I had not tried fishless cycling, my local pet store did not seem to have a ton of faith in it. They stated many people screw it all up etc. They wanted me to buy the 2 fish per week thing. I wanted 20+ tiger barbs etc all at once. They said my 55 gal would not handle it if I did that all at once.
Well I set out to grow a giant bacteria colony. I purchase the elcheapo no name clear ammonia (no additives) and added two cap fulls per day (5-10 ppm), it did not take long for the bacteria to start eating it up. I think I kept it up for 5-7 days. When my NiTRITES started to spike at 5-10ppm I halved the ammonia for 3 days then I stopped all ammonia for 4 days to let the nitrospira Nitrite eating guys have a chance to grow. I also kicked up the temp to 82 so they would grow fasters. It took about 3-4 days of spiked nitrites for them to start comming down.
I added 5ppm ammonia and found the tank cleared it all in less than a day.
When ammonia and Nitrite were zero (1day later) I went out a purchased 25 tiger barbs, 2 large Plecos and a snail.
I have been checking the water for past few days and ZERO Ammonia spike, my tank laughed at the fish load and ate up all the waste the fish could muster.
Fishless is cool and the way to go if you plan on adding a ton of fish all at once.
It only took 2 weeks.
Well I set out to grow a giant bacteria colony. I purchase the elcheapo no name clear ammonia (no additives) and added two cap fulls per day (5-10 ppm), it did not take long for the bacteria to start eating it up. I think I kept it up for 5-7 days. When my NiTRITES started to spike at 5-10ppm I halved the ammonia for 3 days then I stopped all ammonia for 4 days to let the nitrospira Nitrite eating guys have a chance to grow. I also kicked up the temp to 82 so they would grow fasters. It took about 3-4 days of spiked nitrites for them to start comming down.
I added 5ppm ammonia and found the tank cleared it all in less than a day.
When ammonia and Nitrite were zero (1day later) I went out a purchased 25 tiger barbs, 2 large Plecos and a snail.
I have been checking the water for past few days and ZERO Ammonia spike, my tank laughed at the fish load and ate up all the waste the fish could muster.
Fishless is cool and the way to go if you plan on adding a ton of fish all at once.
It only took 2 weeks.