Just A Few Random Questions About Tank Stuff.

[buzzfrog]

first off, is this worth having, it looks cool on paper, but...Marina Aqua-minder. it is a digital temp gauge, and suppose to tell spike in amonia/ nitrates. my Tank will be here Tomor. i have always did a cycle with a fish or 2. This guy at my lfs was talking about letting his cycle a week then adding API-qucikstart and it was all peachy. It sounds to good to be true, Is it?

last question i have always used stress coat as my de-chorinater(sp?) and stress reliever(API version) is there a better version out there?

 

[Aquascaper]

The Marina Aqua Minder tells you the temperature of the water and has an alarm if it changes.....it won't tell you ammonia/nitrite/nitrate readings only when to do maintenance (which you program yourself). Waste of money IMO.

Cycling for a week THEN adding Quickstart and everything's sorted? Impossible.....even if Quickstart worked (which is dubious, it may help slightly) there is no way a new tank can cycle in a week without using mature filter media donations.

Any de-chlorinator will do the job, Stress Coat just has additives like Aloe Vera in it as well.

My advice would be to do a fishless cycle and if you can, get hold of some mature filter media from somewhere (maybe your LFS will donate some) to kickstart the cycle. Doing a fishless cycle will mean you can stock fully straight away once the cycle has completed with no risk of losing fish along the way. There's plenty of pinned topics on cycling to read through to get it all clear for you

 

[buzzfrog]

hey, i figured the guy was bs.. I get the whole cycling process, i have always did it with at least 2 fish, usally platies or somthing small. my friend( one with betta and gourami that get along) he is on week 4 and his tank is stabilizing, he did the cycle with the mentioned betta and gourami. I have a few lfs that may do that. for 55, do i actually need 55 gallon or will less work. new to that, as said back in 07 when i had my big tanks, i did it with a platy and a ghost srimp.