Cycling Products

[EX1EY]

Hi again

After having my tank for almost two weeks and only just having got my filter, Im now ready to start cycling. Problem is I want fish now, im getting impatient!

I came across a product called nutrafin cycle...says you can add fish right away with this product.

Any opinions?

 

[the_lock_man]

Hi again

After having my tank for almost two weeks and only just having got my filter, Im now ready to start cycling. Problem is I want fish now, im getting impatient!

I came across a product called nutrafin cycle...says you can add fish right away with this product.

Any opinions?

Plenty. None of them are good opinions, though. Many people doubt that bacteria can survive for long enough in a bottle for the products to be effective. I can only say that when I used a similar product, I experienced no benefit that I could discern.

 

[EX1EY]

Hi again

After having my tank for almost two weeks and only just having got my filter, Im now ready to start cycling. Problem is I want fish now, im getting impatient!

I came across a product called nutrafin cycle...says you can add fish right away with this product.

Any opinions?

Plenty. None of them are good opinions, though. Many people doubt that bacteria can survive for long enough in a bottle for the products to be effective. I can only say that when I used a similar product, I experienced no benefit that I could discern.

I suspected as much. Otherwise I wouldnt be reading so many threads about cycling.

Hard way it is then.

So, would you mind advising me the cycling process? Im gonna go home tonight, clean the tank down one last time. Get the gravel sorted, fill the tank up and turn on the heater and filter....then what =D

 

[the_lock_man]

Hi again

After having my tank for almost two weeks and only just having got my filter, Im now ready to start cycling. Problem is I want fish now, im getting impatient!

I came across a product called nutrafin cycle...says you can add fish right away with this product.

Any opinions?

Plenty. None of them are good opinions, though. Many people doubt that bacteria can survive for long enough in a bottle for the products to be effective. I can only say that when I used a similar product, I experienced no benefit that I could discern.

I suspected as much. Otherwise I wouldnt be reading so many threads about cycling.

Hard way it is then.

So, would you mind advising me the cycling process? Im gonna go home tonight, clean the tank down one last time. Get the gravel sorted, fill the tank up and turn on the heater and filter....then what =D

This will be the best read in your fishkeeping career.

 

[EX1EY]

Hi again

After having my tank for almost two weeks and only just having got my filter, Im now ready to start cycling. Problem is I want fish now, im getting impatient!

I came across a product called nutrafin cycle...says you can add fish right away with this product.

Any opinions?

Plenty. None of them are good opinions, though. Many people doubt that bacteria can survive for long enough in a bottle for the products to be effective. I can only say that when I used a similar product, I experienced no benefit that I could discern.

I suspected as much. Otherwise I wouldnt be reading so many threads about cycling.

Hard way it is then.

So, would you mind advising me the cycling process? Im gonna go home tonight, clean the tank down one last time. Get the gravel sorted, fill the tank up and turn on the heater and filter....then what =D

This will be the best read in your fishkeeping career.

Obliged.

If I hadnt have found this forum no doubt the world would be short about 10 tropical fish by now :%

 

[CezzaXV]

I got a bottle of that stuff bundled with my tank.

It can't do any harm to add it if you already have it, but whether it's going to speed anything up is doubtful.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

There are a lot of people who swear by them. I'm not one of them, and there aren't many on this forum who do. I added Safestart to my cycle a ways back. It didn't do anything. Adding it certainly won't slow things down, but I wouldn't order my fish expecting that the product will work as it claims. I understand your question, as I was exactly the same as you. If all these products are on the market, then surely they work, right?! Well, it kind of like watching one of those TV infomercials, you know for hair in a can and other miracle cures for what ails you. If you can afford the money, go ahead. Just don't expect the type of results that they try to show you on the TV. (Remember the disclaimer they put on all these direct marketed wonder products - "results not typical".)

 

[EX1EY]

There are a lot of people who swear by them. I'm not one of them, and there aren't many on this forum who do. I added Safestart to my cycle a ways back. It didn't do anything. Adding it certainly won't slow things down, but I wouldn't order my fish expecting that the product will work as it claims. I understand your question, as I was exactly the same as you. If all these products are on the market, then surely they work, right?! Well, it kind of like watching one of those TV infomercials, you know for hair in a can and other miracle cures for what ails you. If you can afford the money, go ahead. Just don't expect the type of results that they try to show you on the TV. (Remember the disclaimer they put on all these direct marketed wonder products - "results not typical".)

Im just gonna leave it. Theres no point, I may aswell follow advice on here and accept its probably gonna be the end of january before I have fish in there but at least it will be done as correctly as possible!

 

[eaglesaquarium]

It is worth it. The peace of mind you have now knowing that you are doing the best thing for your fish is ultimately well worth the time. Be selective in your first stocking choices though, as some fish are still sensitive to new tanks, even if they aren't being poisoned by ammonia. Neon tetras for example are best added after a few months of having other fish. (Some folks will tell you not to keep them at all as they are just too fragile, but in my experience, they are fine in proper numbers 6+ and in a matured tank (6+months of operating fully cycled).

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I have personally fishlessly cycled a tank using Dr. Tim's One and Only and his Ammonium Chloride. it was a 29 fal. tank set up to receive wild altums. i had the tank cycled and reading 0 ammonia in short order. I did not record it all but my best recollection was in between 7 and 10 days I was able to test 0 ammonia about 3 hours after having dosed for 2 ppm.

I would not use cycle for anything. I have had good reports on Stability by SeaChem, but have never tried it personally.

Over the past ten years I have fishlessly cycled 30+ tanks. Most were seeded from other tanks and I used regular household ammonia. I only tried Dr. Tim's products this past year. The main reason for using it was I needed to get the tank cycled in relatively short order and could not seed it from another tank as this tank needed to be as devoid of disease causing bacteria et.c as possible. Nothing in the tank came from another tank, the water was close to pure RO, and, once the cycle was done, I ran a UV unit for several days before the fish arrived.

If you are going to use Dr. Tims or the Stability, please follow the directions for them to the letter. Do not improvise, do not try to make it go faster and most certainly don't do anything that they say not to do.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

If you are going to use Dr. Tims or the Stability, please follow the directions for them to the letter. Do not improvise, do not try to make it go faster and most certainly don't do anything that they say not to do.

As far as I know, neither product has instructions on how to use it in a fishless cycle.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Dr. Tin's site has those instructions. I can't remember if a reference to them came with my products. But here is a link to the Fishless cycling info on Dr. Tim's site. i can't say re Stability as I never used it. This link is on how to fishless cycle in general and lists the use ot his product as optional. At the very end it tells you how to do it using One and Only.

http/www.drtimsaqu...s/fishless.html

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Good stuff! Thanks for that.