My cycling experiences / guide.
- Thread starter Pandicorn
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molliwopp
Aquarium Advice Addict
Argghaha. Havent posted in months but thats too funny brooks. Just incase anyone thought this could be a good way to cycle a tank, try another method first.
Brookster123
Aquarium Advice Addict
hey molli! Where you been??? How's fish life??
NeverEnoughFish
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
I'll throw in my cycling experience. I actually ended up doing a fish in cycle using 6 zebra danios and a whole bottle of Tetra Safe Start. I honestly believe that stuff is crap and I'll get to that in a moment. But as my tank was starting out with the fish and Safe Start in there, I thought things were going well. At this time I was reading about cycling to make sure I was doing it right and to see what needed to be done. Went out and got the API master test kit for freshwater and made a world of difference over the cheap test strips I was using prior. So I had ammonia go up and down and up and down. Wasn't really sure why so I did a 25% water changes every time something tested really high and that helped a bit. But for me, the odd thing was that even after one month, I never was getting the nitrites and no nitrAtes. During the second month finally started seeing the nitrites with improvement to ammonia levels but still no nitrAtes. Now fast forward to today and while my ammonia and nitrites rarely go above .25, I still have no nitrAtes.
So back to Safe Start. IMO, I truly believe that this compound has absolutely no live bacteria colonies, or even dormant bacteria colonies! I also believe that it interrupted my cycle by somehow not allowing the correct bacteria to grow, which is why levels in my tank have been all over the place (and surprisingly no fish loss. Ended up giving the zebra danios back to the pet store because they were bullying my tetras).
Well I got tired of all the up and down levels so I researched good bacteria formulas to add to the tank and found out about Dr. Tim's One and Only blend for freshwater. It's def more pricey than other things you'll find out there but I think its working after I added it since my ammonia and nitrites appear under control. But still no nitrAtes even after all this time!
My latest test readings if that will help anyone in explaning my lack of nitrAtes:
pH-7.6
Temp-78
Ammonia-.25
Nitrite-0
NitrAte-0
GH and KH according to the test strips I have left read pretty high, both are over 120 mg/l. Madison, WI has very hard water but my fish seem to be doing fine in it. I treat my water with Seachem's Prime before it goes in the tank.
I also have artificial plants and décor.
I clean my filters once a month and only do water changes if testing shows anything to be higher than I'd like (which is basically greater than 1ppm).
I think for my next tank I do I'm going to do a fish less cycle using more Dr. Tim's One and Only and pure ammonia and let the process work itself out more naturally.
So back to Safe Start. IMO, I truly believe that this compound has absolutely no live bacteria colonies, or even dormant bacteria colonies! I also believe that it interrupted my cycle by somehow not allowing the correct bacteria to grow, which is why levels in my tank have been all over the place (and surprisingly no fish loss. Ended up giving the zebra danios back to the pet store because they were bullying my tetras).
Well I got tired of all the up and down levels so I researched good bacteria formulas to add to the tank and found out about Dr. Tim's One and Only blend for freshwater. It's def more pricey than other things you'll find out there but I think its working after I added it since my ammonia and nitrites appear under control. But still no nitrAtes even after all this time!
My latest test readings if that will help anyone in explaning my lack of nitrAtes:
pH-7.6
Temp-78
Ammonia-.25
Nitrite-0
NitrAte-0
GH and KH according to the test strips I have left read pretty high, both are over 120 mg/l. Madison, WI has very hard water but my fish seem to be doing fine in it. I treat my water with Seachem's Prime before it goes in the tank.
I also have artificial plants and décor.
I clean my filters once a month and only do water changes if testing shows anything to be higher than I'd like (which is basically greater than 1ppm).
I think for my next tank I do I'm going to do a fish less cycle using more Dr. Tim's One and Only and pure ammonia and let the process work itself out more naturally.
That's pretty much what I did Never but I was killing fish left and right. So I said fishless here I come lol. One thing that I've read and seen is don't change your filter even though they say too all the nice folks here say do it at a max of once every 6 month at and then only if you have too. I followed the manufacturer instructions and lost all the Bactria (the ones that convert nitrites to nitrates)
Couple side notes - DrTim has bacteria in a bottle that you can put in your tank now. Also get Seachem Prime and chunk the Safe Start I did lol. Live plants help stabilize stuff as well but you've gotta get food for them and a pretty strict (by strict I mean I've gotta remember to turn it off lol) lighting schedule.
NeverEnoughFish
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
I think really early on in my cycle I was doing too much maintenance. Water changes are fine but cleaning the filter 2 or more times a month isn't good. I had a Tetra EX20 filter that came with my tank and it had cartridges. Thankfully I didn't follow their stupid instructions of change the cartridge every month. I also determined the Tetra filter wasn't doing a great job at keeping my water clean and so I bought an AC50 to run alongside the EX20. The AC50 has been stuffed with custom media and so has my EX20. I think in the near future I'm going to just get rid of the EX20 and buy a AC30 to run with my AC50. Of course I'll be using the bio media and sponges that were in the EX20 to seed any new filter I add.
As for cleaning my filters now, yeah I don't mess with doing anything with the main sponge on my AC50 until it looks so clogged its literally not letting any water through. Some of my other media in there I kind of have to clean once a month since they are water polishing pads/sponges so they really get dirty in about 3 weeks but I run them a month and then clean them.
I haven't had that crappy Safe Start stuff since I first got my tank going and I did get a bottle of Dr. Tim's One and Only and dumped the whole thing in. This was last week actually. So far my tests have shown safe levels of everything but no nitrAtes.
Day 2 with fishy's in tank everyone is happy and active
Temp 79 (I know gotta lower it a bit)
Ammonia .0ppm
Nitrites .0ppm
Nitrates 40ppm
My new setup.
26g Bow Front
Fluval 206
200 watt in-line heater
Current USA Satalite+ LED
Eco-Complete substrate
Unsure if I need
CO2 system for my plants?
One of my new plants brought snails they are still small should I leave them or evict them?
Temp 79 (I know gotta lower it a bit)
Ammonia .0ppm
Nitrites .0ppm
Nitrates 40ppm
My new setup.
26g Bow Front
Fluval 206
200 watt in-line heater
Current USA Satalite+ LED
Eco-Complete substrate
Unsure if I need
CO2 system for my plants?
One of my new plants brought snails they are still small should I leave them or evict them?
What's your WPG on the tank... Snail thing is debatable, never dealt with them myself... Should lower those nitrAtes a bit too.
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