"cycle" The Bacteria Solution

[Miss Wiggle]

api products all the way!!! but for ammonia removal i use PRIME...works great!

Any thing that "REMOVES" ammonia is BAD for your tank. Your tank will never cycle and you will become dependent on expensive chemicals forever.

Actually I need to correct myself a little as this isn't 100% true. Lots of live plants can remove ammonia but that is not a problem as it is being done naturally.

i wouldn't say that's true either tbh! if the live plants are removing some ammonia for you your filter is only cycled to the point of dealing with (e.g.) 70% of the bioload. What if something goes wrong, your lights break or something and your plants all die. Or you just get sick of having a planted tank and want to switch things around. Then the filter is left struggling to cope and may have a mini cycle to catch up.

nit picking I know but if we're talking about 100% truths it's worth pointing out!

Just cos it's natural does not mean it will prevent problems occuring.

 

[Amunet]

I know and have experienced that these cycle products are rubbish (used to spends loads on stress zyme).
But I've heard that if you add the whole bottle of whatever cycling product your using on day 1, it can actually speed up a fishless cycle slightly, anyone else heard of this?

I read one guy saying (can't remember where) how he does that... uses the whole bottle of cycle and then a FEW WEEKS LATER his tank is done cycling. If it takes weeks for this cycle crap to work (if it even did), might as well just do a fishless cycle to begin with. Lot cheaper and alot more reliable

 

[andywg]

i wouldn't say that's true either tbh! if the live plants are removing some ammonia for you your filter is only cycled to the point of dealing with (e.g.) 70% of the bioload. What if something goes wrong, your lights break or something and your plants all die. Or you just get sick of having a planted tank and want to switch things around. Then the filter is left struggling to cope and may have a mini cycle to catch up.

Remembering that one can replace 50% of filter media with only the slightest of spikes (if any at all provided one doesn't feed for 24 hours) then it will not be of a major concern.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

i wouldn't say that's true either tbh! if the live plants are removing some ammonia for you your filter is only cycled to the point of dealing with (e.g.) 70% of the bioload. What if something goes wrong, your lights break or something and your plants all die. Or you just get sick of having a planted tank and want to switch things around. Then the filter is left struggling to cope and may have a mini cycle to catch up.

Remembering that one can replace 50% of filter media with only the slightest of spikes (if any at all provided one doesn't feed for 24 hours) then it will not be of a major concern.

in a mature tank yes, try taking 50% of the media out of a freshly cycled tank and see what happens.

your right it's not a major concern, however as rdd corrected himself for not being 100% accurate then dealing in all possibilties and 100% accuracy then saying having your plants do some filtering for you is acceptable and won't lead to any problems because it's natural is not completely correct.