New 60l Biorb Life. Fishless Cycling?

[toffeejuz]

hi guys!!

My girlfriend has given me a BiOrb Life 60L/16 Gallon tank for my birthday as I have always wanted to keep fish.

The Biorb life is the square type tank not the bowl type, and was chosen due to its style and size. ie it fits into our living room nicely.

I am soon to start the fishless cycling of the tank but wanted to ask you guys a couple of questions first.

The BiOrb came with products called stress coat and stress zyme. I believe the stress coat is to dechlorinate the tap water and the stress zyme contains some beneficial bacteria.

So my question is,

Do I need to buy some ammonia or can i just use the stress zyme supplied or can i use flakes to cycle with?

Also I really want some real plants in my tank too, at what point do I add these? start of cycle/end of cycle?



And my last question for now is about bettas! I would like a male betta in my tank but will these be ok in a community tank with some neons for example?



Any advice would be greatly appreciated, ta!

 

[paulbr1]

Hi, you definately need dechlorinator so just check the product you have works for chlorine and chloramine, don't worry about the free bacteria as these don't usually work.

Get yourself some ammonia but before you buy it give it a good shake and only buy if the bubbles you create dissapear within a few seconds - may sound daft but you don't want surfactants(spelling) or perfumes - these give you long term bubbles and wont help (will hinder) your cycle

Good luck.

Paul.

 

[waterdrop]

StressCoat should be a good dechlorinator for both chlorine and chloramine. Let us know when you find your ammonia the the members will help you get started on the add&wait method. Have you found our working article on fishless cycling?

~~waterdrop~~