I did a Fish-In Cycle
Hi everyone i'm new to the aquarium game and just got a 10 gallon Top Fin Starter Kit the other night. Yesterday i set up everything, treated the water with Seachem Prime, and got everything running. I've been browsing this site the past couple of days, doing all of my research. The problem is still can't decide whether to do cycle my tank with or without fish. I know that the general consensus for newbies is to just do a fish-less cycle but if i just do some simple water changes everyday wont i fine cycling the tank with fish. TIA
Hello bomb...
I did the "fish-in" cycle, because I wanted to get some fish into my new tank right away. If you start with a bit larger tank, say at least 30 gallons, and get some hardy fish like feeder Guppies, Zebra Danios, White Clouds, Platys, they'll easily survive the process and most mistakes in tank management.
Just get some good floating plants like Anacharis and Pennywort into the tank and anything like used media, decorations, gravel or anything else with a surface from an established tank. These will help with the process. I've used Seachem's "Stability" too.
So, get a test kit and monitor the tank water daily. No big deal. When a test reads a trace of either ammonia or nitrite, remove and replace 25 percent of the water. When several tests read "0" for either of these toxins, you can add a few more, small fish and resume testing.
If you do a good job of keeping track of the water chemistry, the tank will cycle in a few weeks. The frequent water changes will be needed anyway, even when the tank cycles. So, the practice will do you good.
B