Cycling Tank Questions

[jasuk]

Ive skint myself buying my new tank so havnt any money for a week or so. As i havnt any money could i put some coldwater fish food in to start the cycle process even thow i havnt a testing kit? The fish im getting will be tropical, if i can should i leave food in tank or remove after so long? Or am i wasting my time starting the cycle with no testing kit? If i cant use coldwater food (pellets), is there something else i can put in apart from pure ammonia? Or as i have no testing kit yet should i leave it and wait? thnks?

 

[consp]

Yeah, you can use food to cycle. Why waste money on those expensive bacteria start products

It is quite handy to own a test kit but a lot of shops will do water tests for you for a fee. It's always best to test the day you plan on adding your fish... Call up your shop to checkl if they do and if so take it with you when you go to pick your fish up. If it isn't okay they'll be able to tell you and you will have saved yourself the possible loss of fish which also saves the loss of money

Oh, and you leave the food in the tank. Judge by the size of your tank (Can be tough to do) For my smaller tanks (18x12x12) I just put in a couple of pinches and it helped speed up the water cycle process nicely

 

[modernhamlet]

Pure ammonia is ridiculously cheap and far more effective/accurate for cycling a tank. Fork over the £1 for a bottle. You'll be happy you did.

Besides, you can use the rest for cleaning later.

 

[jasuk]

Pure ammonia is ridiculously cheap and far more effective/accurate for cycling a tank. Fork over the £1 for a bottle. You'll be happy you did.

Besides, you can use the rest for cleaning later.

So should i put a small amount in daily or every other day its 190litre, and u say leave the food in the tank yes?

 

[blue_ram]

Pure ammonia is ridiculously cheap and far more effective/accurate for cycling a tank. Fork over the £1 for a bottle. You'll be happy you did.

Besides, you can use the rest for cleaning later.

So should i put a small amount in daily or every other day its 190litre, and u say leave the food in the tank yes?

What he's saying is use the ammonia, but DON'T add the food to the tank. Food will cause the "wrong" type of bacteria to grow and cloudy the water. BTW, make sure the ammonia states "100% ammonia". Ammonia with added dye, and perfume will only cause problems.

 

[SkiFletch]

yeah, a good double check on the ammonia is to shake the container. If the stuff in it foams like dishsoap, its not what you want. A couple quick-popping bubbles are OK, just not lots of lasting foam.

FYI, usually the cheapest brands are pure ammonia since the soaps and foamy stuff tends to cost extra

 

[dwarfgourami]

As stated, ammonia is both cheaper and safer than fish food- and certainly cheaper than goldfish (besides, what would you do with the goldfish afterwards?). Try a hardware store. I think I paid 1. 45 for mine.

Try to buy the test kit as soon as you can- and it is better to wait with starting the fishless cycle until you've got it, otherwise you won't know where you are in the cycle.

Having the shop test your water can be VERY unreliable, we've had countless threads on here where members have been told in the shop that their water is fine, and then they test it themselves and the ammonia is through the roof. And you can't really expect the shop to test every day for you to know when your tank has finished cycling.