My First Cycle

[erk628]

Ok i bought my prawn it is very big, im leaving it in the sun to hopefully speed up the decomposition.

and then i am putting it in a pantyhose

will this work?

how long will it produce ammonia?

I have no idea how long like I said I have never used this method. All I know is that it will produce ammonia. I would check out the link in my sig for fishless cycle and the ammount of ammonia you want present is in there. Like I mentioned before I would PM Oldman47 he is one of the mods and is knowledgeable with this method. Here is a link to his profile you can PM him from there. http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/user/38414-oldman47/. Good luck and keep us updated.

 

[blackers92]

thanks for all your advice erk628, i have PM'd him so hopefully he will respond soon

I have bought seachem stability and added the first dose, i will continue to use it but i have read that it is only really usefull if you suffer from new tank syndrome and have fish in unstable water as it will make the water stable hopefully it will be beneficial.

thanks

 

[Gilli]

And when your tank is cycled avoid that fish shop like the plague! They obviously have no idea how to keep fish and chances are they will be selling weak/sick fish! Neons should never be put in a new or immature tank - they always die. They of all people should know it, so they are either clueless or they dont care about the welfare of fish - either way you dont want to be lining their pockets!

 

[blackers92]

I couldnt agree more, I really regret going there, they wernt very helpful either. like they knew what they were talking about but didnt really seem to care about the customer, for example i bought my tank, gravel, gH salts, pH salts, Stability, Flourish... everything i have up until now. And when i went to buy it all I was talking to him about cycling and he was like.. "nah just put 6 neon tetras in there tommorow they will be fine" i was like wow I only started cycling the thing yesterday. He didnt even ask me.. let me rephrase that try to sell me a Testing Kit. Like i would have expected that to be one of the basics that they would sell. It was very dissapointing. Either he thought i must of known a fair bit about tanks (which i would like to think i do but i really dont lmao) or I was a complete idiot. I think it could really put some newbies such as myself off fishkeeping.

Luckily there is another store near by that looks just as good and has the fish I am hoping to stock.

 

[waterdrop]

Once you've found TFF, ALL shops need to be treated like "parts supply warehouses"... just go in with a thick skin and consider all the fish, plants and "parts" you might be able to pick up (without waiting for web/phone delivery) for a given drive from your house. YOU need to be just expert enough (usually by doing any needed research here first) to walk in and get what you need if they have it. Local places are valuable for that so I try to keep that kind of an ok relationship going with all of them, while resisting getting into any advice exchange. I mean, if a particularly nice store person gets into a discussion then so be it but I carefully avoid actually asking for advice or allowing any expectations of me as a "good customer" being built up. (On the other hand I do actually -try- to be a good customer of good local shops when I can be! By which I mean I'll sometimes pay a tad more to get supplies from a local shop rather than off the web if that shop is a place, for instance, that has great fish and thus that I'm hoping will still be in business for a while!)

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Assaye]

Have you checked hardware/DIY stores? Pharmacies? Chemists? Online? You'll be able to get ammonia from somewhere.

The other methods also work, but as it's not pure it is harder to control doses and sometimes you get other nasties in the tank. If you want to cycle with shrimp/fish food/etc do it in a bucket so the tank isn't contaminated. You'll get a higher concentration of ammonia as well, and you can save your plants by keeping the bucket in a dark place while just keeping the water circulated in the tank and your plants fed.

If you want to do a fish-in cycle, plant heavily and stock super lightly. You could even get a "silent" cycle if you have few enough fish and enough plants. Worth a try if you really can't manage a fishless cycle.

Good luck!