Confused About Fishless Cycling...help!

[sillyrabbit]

ok...so, someone please tell me if this is correct:

to cycle a tank without fish, you need a source of ammonia and a source of bacteria...so, if i'm using stress zyme or a similar product, i still need a source of ammonia? and..i should test the water daily, and when the ammonia/nitrate levels have spiked and then gone to zero i'm ready for fish?


also, what success have people had with stress zyme or other bottled bacteria? can i add fish now without stressing them?

 

[markandhisfish]

yes you need a source of ammonia .where you get this depends on what country you are in , if you are in the uk you can get it in boots labelled up as boots household ammonia its really cheap too. the bottled bacteria stuff isnt worth the bottle its packed in , the only reliable way to kickstart your bacteria colony in your filter is to "seed" it by adding a small amount of mature media from a mature filter .

add the ammonia to 5ppm ( the calculator at the top of the forum will tell you how much ammonia you need to dose)

as for adding fish once your filter is processing 5ppm of ammonia to zero ammonia and nitrite in 12 hours your tank is ready for fish .

 

[OldMan47]

As Mark said, bottled bacteria is not useful and really not necessary. Our typical water supply, almost anywhere in the world, has a trace of the right bacteria in it. That means that all we really do to cycle a tank is feed those bacteria the ammonia that they need and grow their numbers to be large enough to support our tanks. The time involved for a cycle is the time it takes to grow a few dozen bacteria population to become millions of individuals. Since they grow on surfaces, the amount free floating in your tap water will be quite small.