Enigma77
Aquarium Advice Newbie
- Joined
- Apr 25, 2013
- Messages
- 4
I came across a product called nutrafin cycle while setting up a new aquarium and was planning my usual fishless cycle using a prawn (which i hate cause it stinks and fouls the water, and I can't find ammonia anywhere here in Australia that doesn't have other crap in it)but decided to try this product as I have read a lot of people saying it works and ,a lot saying it doesn't ,so this is what I did and ,my thoughts on the product..
Day 1-2 run aquarium fully setup with no fish.. Just gravel, ornaments, filter, heater set at 80F or 27C, and alot of aeration, and add a small pinch of fish flakes
Day 3-4 add more flakes
Day 5 add 2 danios as long as ammonia is below .25 and nitrites are below .25. If higher no need to add fish
Day 6 no need to do anything
Day 7 add 4 more danios as long as ammonia is below .25 and nitrites are below .25 if they are higher skip adding more fish
Day 8 add the recommended dose of nutrafin cycle directly into the filter media recommended on the bottle for day 1.. If your ammonia hasn't reached at least .25 then wait till it has before doing this step and carrying on..nutrafin cycle seems to work best if there is some ammonia present to kick start the process properly..
Day 9 same as day 8 but the amount of nutrafin cycle recommended on the bottle for day 2
Day 10 same as day 9 and check ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates .. Do not do any water changes unless your ammonia is ABOVE 1.0 and nitrite is ABOVE .50 and nitrate is ABOVE 5.0.. you should notice a leap in ammonia , nitrites and maybe nitrates.. If you have to do water changes do not vacuum the gravel or any other part of the tank .. Only remove water.. I personally didn't have to do any water changes till after the tank was completely cycled and the fish were completely fine..at which point I only needed to do a light vacuum of the surface of the gravel.and removed about 20% of the water..
Day 11-13 just kept the aquarium running for 2 more days keeping an eye on the parameters .you should notice the ammonia and nitrites starting to fall slowly over these few days.. And nitrates may climb a bit
Day 14-15 ammonia fell to 0, nitrites to 0, nitrates 0 (after 20% water change).. From this point just added 1 fish every 2 days while checking parameters
My filter is a fluval u4.. 40gal tank(160L)..crushed coral substrate..and holey rock..200w heater but had no lighting on..
* each of these steps may take a day or so longer than mine did.. Don't worry if it does just wait till the steps happen then move to the next step .. Things like filter, media, gravel, ornaments, plants and size of aquarium can all play a part in how long your aquarium takes to cycle.. Through this whole process I had a total of 6 danios just to be able to keep the ammonia levels above .50 and fed them as normal but small amounts..
In conclusion I was impressed with the product and seems to do what it claims.. Although I wouldn't trust it to be able to add my most prized cichlids to an uncycled tank ,and add this product and expect no fish loss.. But it did seem to me to speed up the cycle process and the danios that were in my tank were happy through the whole process.
I have written this post 4 weeks after the tank has cycled and still seems to be going strong, ammonia 0, nitrites 0 and nitrates around 1ppm with 25% water changes weekly ... I have not added more nutrafin cycle since cycling even when adding fish as I didn't see the point if the tank was already cycled.. Even though its recommended on the bottle . So I wouldn't rely on this product to be able to keep your fish safe straight after setting up a tank but would recommend it to only help speed up the cycle process..I think where most people go wrong is using this stuff before there is enough ammonia in the tank for the Bactria to consume.. So then the bacteria just die off and are no help.. For all I know this product did nothing at all and was just the normal process of bacteria growth that cycled the tank.. You be the judge.
Hope this helps everyone
Day 1-2 run aquarium fully setup with no fish.. Just gravel, ornaments, filter, heater set at 80F or 27C, and alot of aeration, and add a small pinch of fish flakes
Day 3-4 add more flakes
Day 5 add 2 danios as long as ammonia is below .25 and nitrites are below .25. If higher no need to add fish
Day 6 no need to do anything
Day 7 add 4 more danios as long as ammonia is below .25 and nitrites are below .25 if they are higher skip adding more fish
Day 8 add the recommended dose of nutrafin cycle directly into the filter media recommended on the bottle for day 1.. If your ammonia hasn't reached at least .25 then wait till it has before doing this step and carrying on..nutrafin cycle seems to work best if there is some ammonia present to kick start the process properly..
Day 9 same as day 8 but the amount of nutrafin cycle recommended on the bottle for day 2
Day 10 same as day 9 and check ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates .. Do not do any water changes unless your ammonia is ABOVE 1.0 and nitrite is ABOVE .50 and nitrate is ABOVE 5.0.. you should notice a leap in ammonia , nitrites and maybe nitrates.. If you have to do water changes do not vacuum the gravel or any other part of the tank .. Only remove water.. I personally didn't have to do any water changes till after the tank was completely cycled and the fish were completely fine..at which point I only needed to do a light vacuum of the surface of the gravel.and removed about 20% of the water..
Day 11-13 just kept the aquarium running for 2 more days keeping an eye on the parameters .you should notice the ammonia and nitrites starting to fall slowly over these few days.. And nitrates may climb a bit
Day 14-15 ammonia fell to 0, nitrites to 0, nitrates 0 (after 20% water change).. From this point just added 1 fish every 2 days while checking parameters
My filter is a fluval u4.. 40gal tank(160L)..crushed coral substrate..and holey rock..200w heater but had no lighting on..
* each of these steps may take a day or so longer than mine did.. Don't worry if it does just wait till the steps happen then move to the next step .. Things like filter, media, gravel, ornaments, plants and size of aquarium can all play a part in how long your aquarium takes to cycle.. Through this whole process I had a total of 6 danios just to be able to keep the ammonia levels above .50 and fed them as normal but small amounts..
In conclusion I was impressed with the product and seems to do what it claims.. Although I wouldn't trust it to be able to add my most prized cichlids to an uncycled tank ,and add this product and expect no fish loss.. But it did seem to me to speed up the cycle process and the danios that were in my tank were happy through the whole process.
I have written this post 4 weeks after the tank has cycled and still seems to be going strong, ammonia 0, nitrites 0 and nitrates around 1ppm with 25% water changes weekly ... I have not added more nutrafin cycle since cycling even when adding fish as I didn't see the point if the tank was already cycled.. Even though its recommended on the bottle . So I wouldn't rely on this product to be able to keep your fish safe straight after setting up a tank but would recommend it to only help speed up the cycle process..I think where most people go wrong is using this stuff before there is enough ammonia in the tank for the Bactria to consume.. So then the bacteria just die off and are no help.. For all I know this product did nothing at all and was just the normal process of bacteria growth that cycled the tank.. You be the judge.
Hope this helps everyone
