Bacteria in a bottle

[Kitekat87]

Has anyone ever had any success with bacteria in a bottle products?

I've been doing a fish in cycle for about 8 weeks (I couldn't find any pure ammonia here in the UK) and I'm still only registering ammonia in the tank. I'm a fairly patient person but to not even have even nitrite readings seems a little extreme!!!

So I was wondering if I would be throwing money away buying some bacteria in a bottle.

 

[Ashenwelt]

Yep. I have used and use:

Dr Tim's One and Only
Seachem Stability
Tetra Safe Start Plus
Fluval Cycle

I had zero luck with the mainland brand of bacteria.

I do however always recommend is using two if you can. They often have different strains and there is always a chance someone screwed up and got the bacteria killed via high heat.

 

[Kitekat87]

My LFS store only stock flu all cycle, so I went ahead and got some of that. After only one day I'm already registering nitrates, does that seem right? There is also trace amounts of nitrites and roughly .5ppm of ammonia

 

[Kitekat87]

Fluval cycle I meant

 

[Ashenwelt]

Fluval cycle I meant

Fluval cycle is a fast act ... but it may include ammonium in the bottle... So please follow the instructions on the bottle. I like it.

 

[Kitekat87]

Thanks for the reply. Last question, I'm a little worried about the ammonia in the tank, can I do a water change before doing the next dose or will that affect the effectiveness of the fluval cycle?

 

[Ashenwelt]

Thanks for the reply. Last question, I'm a little worried about the ammonia in the tank, can I do a water change before doing the next dose or will that affect the effectiveness of the fluval cycle?

Is the tank stocked? If so make sure you dechlorinate BEFORE putting in and then dose the bacteria again. So you are basically double dosing.

Just my opinions.

 

[Barliman]

Has anyone ever had any success with bacteria in a bottle products?

I've used Seachem Stability and Dr. Tim's "One and Only" and have had great success with both. In the case of Dr. Tim's, I used it in a tank overstocked with platys, but which I hadn't properly cycled. (Not deliberately: operator error. ) The next day, the ammonia level was cut in half and was gone by Day 2. Never again had an ammonia or nitrite problem in that tank to the day I broke it down.

Anyway, just don't believe the "just add fish" claims some LFS's will push. There's still some cycling needed, but these products definitely speed it up.