No surfacants, soaps or other additives, just ammonium hydroxide in a water solution.One thing I would advise is to be careful how much you add to your new tank - this stuff is STRONG. I would say to start off by using at most half of what your fishless cycle instructions recommend.For those who are reading this review and wonder what fishless cycling is, here is an article:http://www.aquahobby.com/art