Bacteria in a bottle for new tank cycling

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

shelbidavis

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Sep 29, 2014
Messages
118
What do you guys think? I bought some yesterday and poured it in, did I waste my money? I can't find any ammonia at the pet stores to start the cycle, so I put fish food in everyday and after I put the bacteria in. How long does this method take?


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice
 
Its likely that you wasted your money on the bottled bacteria. They are notorious for not working properly.

As for your method, I dont believe you will properly cycle your tank with fish food. If you cant find ammonia then take a shrimp and put it in a stocking and just stick itnin your tank. That will produce ammonia for you.
 
I am using it in an attempt to not have to change water for 1 week in a 5g quarantine with 7 pygmy catfish in it, but tomorrow will be day 3 since doing a 50% water change and then starting the medicine, so I am going to test the ammonia and see if I need to make a water change or not.

The reason I want to avoid a water change for that long is because the medicine needs to build up in the water, but obviously I don't want my little fishies to have ammonia problems either!


I would recommend doing a fishless cycle. Is this your first tank?
 
My opinion on bottled bacteria products is that some work better than others. However, most need to be handled appropriately and that can be a problem for large retail operations. Most have both a limited date range they are good for and temperature range they need to stay between. I think that improper handling is one of the causes for such inconsistent results.

Years ago there was a refrigerated product called bio-spira and that stuff worked pretty well.
 
Most pet stores don't sell ammonia, they sell it at hardware stores such as Ace's Hardware- which is, by the way, what most people here recommend. It's really cheap!


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice
 
Back
Top Bottom