Could I Cycle This Way?

[eaglesaquarium]

I agree with fluttermoth and SBS. Media and know-how would make the most sense.


I think a business model that would make the most sense, would be for a section of the store to be devoted completely to "newbies". It should include free literature about the nitrogen cycle, fish-in and fishless cycling guides, as well as a troubleshooting tips. I would think that a "start-up" kit could easily be sold to newbies (just as easily as selling a bottle of dead bacteria) that includes an instruction guide for use, a small bottle of ammonia and a fresh piece of filter media taken from a tank. The ammonia wouldn't cost much more than the cost of the bottle itself. The filter media would also be very cheap. Finally, the pamphlet would be ridiculously cheap. All this could be sold (and produced by the LFS) and could be sold for the same price or less than the bacteria additives and would be far more effective.

I believe most folks would be able to figure out what to do if they were given a little guidance. Maybe that's just the teacher in me speaking, but I think that people have a tremendous capacity for learning when they are motivated and when given the right information.

Where abouts do you live eagle? In the uk? Maybe we could bang heads together

Sorry... I'm in the U.S. And I really don't have any ambition to do this. But, I tell you what, take the idea and run with it... All I ask in return is 0.1% of any profit. That should be fine for me.

 

[Smells a bit fishy]

I agree with fluttermoth and SBS. Media and know-how would make the most sense.


I think a business model that would make the most sense, would be for a section of the store to be devoted completely to "newbies". It should include free literature about the nitrogen cycle, fish-in and fishless cycling guides, as well as a troubleshooting tips. I would think that a "start-up" kit could easily be sold to newbies (just as easily as selling a bottle of dead bacteria) that includes an instruction guide for use, a small bottle of ammonia and a fresh piece of filter media taken from a tank. The ammonia wouldn't cost much more than the cost of the bottle itself. The filter media would also be very cheap. Finally, the pamphlet would be ridiculously cheap. All this could be sold (and produced by the LFS) and could be sold for the same price or less than the bacteria additives and would be far more effective.

I believe most folks would be able to figure out what to do if they were given a little guidance. Maybe that's just the teacher in me speaking, but I think that people have a tremendous capacity for learning when they are motivated and when given the right information.

Where abouts do you live eagle? In the uk? Maybe we could bang heads together

Sorry... I'm in the U.S. And I really don't have any ambition to do this. But, I tell you what, take the idea and run with it... All I ask in return is 0.1% of any profit. That should be fine for me.

Haha. I'm not sure if I'll have the time. I was thinking if we could split the time between 2 then that would be easier to handle.

I'll mull it over however and see if I can think of a way to intoduce this into the market. Although I'm not entirely sure how to make money out of it. Unless I started up my own shop. But don't have the resources to be able to do that lol

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Maybe you could pass the idea on to a shop owner, with the same previso, 0.1% for me, and 0.1% for you! So, they still get 99.8% of the profit. (I'm not even asking for a piece of the gross sales, just a tiny fraction of the profit. )

 

[Tizer]

or create a tropical fish forum and let it grow in numbers for a few years, then plaster it with advertising!

 

[eaglesaquarium]

or create a tropical fish forum and let it grow in numbers for a few years, then plaster it with advertising!

An interesting thought, but to be honest, I always hate the forums that are plastered with advertising and never say for long.

 

[Smells a bit fishy]

Hmmmm I think we should start pming as everyone is getting our ideas

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Maybe that was the plan all along.

 

[Alz1992]

O.O well thats been an interesting read. excuse me while i just set up my media selling shop.......
But thanks for the help guys, i've concluded i'll probably use the ammonia method, (i'd feel more confident just using fish flakes though personally... no idea why it just seems more... aquariumish? to me than a chemical used predominantly for cleaning.

saying that im a sucker for brands so if ammonia bottles with TETRA slapped on it was sold i'd probably buy it..

tank tommorow btw, i'll get a testing kit too (i should've thought of that sooner)
i'll keep you updated!
thanks again.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Sorry for the tangent.



The reason that the ammonia method is preferred, is that it allows the aquarist (you) better control over your exact dosing. You can get a much better read on the bacteria by limiting other factors. Fish food is going to break down into ammonia by heterotrophic bacteria, but you won't be able to control that rate at all.

The fishless cycle is broken down into mainly 4 phases:
Phase 1 - ammonia spike. You dose with ammonia at 4-5ppm, and wait for the ammonia to drop to zero in 24 hours. Once that happens it is always accompanied by a nitrite spike.
Phase 2 - nitrite spike. You cut the dose of ammonia back to 2-3 ppm because the bacteria needed to process the nitrite just can't keep up with the A-bacs (ammonia processing bacteria). You then wait for the nitrite to drop back down to zero again, dosing daily with ammonia to keep the A-bacs going strong. (There are slight differences of opinion on water changes during this phase. You could do a water change during this stage to artificially lower the nitrites, since the bacteria you want multiply better at lower concentrations, but the water change itself could disrupt the cycle slightly. If the cycle seems to stall, then a water change many times seems to kickstart it again, which would lead me to believe that the water change is actually beneficial even if it seems to disrupt things a little.)
Phase 3 - 12 hour testing. Once the nitrite finally hits zero, you are now in phase 3 and you continue the daily (every 24 hours) dose of ammonia and test 12 hours afterward, waiting for both NH3 and NO2 to drop to zero. During this phase you also re-up the dose to 4-5ppm. Once it hits zero after 12 hours, you are ready for the last phase.
Phase 4 - "qualifying week" - you want to ensure that the filter can handle the bioload you will be putting into the tank. So the qualifying week is 7 consecutive days of zero readings for NH3 and NO2 at 12 hours. When this is over, you do a huge water change (as big as possible) to lower the nitrates and bring it back in line with the tap parameters. If the cycle takes too long, a second water change may be necessary before adding fish.


Then you get your fish and live happily ever after. (Until you want to start a new tank, in which case you "clone" the filter. That is very different from a fishless cycle.)

 

[This Old Spouse]

Excellent! That's a terrific, balanced and easy-to-read synopsis of fishless cycling! Well done!!