Fishless Cycling

[Dr Joe]

What was CHOMPERS cut for mentioning your stock pile of scrubbies? I may want in too!

Dr Joe

.

 

[zennzzo]

What was CHOMPERS cut for mentioning your stock pile of scrubbies? I may want in too!

Dr Joe

.

Thanks Dr Joe...another shameless plug for my "for sale" scrubbies!...

 

[zennzzo]

great post zennzzo! I'm new to fishkeeping and that whole cycling process had me very confused.

Glad I could bring a little light to the subject...

 

[amberclothier]

I really should have looked at this website BEFORE i decided to run out and buy a new setup one day and throw in a clown knife and a catfish and a jack dempsey the next day. i was extemely impatient and almost killed them all for that reason. luckily the all survived my stupidity and are thriving a year later but it was so close. I'm not nearly so impatient now. since i am going to be moving my larger fish to a 125 soon this is really helpful to avoid jeapordizing my fish like i did before

 

[jcardona1]

good stuff. this should be a sticky!!!

 

[brianp]

When I first heard of fishless cycling, I thought it sounded really stupid. I didn't realize ammonia was added artificially, and so I wondered how the bacteria were supposed to magically grow with no food source.

I suppose if I still hadn't understood it when I read this thread, it would have been very useful.

This is actually a very good question, but not with respect to ammonia, per se. Now, I’m confident that the following comments may not be well received by the advocates of fishless cycling, but I think a full body of information is useful. The bacteria that oxidize ammonia and nitrite also require a carbon source for their metabolism and growth, which fishless cycling does not provide. In a mature aquarium, this carbon source is provided by various components of fish waste, bacterial death, etc. FC occurs in a more or less “sterile” environment. In the absence of a carbon source, the growth of bacteria is handicapped. Personally, I like technical intervention and fishless cycling is a useful technique. I have never used it, but have no doubt that it works. However, the limitations I see with fishless cycling are first, it must be performed BEFORE the fish are added. Second, it requires monitoring of the ammonia dosages, nitrite leves, etc., and finally, it is a protracted process, requiring several weeks to come to fruition. On the other hand, if you’re a science geek (like me), you would probably enjoy this process, the recordkeeping, etc. If I didn’t have a viable alternative, I would simply recommend that a carbon source, such as cane sugar be added to this regimen to expedite the establishment of the bacterial lawn. However, based upon personal experience, I believe that there is a much better method of tank cycling available. Specifically, I am referring to Seachem Stability. I realize that with the exception of Biospira, these “bottled bacteria” products have generally perform poorly…if at all. However, Stability employs bacterial “spores”, which is really an inspired approach. I can personally attest to the effectiveness of this product. It’s true, that I did supplement my new 350 with cane sugar, but in my hands, Stability performed flawlessly…with the fish in the tank. The tank was cycled within approx. eight days. I believe that such an approach is much easier to implement that fishless cycling and has the added convenience of being used in situ….in other words, with the fish occupying the tank. In fact, the fish become part of the solution, because not only are they discharging ammonia, but are also producing the organic waste which the bacteria need for metabolism and growth. It is rare to find a product which is so effortless to deploy and yet so effective in performance.

 

[zennzzo]

I couldn't agree more.
Having the fish as part of the total solution is in fact a great Idea...I too have started a tank with SeaChems "Stability" and I couldn't agree more with the speed in which it cycled...But the tank was smallish by Monster standards.

This was written to clarify the basic Nitrogen cycle and as an alternate means to "fish in a new tank and buy every snake oil treatment to try and fix it when the tank isn't cycled yet" syndrone...

 

[xdragonxb0i]

so I found ammonia that doesn't have bubbles when I shake it

But ingredients have
Ammonium hydroxide and surfacant
Should I be worried about the surfacant?

 

[zennzzo]

so I found ammonia that doesn't have bubbles when I shake it

But ingredients have
Ammonium hydroxide and surfactant
Should I be worried about the surfactant?

the stuff I have says pure ammonia...it has ammonia and water in it...
Surfactant is a wetting agent like soap...

 

[xdragonxb0i]

where did u get yours at?