[color=brown]Cycle with decomposing fish food[/color] - Aquarium Advice

wrx · 02-23-2004, 08:21 AM

In one of the post below mine i was reading that you can put some fish food in the tank with [acronym:b696b907a3="Normal Output Fluorescents"]NO[/acronym:b696b907a3] fish just the food & let it decompose and it will cycle the tank just like adding ammonia to it. Does this work for new tanks and if so why have i only seen one post mention this.

astroguy · 02-23-2004, 08:31 AM

yes, it works for any tank. That helps doing the so-called fishless cycle. On the other hand, this is not so reliable a method. A better approach is to use ammonium products, such as ammonium hydroxide or better ammonium chloride.

wrx · 02-23-2004, 09:00 AM

three days ago i used a product called bio booster on the bottle it says concentrated beneficial bacteria the product is made by aqua master www.aristopet.com.au I am supposed to use it once a week i have tested my [acronym:5e8bf41bb6="power head or Measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions, depending on context"]ph[/acronym:5e8bf41bb6] & ammonia and [acronym:5e8bf41bb6="power head or Measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions, depending on context"]ph[/acronym:5e8bf41bb6] is high & ammonia still 0 i have noticed the glass on my tank is foggy so i put my hand in the water and it is warm not room temp i did not do a water change yet could this be anything to do with product maybe

.
I went out today and brought some ammonia from a supper market should i use this or is it to late because i added the bio booster three days ago if not how much do i use.

astroguy · 02-23-2004, 09:07 AM

Bacterial addenda are somehow controversial in the hobby. The general consensus is that the products are useless since they are not kept refrigerated. However, there are some positive claims wrt biospira.

Ammonia: make sure there is no additional product, i.e., if you shake the bottle, does it foam? If yes, that's not good a product. You need "pure ammonia" (which does not exist as a liquid at our room temperature, but does as ammonium hydroxide). One disadvantage of the hydroxide compound is that it changes the pH, increasing it to caustic values. Ammonium chloride is better since [acronym:413113803a="Chlorine"]Cl[/acronym:413113803a]- does not interact with pH. But anyway, do the cycle with "pure" ammonia, and when the cycle is done, make sure your water turns back to a "normal" pH value, typical of your tap water.

02-23-2004, 08:21 AM	#1
wrx Aquarium Advice Newbie Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Australia Posts: 8	[color=brown]Cycle with decomposing fish food[/color] In one of the post below mine i was reading that you can put some fish food in the tank with [acronym:b696b907a3="Normal Output Fluorescents"]NO[/acronym:b696b907a3] fish just the food & let it decompose and it will cycle the tank just like adding ammonia to it. Does this work for new tanks and if so why have i only seen one post mention this.

02-23-2004, 09:00 AM	#3
wrx Aquarium Advice Newbie Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Australia Posts: 8	Bio Booster three days ago i used a product called bio booster on the bottle it says concentrated beneficial bacteria the product is made by aqua master www.aristopet.com.au I am supposed to use it once a week i have tested my [acronym:5e8bf41bb6="power head or Measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions, depending on context"]ph[/acronym:5e8bf41bb6] & ammonia and [acronym:5e8bf41bb6="power head or Measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions, depending on context"]ph[/acronym:5e8bf41bb6] is high & ammonia still 0 i have noticed the glass on my tank is foggy so i put my hand in the water and it is warm not room temp i did not do a water change yet could this be anything to do with product maybe . I went out today and brought some ammonia from a supper market should i use this or is it to late because i added the bio booster three days ago if not how much do i use.

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02-23-2004, 08:31 AM	#2
astroguy Aquarium Advice Activist Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: New York, NY Posts: 188	yes, it works for any tank. That helps doing the so-called fishless cycle. On the other hand, this is not so reliable a method. A better approach is to use ammonium products, such as ammonium hydroxide or better ammonium chloride.

02-23-2004, 09:07 AM	#4
astroguy Aquarium Advice Activist Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: New York, NY Posts: 188	Bacterial addenda are somehow controversial in the hobby. The general consensus is that the products are useless since they are not kept refrigerated. However, there are some positive claims wrt biospira. Ammonia: make sure there is no additional product, i.e., if you shake the bottle, does it foam? If yes, that's not good a product. You need "pure ammonia" (which does not exist as a liquid at our room temperature, but does as ammonium hydroxide). One disadvantage of the hydroxide compound is that it changes the pH, increasing it to caustic values. Ammonium chloride is better since [acronym:413113803a="Chlorine"]Cl[/acronym:413113803a]- does not interact with pH. But anyway, do the cycle with "pure" ammonia, and when the cycle is done, make sure your water turns back to a "normal" pH value, typical of your tap water.