questions about safestart cycle

[bernyberns]

ok i just got my bottle of tetra safestart for my 75 for my stingray.

while i was waiting for my terta to arrive i had purchased some amquel plus to deal with my nitrites and ammonia lvls.

it works like a charm. 0 ppm for both. i was happy as can be..but my ray still looked mad at me. like you still aint getting it man.

so i checked my ph lvl. and dear god lol. amquel shot my 7.4 to eight point eight. i started to panic. i added more peat moss to my filter and stoped using the amquel. my ph has gone back to 7.4

but now i want to properly cycle my tank. i got good filtration. fluval 405 canister. i just bought a air stone for my ray and some aquasafe as well.

ok so i was reading that if i have anything that was in the tank that killed ammonia would waste my safestart. i had the amquel and i had some bags of ammonia remover in my filter. i took them out this morning. my nitrites and ammonia are back at 0.25.

is it now safe to use safestart? also my ray is refusing every food source besides ghost shrimp. they hide real good and are to fast for him so i catch them and feed them to him sometimes.

are there any things i need to get straight before i add safestart?? im worried because that stuff is NOT cheap and is NOT easy to find

 

[m.johnson]

where did you get your rays. are they freshwater?

 

[bernyberns]

i got my ray from pet land..i watched him for 4 weeks before i brought him home..he is underweight. because he was in a tank with a lot of fish.now he in his own tank..with some ghost shrimp. yea he is a fresh water ray. retic. he ate blood worms the first night i had him..but hasent since. waiting for my lfs to bring in some blackworms on Wednesday. i hear rays never turn them down.

i didnt cycle my tank right the first time so i wanna get it right this time

 

[bernyberns]

anyone?

 

[Cajun]

So you're saying that this is a new tank that hasn't been cycled, correct? Also, that bold print that you use makes for difficult reading.

 

[bernyberns]

the tank is about 3 weeks old now..sorry about the bold caps. i have put some nutrafin cycle in there.but people said its worthless and i should use tetra safestart..so im reading to do this just need some good guidance

 

[bernyberns]

i just did a test and my ammonia lvls are back to 0 ppm.. weird

 

[bernyberns]

didnt know walmart sold canadian nightcrawlers! lol just bought some and fed them to my ray.ive never seen him attack so vigorously.so happy he is enjoying them

anyone can help me with the tetra safestart??

 

[Cajun]

Glad he's eating...that's a good sign.

 

[bernyberns]

here is the link i was reading about tetra safestart. the part im really worried about is the ammonia product part because i did use amquel plus and fluval ammonia remover. and i used dechlor to remove chlorine.

http://www.fishlore.com/fishforum/aquarium-nitrogen-cycle/58116-q-tetra-tetra-safestart.html