drobbyb
Bowhead
My buddy found a 10 gallon tank on the side of the road, so he decides he wants to set it up. He goes off to the fish store and talks to the employee there, and the employee, being a good salesman tells him about the bacteria in a bottle sitting on the shelf. Luckily my buddy and I talk fish sometimes and he remembered that I said something about it and so he calls me. Good thing!
So I jump in the car and drive to his house, explain fishless cycling and gave him some ammonia to get started with instructions to buy an API master test kit. Three weeks go by, and he calls me up because his tank turned a nice pea soup green. I grabbed my test kit and went to his place. When I get there he has fashioned a home made lighting fixture with 2 T8 15 watt plant bulbs, which he runs for 12 hours a day. On top of that, I tested his ammonia level, and it was off the chart. He had added a cap full of ammonia to start his cycle (the cap holds 5ml) and had been adding another cap full every Friday night and figured that was close enough.
I explained the process again, changed his water and added the correct amount of ammonia, and gave him what was left from my ammonia and nitrite test kits (which only had a few tests left in the bottles). I called him up a week later to see how things were going. He told me that he was out of tests, but that he had added a cap full of ammonia on Friday...
The old adage is true, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink...
So I jump in the car and drive to his house, explain fishless cycling and gave him some ammonia to get started with instructions to buy an API master test kit. Three weeks go by, and he calls me up because his tank turned a nice pea soup green. I grabbed my test kit and went to his place. When I get there he has fashioned a home made lighting fixture with 2 T8 15 watt plant bulbs, which he runs for 12 hours a day. On top of that, I tested his ammonia level, and it was off the chart. He had added a cap full of ammonia to start his cycle (the cap holds 5ml) and had been adding another cap full every Friday night and figured that was close enough.
I explained the process again, changed his water and added the correct amount of ammonia, and gave him what was left from my ammonia and nitrite test kits (which only had a few tests left in the bottles). I called him up a week later to see how things were going. He told me that he was out of tests, but that he had added a cap full of ammonia on Friday...
The old adage is true, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink...