My experience with ATM Colony and staff.

[Huro]

ok great, thank you

 

[PerfectDepth]

philip,

I'm going to go against the grain here and agree with you about the rams. I think it's quite possible to give them a stable environment as long as you put in the extra work required. The only difference between having sensitive fish in a newly cycled tank vs. an established tank is that you have a much smaller margin of error. A slight over-feeding, for example, might not affect an older tank at all, but can cause a mini-cycle when the same tank is newly cycled. I don't fully understand why, but it happens.

 

[fishyd]

philip,

I'm going to go against the grain here and agree with you about the rams. I think it's quite possible to give them a stable environment as long as you put in the extra work required. The only difference between having sensitive fish in a newly cycled tank vs. an established tank is that you have a much smaller margin of error. A slight over-feeding, for example, might not affect an older tank at all, but can cause a mini-cycle when the same tank is newly cycled. I don't fully understand why, but it happens.

I agree with this, especially with you monitoring it so well. Stay on top of that, and I think all will be fine. My community, I put in 10 cardinals after one week and my gbr pair and 6 sterbai corys after 2. I did seed some filter media though and that helped, but by staying on top of the parameters, I still have not lost a single fish in that tank. I started it in early November last year.

Add: also have guppies, zebra danios, and sunset/honey gouramis that were added in those two stocking trips.

 

[philipraposo198]

I appreciate that there are people with different opinions and that all of us won't always agree.

Glad I am not the only one here who can see beyond what is known as the norm.

 

[philipraposo198]

I knew it would be possible if enough care is put forth. Thank you guys for the support and I will continue to treat these fish like my babies and do everything in my power to keep them healthy and happy.

Keep you all posted on progress

 

[Brookster123]

Oregon trail it is young Jedi. Let's see how well you ford those rivers obviously I want the ram to live so we know who's side I'm on.. Good threads need a catalyst...

 

[PerfectDepth]

Brookster,
LOL, this is his first tank after all. We shall see.

*NOTE* I wanted to add that I have been testing the water 2 times a day, minimum. I also didn’t do any water changes, and I only did one 5g top up last night (Tuesday night). It’s important to the health of the fish and the bacteria that things are WATCHED but not tampered with unless levels get out of control.

Reading this statement, I think I should add the caveat that just because your pH is stable now, doesn't mean it will remain stable as the cycle continues. I suggest doing plenty of 50% water changes. Don't be paranoid about doing water changes, even if it seems unnecessary according to test results. Water changes will definitely help keep your pH stable. Just make sure to match the temperature of the new water with the tank's temp (and add dechlorinator, of course)

 

[Brookster123]

Brookster, LOL, this is his first tank after all. We shall see. Reading this statement, I think I should add the caveat that just because your pH is stable now, doesn't mean it will remain stable as the cycle continues. I suggest doing plenty of 50% water changes. Don't be paranoid about doing water changes, even if it seems unnecessary according to test results. Water changes will definitely help keep your pH stable. Just make sure to match the temperature of the new water with the tank's temp (and add dechlorinator, of course)

I get intense sometimes.. Especially when rams are involved haha..

 

[philipraposo198]

Not to be rude, but you don't understand how nitrifying bacteria. I CAN'T do WC's, it will remove the BB that I need, directions say specifically not to do WC until the cycle is pretty much complete. Which should be in a few days at this rate.

Brookster,
LOL, this is his first tank after all. We shall see.



Reading this statement, I think I should add the caveat that just because your pH is stable now, doesn't mean it will remain stable as the cycle continues. I suggest doing plenty of 50% water changes. Don't be paranoid about doing water changes, even if it seems unnecessary according to test results. Water changes will definitely help keep your pH stable. Just make sure to match the temperature of the new water with the tank's temp (and add dechlorinator, of course)

 

[bribo12]

Not to be rude, but you don't understand how nitrifying bacteria. I CAN'T do WC's, it will remove the BB that I need, directions say specifically not to do WC until the cycle is pretty much complete. Which should be in a few days at this rate.

I have been ok with what you're saying until now. There is literally no bb in the water column. I'm a salty though so I guess ill just stick to my 3 month cycles with dead shrimp and not try to argue fw things

 

[philipraposo198]

I really do appreciate how much how much you guy care about my fish, truly. I understand how when told something over and over its hard to see anything but, and most of wht you guys have to say are very legitimate concerns.

In the end how I choose to cycle my tank and care for my fish is my option. I really do feel my fish are not under duress. I also am pretty sure even in their natural environments there are not always perfect parameters.

I get intense sometimes.. Especially when rams are involved haha..

 

[Luananeko]

I have been ok with what you're saying until now. There is literally no bb in the water column. I'm a salty though so I guess ill just stick to my 3 month cycles with dead shrimp and not try to argue fw things

I think they misunderstood the directions and meant that it would remove the ammonia and nitrites that the BB needs to multiply...

Either way, Rams are pretty sensitive. If it's a choice a fast cycle or a slower cycle but keeping the water as pristine as possible so the Rams have a better chance at making it, I'd personally choose the slower cycle. They're such colorful and friendly fish that I hate to see them be a guinea pig for proving a point...

 

[philipraposo198]

Its really not a proving point, I know it can be done. I am being told my the people who bottle this product.

I had an opportunity to get the fish I wanted and had a hard time locating, and although not idea circumstances the fish will be fine.

Both male and female (I named them Joe and Carol) have colored up a lot in just a matter of 24 hours. They are clearly happier in my tank than where they were. (Crowded LFS tank with many rams).

 

[Luananeko]

In the end how I choose to cycle my tank and care for my fish is my option. I really do feel my fish are not under duress. I also am pretty sure even in their natural environments there are not always perfect parameters.

My concern is simply this... Rams are well known for their sensitivity and the tendency to die randomly even when water parameters are 100% perfect. The only way you see someone with Rams living longer than 6 months is when they keep their water perfect AND have good, genetically sound, healthy stock to begin with AND have a mature tank with plenty of biofilm for them to pick at in between meals. It's not an issue of making sure they're not under duress. It's an issue of them being so overbred, sensitive, and weaker than most other species that putting them in a non-ideal environment is making the already difficult job of keeping them alive even harder. Maybe Gold Rams are tougher than the German Blue Rams (doubt it since they're simply different color morphs), but I've run into problems with them first hand in my 3yr old tank with pristine parameters, so I speak from experience...

 

[Luananeko]

Its really not a proving point, I know it can be done. I am being told my the people who bottle this product.

Personally I tend to take the word of someone trying to sell me a cycling product or fish with a grain of salt... No matter how much they love fish, they are still a biased source of information because they want to sell their product or fish. To each their own though.

 

[PerfectDepth]

Not to be rude, but you don't understand how nitrifying bacteria. I CAN'T do WC's, it will remove the BB that I need, directions say specifically not to do WC until the cycle is pretty much complete. Which should be in a few days at this rate.

You're right, it would be self-defeating to do water changes too soon after adding a product such as Colony. However, BB is not normally free-floating. After the BB attaches to a surface, it won't be removed by a water change so there's nothing to worry about at that point. If I were you, I would rather be safe than sorry, and I would do the water changes, and then just add more of the Colony supplement to replenish if I felt it was needed.

When I started my very first tank, I really had no idea what I was doing, yet somehow through blind luck I managed to complete a fish-in cycle in under two weeks by using a cheap Petsmart store-brand Top Fin bacteria supplement. And yes, I was changing a lot of water, probably more than necessary, but it still cycled very quickly.

Good luck!

 

[Wy Renegade]

Interesting thread - I always get a little bit of a chuckle when someone shows up on these forums who has never kept an aquarium before, starts a new tank using one of those amazing bacteria in a bottle products and immediately starts singing the praises of the product when their tank is less than a week old. I"m always amused by how someone who "3 months ago didn't know anything about bacteria or cycling" and has only been keeping an aquarium for what, six days, gets knowledgeable so quickly that now they can tell other aquarium keepers that they just don't understand nitrifying bacteria and how they work. As someone else pointed out, you really haven't accomplished anything, until you've kept these fish alive for at least six months ~ 24 hours means absolutely nothing.

Your 75 gal planted tanks looks pretty nice for being only six days old or so, it also shows an amazing bit of plant growth, in your album, for that short of a period of time. You do realize that having a planted tank completely invalidates all your claims on the effectiveness of the bacterial agent you are promoting here right? Plants themselves consume both ammonia and nitrates, so you cannot effectively validate anything regarding effectiveness of a bottled agent using a heavily planted tank.

Curious as to why you are bothering to test the water twice a day if you have no plans to do any water changes? Also curious as to what you are going to define as harmful levels?

 

[philipraposo198]

Personally I tend to take the word of someone trying to sell me a cycling product or fish with a grain of salt... No matter how much they love fish, they are still a biased source of information because they want to sell their product or fish. To each their own though.

He never sold it to me, I bought the product before talking to him. We are not 70+ emails in and he is sending me free product coming tomorrow. Stacey is by far the most helpful person I have ever encountered when dealing with any product or service. He has no reason for.going out of his way and emailing.me at midnight to help with my.cycle.

I will trust the guy who is knowledgeable and who is going out of their way for.me.

 

[Luananeko]

He never sold it to me, I bought the product before talking to him. We are not 70+ emails in and he is sending me free product coming tomorrow. Stacey is by far the most helpful person I have ever encountered when dealing with any product or service. He has no reason for.going out of his way and emailing.me at midnight to help with my.cycle.

I will trust the guy who is knowledgeable and who is going out of their way for.me.

As a business owner myself, I can tell you that they're not necessarily going out of their way for you just out of the goodness of their hearts. It's good PR. If you speak well of them and are convinced that their product is as awesome as they say, it results in more sales. I'm not saying they're evil greedy people only putting on a facade for you or anything, just saying, it is in their best interest to make you happy so they sell more, so it's still important to take their suggestions with a grain of salt.

Either way, as the previous poster mentioned, using their product to help cycle a heavily planted is fine, but doesn't really prove much. From a scientific standpoint, it makes it impossible to prove which is helping more, the plants or the product. It's good that you're happy with it so far, but trying to take the tone of "I'm going to prove all you naysayers wrong that this product rocks!" is a bit unfounded.

 

[Khuligirl93]

Not to be rude, but you don't understand how nitrifying bacteria. I CAN'T do WC's, it will remove the BB that I need, directions say specifically not to do WC until the cycle is pretty much complete. Which should be in a few days at this rate.

I don't think you have the right, as a new aquarist who has only 3 months of experience, to tell these people who have years and years of experience that they do not understand nitrifying bacteria...
Time will tell how your product works.