And I agree that there is prob more than enough bacteria in the tank it's just over loaded with ammonia
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Ammonia can be of any source.
Pure ammonia is very common way and the most accurate to control.
I've done all my tanks with pure ammonia.
Especially if using bottle bacteria.
That's because it hasn't started processing nitrate. Tanks actually go through 4 cycles.... protein to ammonia, ammonia to nitrite, nitrite to nitrate and finally nitrate into nitrogen and oxygen where it is expelled into the atmosphere.+1. I used pure ammonia to cycle my tank. The only problem was getting nitrates down once it cycled. Took 7 water changes but did the job
The myth of using water from other tanks came simply as an extra source of revenue to people doing maintenance and LFS IMO.
It's very easy to fool someone and make them spend some extra $$$ to buy "cycled" water as most of the new people entering the hobby have no clue whatsoever about tank chemistry and how things actually work.
I'm sure the majority of us would have dropped the extra $40 or $50 when we started the hobby just to avoid those ****** weeks of waiting around to drop our nemos in the tank.
And what's the best way to do a big water change in one's tanks with free water and free salt? You know it, just sell the water you were going to throw out regardless and make a few bucks out of it...