use urine to start your nitrogen cycle:
1. Ammonia in urine (in dog urine at least, which was the only one I could find using google) is 200 ppm. The goal in cycling your tank is to make it 2.0 ppm to start the cycling process. So, technically, there is enough ammonia in urine to start the cycle.
2. Urine is free and available everywhere. '
3. No fish necessary.
Reasons against using your own urine to start your nitrogen cycle:
1. Urine is sterile, so it doesn't have any 'bacteria' in it to help the cycle. That is not a reason to use your own urine.
2. Urine contains other wastes that you do not want in your fish tank.
3. Ammonia is readily available at supermarkets and pet stores, and is inexpensive. There's no reason to go around using urine (which has wastes in it) when you can just use pure ammonia.
4. Using pure ammonia from a store, no fish are necessary. You can even fish-less cycle with fish flakes, in fact.
5. Urine is gross. Putting it in your fish tank is gross. It will be yellow. It will smell bad. You'll need to clean your tank. The social stigma against using urine for anything is strong. Also, using ammonia is easy and cheap. Why use urine when you can use pure ammonia?
So don't use urine to cycle your fish tank. It's a bad idea because there are wastes in your urine that you don't want in your aquarium, and you don't need urine because pure ammonia is out there and it works better. Please don't pee in your fishtank. But if you do you might want to condition yourself first.
