Can I Add Fish Yet?

[Coco]

Hello, I am new to fish forums.... I have a question...I have been cycling my tank for a week using filter start bacteria and fish food as supplements. (fish food for ammonia and bacteria to establish the colonies). My readings are as followed
*nitrites 0.1
*ph 7.0
*ammonia 0
Is it safe to add 3 guppies and then build week by week?
Therefor starting a cycle with fish?
Is it safe?
If not how long should I wait?
Many thanks.

 

[This Old Spouse]

Hi, and welcome to the forum.

The bottled "bacteria" is pretty worthless and really doesn't do much. Bacteria need to be alive in order to do their job, and once bottled there's nothing for them to eat and therefore they die pretty quickly. The only real way to cycle your filter well is do dose with ammonia, following the instructions found here. It will take about 4-6 weeks to complete the cycle.

If you know someone who has an established tank, you can shorten the wait to almost nothing by getting some of their established media. How big is your tank? If the donor of the filter media has a 55g tank and you have a 20g tank, getting a third of their media will set you up perfectly and won't harm the donor's filter either.

Do you have a liquid test kit? It's important to get one, especially with a new tank.

 

[Coco]

Hi, and welcome to the forum.

The bottled "bacteria" is pretty worthless and really doesn't do much. Bacteria need to be alive in order to do their job, and once bottled there's nothing for them to eat and therefore they die pretty quickly. The only real way to cycle your filter well is do dose with ammonia, following the instructions found here. It will take about 4-6 weeks to complete the cycle.

If you know someone who has an established tank, you can shorten the wait to almost nothing by getting some of their established media. How big is your tank? If the donor of the filter media has a 55g tank and you have a 20g tank, getting a third of their media will set you up perfectly and won't harm the donor's filter either.

Do you have a liquid test kit? It's important to get one, especially with a new tank.

Thanks So much for answering.. Does the fish food I add not produce ammonia? I thought so as I had bacterial bloom a few days ago. Is there no way I can add a few fish into the cycle or is that dangerous? And if so how dangerous? Is it very likely they'll die? Many thanks.

 

[This Old Spouse]

The fish food has to rot first to produce ammonia, and as you can imagine, that takes some time. It's best to use straight ammonia for a fishless cycle

It's very dangerous to add fish to a tank with an uncycled filter, which is why we don't recommend it. In a cycled tank, the ammonia that's produced by fish waste is converted to nitrite, then nitrate. For a complete explanation to the nitrogen cycle, click here.

The fish won't necessarily die from being in this polluted water, but if they don't die they'll likely suffer long-term effects from ammonia poisoning. Where are you located? Maybe one of the members here can donate some filter media to you so you don't have to wait so long. I know, it can be a looooooong wait to get your first fish in your tank!

 

[Coco]

The fish food has to rot first to produce ammonia, and as you can imagine, that takes some time. It's best to use straight ammonia for a fishless cycle

It's very dangerous to add fish to a tank with an uncycled filter, which is why we don't recommend it. In a cycled tank, the ammonia that's produced by fish waste is converted to nitrite, then nitrate. For a complete explanation to the nitrogen cycle, click here.

The fish won't necessarily die from being in this polluted water, but if they don't die they'll likely suffer long-term effects from ammonia poisoning. Where are you located? Maybe one of the members here can donate some filter media to you so you don't have to wait so long. I know, it can be a looooooong wait to get your first fish in your tank!

I added fish food this morning and I tested for ammonia this evening, there was a small amount of ammonia present, I will test the ammonia and nitrite tomorrow morning if they are both 0, is it safe to add fish on Sunday? Thanks. *EDIT* I am from north east England.

 

[This Old Spouse]

Please, please read the section on cycling! You can click on it right below my sig photo: New to fishkeeping? Please click HERE! because it explains what you need to do rather than have me type it all again here. Not to be impatient, there's just a lot more info there. Please read it for the sake of your fish!

 

[D1s]

Ive got a new tank cycling at the mo and have been using the water from my current tank when doing water changes and adding it to the new tank just to help boost ammonia. My new tank is much much larger than the current one. Would you suggest this as a good idea?

 

[This Old Spouse]

The water in the old tank won't help cycle the new tank. All the beneficial bacteria is in the filter media, not the water. If you want to speed up the cycle of your new tank, take some of the filter media from the old filter and put it in with the new filter. Then do a fishless cycle in the new tank by adding ammonia. Follow the instructions in the link below my signature photo.

 

[D1s]

Ok cheers. The idea behind my thinking was that there might be ammonia in the old water to help things along. I know less than i thought. Great site for advice.

 

[snazy]

Hi Coco,
Do not put fish in the tank until ammonia and nitrite are constant 0s for a few days and nitrates are rising, providing you are still supplying with fish food.
Since you are using fish food as ammonia source, you wouldn't know exactly whether it was enough for a good bacteria colony to be established. Therefore take it slow when adding fish not to cause an ammonia spike.

The bottled "bacteria" is pretty worthless and really doesn't do much

This is not true. I know that there are a lot of debates on this topic, but sometimes I just can't read over and over people commenting on something they never tried. Or if they did, they used the bottles with wrong type of bacteria for nitrites, therefore none of the older products works.

I have cycled two tanks(7G and a 30G) with Tetra safe start and it took about a 1 week. I am waiting for my new 100G to arrive sometime next week and will do it again. For those that want to wait 4-6 weeks to cycle a tank, good luck.

 

[BigbruiserAl]

.

I have cycled two tanks(7G and a 30G) with Tetra safe start and it took about a 1 week. I am waiting for my new 100G to arrive sometime next week and will do it again. For those that want to wait 4-6 weeks to cycle a tank, good luck.

With respect i refuse to belive that the tank cycled in 1 week due to Tetra safe, never even heard of a 7 days cycle from mature media let alone the junk on the UK shelfs.

 

[snazy]

With respect i refuse to belive that the tank cycled in 1 week due to Tetra safe, never even heard of a 7 days cycle from mature media let alone the junk on the UK shelfs

You don't need to believe me.(by the way what do you think cycled my tanks in a week time then?) I suggest you try before you post ironic comments about something you do not comprehend.

When you use mature media it may take even less than that depending on how "mature" your media is and the differences in tank sizes and stocking level.
The bottle of Tetra Safe start contains a lot more bacteria than in a "matured" filter media.
And next time don't base your opinion on what you've "heard", but what you've tried

I've cycled both my tanks with it and I can tell you it works and it takes 7-8 days, providing you follow the correct instructions. I don't want to go in detail about it again on this forum, but will open a special thread about it soon when I start cycling my new tank

 

[Siggy75]

I'm a beginner and set my tank up using one of these products and I think they do help. They are not perfect by any means but they are not as bad as people make out on here, and I think that a lot of the naysayers have probably never used it or understand how it works.

I think they do give you a head start. I have been testing my water everyday and have never had elevated ammonia levels. I have had elevated Nitrite levels though. For that reason for my next tank I would still use bottled stuff to give myself a head start but would not add any fish until I was confident the nitrites are under control.

I've read a lot about cycling over the last couple of months and it seems like there is a lot of conflicting information out there.

 

[BigbruiserAl]

With respect i refuse to belive that the tank cycled in 1 week due to Tetra safe, never even heard of a 7 days cycle from mature media let alone the junk on the UK shelfs

You don't need to believe me.(by the way what do you think cycled my tanks in a week time then?) I suggest you try before you post ironic comments about something you do not comprehend.

When you use mature media it may take even less than that depending on how "mature" your media is and the differences in tank sizes and stocking level.
The bottle of Tetra Safe start contains a lot more bacteria than in a "matured" filter media.
And next time don't base your opinion on what you've "heard", but what you've tried

I've cycled both my tanks with it and I can tell you it works and it takes 7-8 days, providing you follow the correct instructions. I don't want to go in detail about it again on this forum, but will open a special thread about it soon when I start cycling my new tank

Hold on a second my post was very respectfull please reply in kind in future, In not going to continue this here as i dont want to derail the OP post further. Please make a thread about it and ill be happy to debate the bottled effect as will the expeinced members

Kind reagrds

Edited: My spelling lol

 

[snazy]

With respect i refuse to belive that the tank cycled in 1 week due to Tetra safe, never even heard of a 7 days cycle from mature media let alone the junk on the UK shelfs

Hold on a second my post was very respectfull please reply in kind in future, In not going to continue this here as i dont want to derail the OP post further.

I didn't mean to insult you in any way. I apologize. Reason for me answering like that is below:

However, although you used the word "respect" in your previous post, the meaning of your phraze sounds disrespectful, as it indirectly implies that I am a liar. My tanks did cycle in a week time.

Please make a thread about it and ill be happy to debate the bottled effect as will the expeinced members

Did you have a secret meeting with the experienced members, since you talk on behalf of them? What is it to debate about it anyway? It worked for me twice and that's a fact, not an opinion.