Sk3lly
Aquarium Advice Addict
Safe start isnt an ammonia source! You can use flakes but they give off very little ammonia and will rot and foul your water. Did you research cycling an aquarium at all???
Which tetras?
- Thread starter Claireabigailq
- Start date
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Safe start isnt an ammonia source! You can use flakes but they give off very little ammonia and will rot and foul your water. Did you research cycling an aquarium at all???
Claireabigailq
Aquarium Advice Regular
SafeStart Plus is supposed to have live bacteria in the bottle, people have said that is the best bottled bacteria you can get. When I am starting a project I research for about 2-3 months.
Check out this article when you have time. It may help to start to answer a few questions.
I just learned about cycling but I already have fish. What now?! - Aquarium Advice
I just learned about cycling but I already have fish. What now?! - Aquarium Advice
threnjen
Aquarium Advice Addict
The bacteria in Safe Start is suspended in a weak ammonia solution. This will indeed give a slight ammonia reading after the liquid has been dumped into the aquarium.
However, none of this means that your aquarium is cycled. The only way to tell this reliably before adding fish is to add pure ammonia and check your level in 24 hours. Otherwise none of the numbers really mean anything. The heterotrophic bacteria in the SafeStart can definitely consume their ammonia suspension, but that doesn't indicate an established bacterial colony in your filter.
That's not to say I doubt that your filter can handle something - you had seed material, so there is definitely something there.
If you feel confident you have built something (even if just from the seeded media), just start with a few fish and test your levels daily.
However, none of this means that your aquarium is cycled. The only way to tell this reliably before adding fish is to add pure ammonia and check your level in 24 hours. Otherwise none of the numbers really mean anything. The heterotrophic bacteria in the SafeStart can definitely consume their ammonia suspension, but that doesn't indicate an established bacterial colony in your filter.
That's not to say I doubt that your filter can handle something - you had seed material, so there is definitely something there.
If you feel confident you have built something (even if just from the seeded media), just start with a few fish and test your levels daily.
