I'm about ready to put water in my tank. I want to have some kuhli loaches and zebra loaches but here they are VERY sensitive to water quality. I'm wondering should I do a fishless cycle or through some fish in and use stability? I do want a variety of tetras too. I'm not buying my fish locally, I'm going to order from The Wet Spot. It's actually cheaper to do that then buy cardinal tetras at Petsmart for 4.00 each. Any suggestions are welcome!
Fishless cycle or use stability?
- Thread starter Ajno
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fishless cycle... take the extra "time" and do it right and well. particularly with wanting to put a "full stock" in all at once. simply adding a few small fish and cycleing it won't build up the BB base you'll need to handle the bio-load your going to support. Your better of doing a large fishless cycle and haveing the tank able to "support" more stock then you actually put in then have the tank limp along and go threw a mini-cycle or 2.
squeezing old media into the new tank will help the process imo better then any bottled additive you can buy. Just don't forget to feed the bacteria while it's establishing.
squeezing old media into the new tank will help the process imo better then any bottled additive you can buy. Just don't forget to feed the bacteria while it's establishing.
fishless, or overload it with feeder comets and more food than they know what to do with. only problem... comets are a total PITA in a big tank, i did them on my 500g and what a nightmare
Do a fishless cycle, no reason to torture the other fish with horrible water quality. Also using fish to cycle the tank wont make it go any faster really. To help cycle my 20L i just tossed in a piece of shrimp and am letting it rot for a while till the bacteria grow enough to handle it(not a big piece)
Thanks, I don't have any tanks to mooch media off of, I am getting back into fish after being away for 2 years. I'll go pick up some ammonia tonight. Only thing is my heater is not here yet. Guess I can fill the tank with warmer water to make up for it. I'm wondering how much ammonia I need to add them to cover the bioload I want to add later. It's a 122 gallon. Main stock to start is going to be 10-20 cardinal tetras,6 kuhli loaches, and 6 zebra loaches. I also wat to find a pleco that stays under 6 inches. Thats what I want to start with. Anyways thanks and I'll go get some ammonia, I'm wondering if I can't find pure ammonia if letting my boys pee in the tank would be a good ammonia source.
lol, most hardware stores carry pure ammonia.. and the cheaper the better usually as well...otherwise tossing some old fish food in the tank or a shrimp ( imo not as healthy ) will help kickstart it. adding godlfish is a really bad idea.. other then making the fish suffer.. diseases and parasites are very common. when gagueing what amount to use with particularly the old food/shrimp method. sprinkle about what you expect to feed when stocked.
Ajno;5102494; said:
Buy a bottle of Stability, keep it handy for when the fish arrive, match temp and follow the instructions on the bottle. Be done in a few days not a month... If you do it correctly your not putting your fish through anything. I have used it many times and stand by it, especially when you set up a medicated tank or do not have any other established media to use..
JK47;5102856; said:Buy a bottle of Stability, keep it handy for when the fish arrive, match temp and follow the instructions on the bottle. Be done in a few days not a month... If you do it correctly your not putting your fish through anything. I have used it many times and stand by it, especially when you set up a medicated tank or do not have any other established media to use..
^ agree with this, i've used the bacteria in the bottle on every tank i've set up and it's worked everytime. This 180 im doing now with be setup that way also, it's much easier and less of the wait for the cycle.