Source for ammonium hydroxide?

Hey anyone here ever use ammonium hydroxide to kick start a cycle? I've read about it, the theory is sound, and it means I don't have to use a live fish. Not a fan of dropping something dead in the new tank either...

The problem is that because of the use of anhydrous ammonia in the manufacture of certain illegal drugs it's very difficult to find ammonium hydroxide in any form other than cleaning solutions which also have surfactants, perfumes, colorants and soaps in them.

Anyone have sugestions on where to get small quantities of ammonia? I've found big suppliers who will sell me 10,000 gallons on a rail car... don't think I need that much

If anyone here has some, I'll buy a little off you - however much I'd need to dose a 180g tank to get it going.

thanks!

-Doug

 

ammonium hydroxide - Google Product Search

found a few... however you might need to have a degree in chemistry to order off some of those sites :-/

 

btw... i think its a great idea because in theory it would also make your ORP higher, thus a faster cycle

 

I just use ammonium chloride from a bottle I got the pharmacy to bring in for me. It lasts a lifetime.

 

I can't help with the ammonium hydroxide source but I'm not sure I understand the hesitation to put some fish food in the tank. You're going to be doing a whole lot of that once the tank is up and running. It's all going into the system, nothing different is happening now to kickstart the cycle. Same exact process that will happen after the cycle.