Cycling the tank with topfin bacteria?

[Robbietrombs]

Has anyone had any experience with cycling a tank with topfin bacteria? It clams you can put fish in immediately after dosing the water with it. I'm a bit sceptical. Does it work?

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[Gibberwatt]

I do not have personal experience with this inoculation, but I would suggest not doing so unless you are willing to deal with daily, large water changes.

 

[am3ience]

top fin sucks. It only works if you continually use it, after every water change, and weekly. If you want a good proven bacteria booster I recommend Tetra Safestart. It worked for me, I got my tank cycled in a week.

 

[electromango]

If you are looking for a bacteria starter that would allow you to immediately add fish safely (just like I was), Use tetra safestart. It's amazing. I had 3 fish in a 20G to start the tank up right after adding the safestart. Ammonia levels never went above 0.25ppm, nitrites nonexistent, and fully cycled in about 10 days. Great product

 

[pstuder33]

If you can find it use startsmart. I've never seen it in a chain pet store but it's worth looking for elsewhere, I never any luck with top fun or tetra. Maybe try googling it, it's made in Ohio by a company that specializes in bacteria. Good luck and test the water daily! Cheers ?

 

[Robbietrombs]

Is tetra safestart good for a 125 gallon tank? Does tank size matter? Or is it all the same?

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[electromango]

Tank size does matter. You need to put in the proper amount of safestart for the tank size (says on bottle). Other than that a large tank and small tank would cycle the same way.

 

[swifty]

I've had great success with Seachem's Stability.

 

[Mebbid]

Moat of these products are extremely hit or miss. On top of that the overwhelming majority supply bacteria that are a different type than the standard beneficial bacteria that comes in a cycled aquarium. There's also problems with handling and shelf life.

Personally, fishless cycling is the best way to go but if I had to choose a bottled bacteria then the only one I would trust is Dr tims one and only.

I've used q few different kinds for emergency situations and have been let down every time but looking at the research behind Dr tim makes me trust that more than others.

 

[Robbietrombs]

I think I'll just go with the fishless cycling. I'll seed it with my currently established tank and just dose it with ammonia until everything stabilised.

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[trennamw]

You have the right idea ... the stuff in the bottle is just the McDonald's version of what you already have in your tank for free!!

My tank cycled in about 10 days, if I recall correctly, once I had seeded media. It helped to get the temp up to I think 82, and the pH up pretty high using baking soda. Before the temp and pH were up the cycle was very slow.