Average Joe Who Wants A Fish Tank

[Mikaila31]

When my first tank cycled I knew nothing about it, by the time I had learned about cycling my tank was done cycling. I once tried fishless cycling in my quarantine tank, but I made It freeze up by adding too much ammonia . So I gave up on that and went back to taking mature media from my 55gal and instantly cycling my tanks.

As far as trying to give advice to people, I will if they as me a question. The most common question I hear is, "Is that saltwater or freshwater? in regards to my tropical tanks. My LPS even seems unable to tell the diff between salt and freshwater fish, I stare in wonder at the guppies in with the clown fish. I figure if I start taking of cycling no one going to understand me.

 

[Tolak]

I do not understand why shops don't sell cycled media. I change out floss in my box filters, which I use for mechanical filtration, every 2 or 3 weeks, depending on the tank. It without a doubt has a good buildup of nirifying bacteria, as I have shipped this to TFF members in the past.

I stock tanks the way your lfs does, and toss out a gallon bucket of used floss weekly. I get poly floss cheap from Walmart, it's nothing more than pillow stuffing. If I sold a large handful for $1 I would make a profit, easily paying for new floss. As it is I give it away on occasion, but usually throw it away.

It would be a cheap profit maker for any shop, stuff some extra floss in the central filtration or run some extra in whatever filtration they may be running.

 

[backtotropical]

Good point Tolak, but surely when you add extra media, the bacteria will spread itself out to colonise all the media. ie. just because you have more media, doesn't mean you have more bacteria.

My point is, say you double the amount of media in your filter so you can sell some, then you sell half the media, you would be left with only half the original bacteria. I know the bacteria will double in 24hrs so it shouldn't be a problem, but do the LFS's know that? I think probably not, and even if they do, they probably wouldn't want to risk a 24hr ammonia spike when it's their livelihood at stake.

Don't know how accurate my theory is, but just my 2 cents on the matter.

 

[Tolak]

I couldn't imagine a shop selling half their media in a day, much less a week. They would basically have to be selling, in new tanks, 50% of what they are running, in 24 hours. If they do that in a week they are doing very well, and could probably dedicate a 55 to running filters & dumping in ammonia.

Remember, you wouldn't be selling enough media to stock a new tank with the bio load of a shop tank, it would be enough for a minimum stocking to get their tank running safely with a minimum bio load. When you consider with a traditional cycle you are stocking at about 1/5 the stocking of a fully stocked tank, or probably 1/15 of a shop or breeding tank, since shops, and breeders, will stock up to 3 times the home hobbyist rate, you are not taking away much media at all.

One of the largest setups I've seen with a centralized system, and one that is easy to do the math on, is a system with 300 forty gallon tanks, using a 300 gallon tub full of bio balls. That figures out at one gallon of bio media per 40 gallon tank, stocked at the rate that any large commercial breeder would. Figure 1/3 gallon for a fully stocked hobbiest tank starting out, or 1/15 gallon for a newbie tank. That ends up being 8 1/2 ounces of bio balls, out of 300 gallons.

Most shops I've seen are about 1/10 that size, so figure thirty 40 gallon tanks, and 30 gallons of bio media. I'm tired of math now, how many gallons of newbie tanks, given the figure of 8.5 ounces of media per 40 gallons, would they have to sell in a day, or a week, to use half their media?

 

[jourdy288]

I then realized that the guy thought that i am a total looney. He really wasn't interested in fishless cycling, he just wanted fish in his tank...

How can you sell fishless cycling to these people? It's so frustrating to know that i can give the guy better advice than the LFS will, and even more frustrating to know that he won't listen.

Believe me, as someone who has never done a fishless cycle, the very idea of pouring ammonia into a tank that I would be planing to put living creatures into sounds totally bizarre. Even knowing all I do now, I'm not sure I would actually do it.

Pouring ammonia? I don't do that I just add some food and let it rip!

 

[chibi]

I just say "If you put fish in, they'll die. You'll waste your money."

That usually convinces people.

 

[Musho3210]

splash some ammonia on his face with some fresh human feces from the sewer line. Then say that was a fish cycle and slam the door in his face. Secretly follow him to his house, turn off his water supply so he cant wash it off. Cut his phone lines so he cant call the police or anything, blow up the local internet providers main operating system, as well as the cell phone towers, board up his house, wait 4-6 weeks then go back in, if he is alive, congratulate him on making it though the fish cycle, if he died, well.... karma i guess.

 

[KraKen]

It'd be more accurate to pee in his face since mammals excrete nitrogenous waste as urea not ammonia.

 

[invader]

splash some ammonia on his face with some fresh human feces from the sewer line. Then say that was a fish cycle and slam the door in his face. Secretly follow him to his house, turn off his water supply so he cant wash it off. Cut his phone lines so he cant call the police or anything, blow up the local internet providers main operating system, as well as the cell phone towers, board up his house, wait 4-6 weeks then go back in, if he is alive, congratulate him on making it though the fish cycle, if he died, well.... karma i guess.

I think you need to go to bed Musho...