A fishless cycle in 10 days?

[The-Wolf]

At work we recommend Sera products. The main ones are aimed at cycling a tank within 10days.
I am not confident in this approach so I have taken it upon myself to try it out.

The way my boss says to do it is slightly different from the way Sera say in all their literature, and it goes something like this…..

Day 1
Fill your aquarium with tap water and add Aquatan.

Day 2
Add the correct amount of Ammovec (40ml per 100ltr) and Nitrivec (20ml per 100ltr) and a small amount of food.

Day 3 through to day 10
Continue to use Ammovec (@10ml per 100ltr) and Nitrivec (@10ml per 100ltr).

According to my boss the tank is now cycled.

So there you have the theory, now to put it into practice.
I’m off to set up my new aquarium(Aqua-40) and try it out.


A bit of info on the products, taken from seras' website.
Aquatan. Retails @ (I forget, I'll edit tomorrow with price)
sera aqutan clears the water, immediately binds harmful heavy metal ions and neutralizes dissolved salts and aggressive chlorine. It protects the mucous membrane of the fish due to its valuable vitamin B complex and skin protecting colloids.

Ammovec. Retails @ £13 for 250ml.
Special blend of purification bacteria. The bacteria develop a natural micro life and a functioning nitrogen cycle within a short time.

Nitrivec. Retails @ £13 for 250ml (refills are available @£11 for 250ml).
Special mixture from different high quality purification bacteria for aquarium water. The bacteria develop a natural micro life and a functioning nitrogen cycle within a short time.

 

[Def]

Why the day 1 - day 2 gap? From your description of the Aquatan prod, I see no point...

 

[freddyk]

I'll bet I can do that cycle in less then half the time and without spending the money on all those consumables.

 

[terrorist_124]

i cycled my new 60g with 4 livebearers and it took me four and a half days.

any fish i've added since then is thriving

 

[Def]

terrorist, 4 1/2 days? you need some new test kits...

 

[Paul_MTS]

I'll bet I can do that cycle in less then half the time and without spending the money on all those consumables.

yep i don't even cycle tanks now, just add media from another tank. but for a beginner that doesn't understand cycling i personally wonuld like to see a product that works.

i cycled my new 60g with 4 livebearers and it took me four and a half days.

without using something of use from another tank you do not have a cycled tank. did you observe the rise and fall of ammonia then nitrites?

 

[bettaboi]

4 and 1/2 days thats pretty fast did you use media from an established tank

 

[terrorist_124]

yes i did
i put some gravel and water from my current tank
and ran a mature filter for 24 hours in the new tank.

the tank is doing fine i have put some rams ,which are considered sensitive to water conditions , and they are very happy.

 

[Paul_MTS]

in that case you didn't even go through a cycle.

the point of new products like this one is to cut out the need to cycle with out using bacteria from a mature tank or to make a very fast cycle, very litle people understand how to cycle a tank so telling them to add some chemicals for a week is easy if it works.

 

[glolite]

When you use gravel and media from an existing tank, is there any need to use ammonia. How do you know if it's cycled?

 

[bunjiweb]

I cycled my new 6ft tank within 2days using media from my existing tank This is the quickest way to cycle!

We sometimes offer a small ammount of gravel from our tanks at work for people to perform an "instant" cycle on their tanks. This way they can have fish in their tank within 5 days easily. And dont need to worry as much about observing the chemical changes in the water...

Ben

 

[glolite]

Yes but how do you know it's cycled? I'm probably being thick )

 

[The-Wolf]

Why the day 1 - day 2 gap? From your description of the Aquatan prod, I see no point...

This is where Sera and my boss differs
Sera state at least 2hrs from adding Aquatan before adding Ammovec and Nitrivec.

guys you are all missing the point here.
my boss swears by this stuff, I'm not convinced.
so this is an experiment to see if it actually does work.

These products are aimed, at least in our shop, at fish virgins.
that is to say those that don't have access to an existing set up
or those that don't have a clue, period.
How can I sell something, unless I know what it does first hand.

 

[dwarfgourami]

If you are looking for a product to cycle a tank in 10 days fishless, wouldn't it be just as easy to sell ammonia? OK, not all tanks are going to cycle in 10 days (though mine did), but I imagine a customer who can be persuaded to do a 10 days fishless cycle, could probably cope with a fortnight. Ammonia (together with an information sheet on fishless cycling) is one product I do think lfs's should be stocking.

 

[Paul_MTS]

not everyone one can get hold of ammonia easily in the UK. infact I'ved never seen it for sale, only time i'ved seen it is in a science lab at school.