Fishless Cycle With Fish Food.

[JohnBull]

Ater taking in all the options, and bearing in mind my lack of knowledge on the subject, we decided to start our 'fishless cycle' using only fish food. What I am not 100% certain about is how often should we feed the tank ? Also,I read about putting the food 'in a stocking to avoid a clean up issue'or something ? Do we simply dangle an old stocking into the tank and feed this on a regular basis instead of by hand,or stick a large amount of food in now ? We are now into day 4 of the cycle and the tank is pretty clear,I have fed a pinch of flake by hand 3 times now and need to know if this is correct so far ?


Any info would be great.


John

 

[hanny93]

Why don't you cycle using household ammonia?

It's much easier, much more controlled and much more reliable than the fish food idea.

 

[KittyKat]

Fish food will not give you enough ammonia to even half stock the tank, it is more likely to result in the water smelling of rot for the duration of the cycle, it is more difficult to control the amount of ammonia going in, the gravel will need a thorough clean before fish can be added and so on..

Pure (household) ammonia really is the way to go. How are your ammonia and nitrite readings?

If you really can't/don't want to do it the ammonia way, I would recommend using frozen prawns instead of fish food: cheaper and don't require day-to-day topping up. They will make the water smell though.

 

[JohnBull]

Ouch !

Now I am confused,so much for good advice from our local fish aquatic shop !

Do I still have the option to add pure ammonia now, or it too late ?


John.

 

[hanny93]

lfs are very unreliable. some can be excellent and give good advice, others know nothing.


Yes, restart your cycle by adding 4ppm ammonia. Read up on fishless cycling with household ammonia

 

[KittyKat]

+1, it's fine to ask for advice from a fish shop, but then you should double check it with people who will never see your cash (like on a forum, for example).

+1 it is fine to continue with adding pure ammonia. I prefer 4 ppm as a good starting point because some test kits have a colour swatch for 4 ppm. Whatever you do, avoid going over 5 ppm.

What will really help is if you can get some established filter media from your fish shop, and if not actual filter media, at least some squeezings from dirty sponges: they will be covered in good bacteria.