Question about cycle products

[Antimoine]

I intalled another tank last week and I an now at the nitrite part of my cycle. I noticed that a product called cycle which I use when adding fishes is also supposed to sherten the nitrate period and the ammount of nitrate in the tank, helping the cycle go through.

I don't recall seeing this product or any of its kind mentionned here, is it because no one uses it or is it just not a popular choice ?

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Cycle has not been found to help with the cycling of the tank. It's a waste of money. Bio-Spira or Stability would be better options.

 

[Yuri]

I tried it. Total junk. IMO if you're going to go with a cycle like product go with Bio-Spira. If not, just sit the cycle out and keep up with the water changes.

 

[Antimoine]

I knew something was wrong with the way lfs sellers always tried to sell the stuff.....
Bio Spira? I'll start my research right now.

Thanks a lot.

 

[TomK2]

Uhm, you said you installed ANOTHER tank? This would imply that you have access to an already established tank? If so, take as much colonized filter media from the established tanks filter that you think it can spare, and put it in the new tanks filter. If enough media is transfered, your cycle could be done in a few days. Leave at least half the media in the established tank undisturbed, so that you do not cause a mini-cycle there.

Other than biospira, the cycle products are snake oil, IMO. Access to colonized bio-medai is more reliable and effective than bio-spira.

 

[Antimoine]

Excellent idea, didn't think about that. But since I once had parasites in the old tank, am I taking chances in transferring the disease as well? My old fishes are ok but everytime I add a fish in the old tank the seem to die of an unknown sickness... (Hence the new tank).

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Also, cycling had nothing to do with keeping nitrate down. Nitrate is the end product, hense the regular PWC's. The Bio Spira is a good choice, just needs to be kept cold until used, or the bacteria will die. Occasionally people will get a bad bag, but that's to be expected now and then. What the cycle does is it turns ammonia into nitrite, and turns nitrite into nitrate, the end product. Then PWC's keep the nitrate levels down. Nitrate is the safest form for fish, but if too high, can stress the fish, increase chances of disease, or kill the fish. Ammonia and nitrite are very toxic.

 

[SCFatz]

I an now at the nitrite part of my cycle.

What method are you/did you use to get to this step?

 

[Antimoine]

Well I kept plants for a week and afterwards intruduced a pleco and 2 snails.
I had ammonia at around 0.02 for a week and now I have nitrite at around 2.
Today is pwc day for all aquariums so I thought it would be time for a filter exchange.

I have never tried a fishless cycle which is very common around this forum.
(I promise I will do next time)

That is why I was asking about cycle products cause it seemed to lower the nitrates of a cycle with fish.... (Sorry again but I always did my cycle with fish in the past...)

 

[TomK2]

I know that the ich parasite has a life cycle of a few weeks, and if you keep your tank disease free for a few weeks it is gone. I really can't comment on your mysterious fish deaths that you think might be an infection in the tank. I suppose, if you think your tank harbors disease, then you should not transfer colonized bio-media to the new tank. But I am at a loss to know what infection you might have. Bummer, since seeding the new tank with colonized biomedia could really shorten the cycle.

 

[malkore]

I knew something was wrong with the way lfs sellers always tried to sell the stuff.....
Bio Spira? I'll start my research right now.

Thanks a lot.

Keep in mind that Bio Spira is NOT 100% reliable either. I've read numerous reports where a bottle failed to cycle the tank, and the owner lost a lot of fish.

The only 100% reliable/foolproof method is fishless cycling. There's no way you can harm a living creature in a fishless cycle.