Bottled Bacteria Poll

[nessar]

PLEASE dont vote if youve just started using it, or because the LFS or product told you something, or you dont test water or cycle your tanks.


Seen loads of posts saying 'well my tank is/will be fine because I bought Cycle, Stress Zyme, Safestart etc'

didnt see anything else about this, did a search. If there is another one, feel free to close this down mods.

I am asking about the basic off the shelf kind here. Not biospira - which I think is dicontinued anyway except from marine version and useless if not chilled properly.

I myself experimented whilst fishless cycling - I found the 3 mentioned above to have little or no additional effect on my ammonia levels after 12 hours. I have a 60 litre and added more than I was told to. But obviously it may not be the same for everyone, so I thought I'd ask.

Feel free to post justifications/comments but dont argue too much please

Thanks

 

[demasonisrule]

It didn't work for me at all, I tried it with no other form of seeding, and it never worked, so I ended up getting a bunch of gravel from my other tank, and it was done in 2 weeks.

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

Some people say they have good results with a few various products, but none have ever worked for me. I feel large frequent water changes and heavy Prime will do the trick if need be

 

[lumpyheffalump]

i tried stress zyme and i wasted my money i think its still setting in the trash can near my desk. also we tried a bag media called nitra zorb, yeah some real money snatchers!

 

[Duck and Dive]

I only use these when having problems with the new tank, I had a nitrite spike after a week due to the filter cutting out. So I grabbed a bottle of tetra safe start poured the whole bottle in and by the morning the nitrite had dissapeared! Still I would not use it to start a new tank as I would just put some old media in it instead.

 

[nessar]

ahhh well I cant comment on nitrite because for some really weird reason I never saw any, not even just a little rise. I'm glad people agree. I spent about £30 on this stuff, because my lfs and the manual for the tank said the tank would be ready for fish in 3 days if I did! Luckily P@H said I had to wait a week, which really wouldnt have made a difference anyway, and during that week I read about cycling and fishles cycling.

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

Might not contain live bacteria, but might well help speed up the process of establishing some in the filter, as one would imagine that it is designed to create a bacteria friendly environment, which treated tapwater might not already be!

 

[james_fish]

My most recent tank, I used a bottle of this but i would not dream of using it alone. I used some mature media and sponge to help kickstart my bacteria.

James.

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

My most recent tank, I used a bottle of this but i would not dream of using it alone. I used some mature media and sponge to help kickstart my bacteria.

James.

Exactly, not many people who have tank's already would use the stuff, when seeded media was already available.

 

[walkers101]

worked fine for me and ive used in 4 tanks now also my dad has used these in all his tanks over the years thats to breed discus and oscars