Fishless Cycling

[chriznat20@msn.]

I have set up another aquarium this time a 5 gallon hex, with underground filtration. I was going to cycle this one with out fish, but have some q's about it. I added this package that came with it, some kind of stress zyme stuff, and after about 5-7 days now, the water is quite cloudy. I have added a few flakes of fish food, so that it could decay and speed up the cycling process. I also tested the water and the ammonia level was about 2.0 ppm.
Cycling without fish, like I am, creates ammonia by itself? I am confused how the ammonia got in there, seeing that I didnt add fish food until after i detected ammonia. There is nothing, at all, in there besides gravel and 2 plastic plants.
ok I guess thats it.

 

[fishfreek]

IMO the stress zyme product does little benifit. Basicly what it is supposed to be is bottled bactera. I never could really grasp how bactera could survive in a plastic bottle with nothing to feedupon. I did come up with a theory that bactera would die and living bactera would reproduce on the dead bactera as food but my theory ran dry when i tried to figure out where the oxygen they needed was comming from.

So at any rate this is my theory on your tank having ammonia.

You put some stress zyme in your tank that was sour. (aka more dead bactera than live). This caused a bactera bloom in your new tank (thats what the cloudy water is). The dead bactera are producing the ammonia and at this stage the living bactera are not in high enough numbers to process the existing ammonia.

I would discontinue feeding the tank at this point and maybe do a 1 or 2 gal waterchange on it. This should lower your ammonia down and help with the cloudyness. Once your at 0 ammonia readings then your ready for fish.

 

[mound]

There's a pretty good article on fishless cycling here:
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/fishless_cycling.php

I am getting ready go cycle my new 125g setup, planning for a large introduction of cichlids, and am thinking of following this process for fishless cycling to prepare for the new fish. Any comments on this type of approach? You actually introduct pure ammonia (store bought) into the water, along with some filter mud for an active bacteria colony, and can supposedly cycle a tank and get a much more robust established bacterial colony. Have any of you attempted this approach? recommend it or against it?