fishless cycling advice

[seedubs1]

I'm going to be doing a fishless cycle in a few days, and need some advice as I'm out of standard chlorine/chloramine remover.

I always use Prime because of the large amounts of chloramine in my water. And I don't use standard chlorine/chloramine remover becuse it just usually breaks up the chloramine and I get a big amonia spike.

I've read not to use prime for fishless cycling because it will neutralize the amonia that is being added to the tank to get it cycling, and if you add it after your water change, it can kill off the food source for the BB and starve it out, which will cause you to have to have either another full cycle or a partial cycle (amonia and nitrite spikes).

So my question is, with my high chloramine, what should I use to dechlorine/dechloramine my water and keep from having big amonia spikes?

 

[philfreenode]

"I've read not to use prime for fishless cycling because it will neutralize the amonia that is being added to the tank to get it cycling, and if you add it after your water change, it can kill off the food source for the BB and starve it out"

This is not true. Prime will not starve the biological filter. Prime makes makes the ammonia and nitrite non toxic, but it is still useable by the bacteria in the filter.

No water changes are need for fishless cycling. Simply add water, then add prime, then add ammonia until its around 3 or 4 ppm. Then keep testing ammonia once a day when you see it fall to like 1 ppm or 0. Add about half as much as you needed to get it to 4 ppm initially per day after that, and start test nitrites daily. When ammonia and nitrites are gone the tank is cycled.

If for any reason you do change the water (say spilled too much ammonia in the tank) then you need to use prime again when adding new water. otherwise the chlorine in the water will kill your filter and you would have to start over.

 

[seedubs1]

The water change is for the end when all amonia and nitrites are converted to nitrates. Same as when you change the water for normal maintenance.

After the fishless cycle is over, amonia and nitrites should be converted to 0, which means it will all be converted to nitrates.

At that point, your nitrates will be high, and you do a series of 20% water changes to get the nitrates down before adding fish.

So is everyone in consensus that the use of Prime for fishless cycling is OK?

I have heard a lot of people say the answer is no.

 

[seedubs1]

Anybody else have an opinion on whether or not I should use prime for my pre cycling and post cycling new water treatment?

 

[prskiller]

I use Prime for my fishless cycle before and after.

Using Pure Ammonia to Cycle the Aquarium

Instead of using fish food for ammonia production, you can introduce pure ammonia to the tank.

After the tank has been set up, add five drops of ammonia per ten gallons into the water on a daily basis.

Ammonia will rise to five ppm and higher. As soon as nitrites are measurable, reduce the ammonia input to three drops per day. Nitrites will rise to similar levels. Keep adding two to three drops until the measurements of ammonia and nitrites come out with zero ppm. The tank has then completely cycled.

Seeding the tank can significantly enhance this process. It is possible for a cycle to complete in seven days with seeding; otherwise this method takes two to three weeks.

The bacteria colonies produced using this method are large enough to handle a well-stocked aquarium.