Fish-in or fishless

[FeldmansFish]

What's the best way to cycle a tank? (Trying to avoid bacterial additives)

 

[Calypso77]

I have done both and I would suggest doing a fishless. You can really lose a lot of fish if you are not careful doing a fish in and you can never be too careful. Plus fishless takes a lot less time I find, patience but less time in the end.

 

[jondamon]

I have done both and I would suggest doing a fishless. You can really lose a lot of fish if you are not careful doing a fish in and you can never be too careful. Plus fishless takes a lot less time I find, patience but less time in the end.

+1 to fishless cycling.

Especially if you can seed the new filter with media from an existing tank.


My fishless cycle too 22 days to complete with around 6 50-80% PWC during that time to keep levels on a readable scale.

I used lab grade ammonia from a school where I work.



Jon

 

[Calypso77]

Ya my fishless took 2 weeks. My fish in more like 8 weeks.

 

[BBradbury]

I Cycled my First Tank w/ Fish

What's the best way to cycle a tank? (Trying to avoid bacterial additives)

Hello Feld...

I cycled my first 30 G with Guppies and everything went fine. The tank was large enough, so there was plenty of water to cover my errors and the 8 feeder Guppies were hardy enough and had no problem surviving the process.

I did use some gravel and a couple of decorations from an established tank, but I just kept a close watch on the water chemistry and changed out a third of the water when my tests showed a trace of ammonia or nitrites and added some more feeders when the time came.

Now, I have five large tanks and several hundred Fancy Guppies and quite a few Corydoras.

B

 

[shellieca]

What's the best way to cycle a tank? (Trying to avoid bacterial additives)

It's all personal preference. I've only done fish IN, my 10g took 8 wks & the 46g took about 6 wks. Fish IN means being a little more diligent, testing water daily & doing more water changes. I would ask . . . How long can you go without seeing fish & do you have the time for a fish IN?

 

[jetajockey]

Best way is fish in, by far. Just do it well.

The difference in time isn't that great.