Cycling Additives

[jumbob]

Firstly I'd like to say that I'm a relatively new fishkeeper so excuse me if I ask any stupid questions!

I got my first tank, a 28L one, about 7 weeks ago. We followed the advice of the LFS and set everything up and added some dechlorinator and some Nutrafin Cycle to the tank and left it running without fish in for three weeks (they actually said two but we went away for the third) to allow the water to reach a condition suitable for the fish. At that point we then took a sample of our water to test and they said we could add a few fish, so we put in four Black Neon Tetras. So my first question is:

1. What exactly had the Cycle additive done in those three weeks? Had the tank cycled?

I've been reading the pinned topic on fishless cycling and from what I can gather Cycle does not add any ammonia, so did the real cycling process only start once we added the Tetras?

We've taken in some water samples since a couple of times to see whether we could add a couple more fish but the nitrite levels tested slightly too high and they advised against putting more fish in. We had a couple of problems with getting the tetras to eat in the first week or so but they seemed happy enough and we've been doing regular small water changes. Although recently they've started eating and become slightly more active too. The LFS recommended last weekend that we try to reduce the amount we feed the fish temporarily to reduce waste allow the nitrite levels to fall. So:

2. Was this a sensible suggestion?

We're also going to buy a new tank in the near future for a couple of reasons, a) to allow us to keep more fish, B) to give the fish more room to swim - we've been feeling more and more guilty about keeping them in such a small tank. We're planning on getting one three times the size - the largest one we can fit in the space we have, so:

3. With the new tank, would you recommend the method of fishless cyling mentioned in the pinned article rather than using the Cyle additive, or would using both be the optimum way of cycling the new tank?

Sorry for so many questions, any help and advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[d3tained]

Hi there.

Well IMO i dont believe in any tipe of cyceling stuff you add to a tank.Its not natural according to me. ( Clearly my personal opinion )

1st you have added that cycleing stuff and I believe it should contain Ammonia and Bacteria?? can you advise maybe?

If it do have that ingrediets then the tank would have cyceled in 2 weeks as LFS stated.( Depending on amounts of ammonia and bacteria )Bacterria using all the ammonia to make nitrite and then nitrate.

Now the last week of your tank there was no ammonia in the tank and the bacteria will die....this is if the stuff you added only have 2 weeks amounts in there then you need to provide other ammonia source like FISH poop.

So buy adding fish now it seems your cycling will restart IMO. ( Maybe incorrect )

Just keep a very close eye on your water stats.If you see anything ( Ammonia,Nitrite, Nitrate ) in alarm amounts do 25% water change.
If no problems comes up within 2 weeks i should say its ok for now.Remember when you add whish more waist, more ammonia and bacteria needs to build up for the exstra waist. Always keep a eye on ammonia levels after adding fish even if its half a fish.

If you do find your Ammonia, Nitrite jumping then tank is not cyceled.The fish may be pooping more than what bacteria can handle.

Overtime you will find that your levels just dont go up any more so the bacteria is keeping up with all ammonia, nitrite.

Keep in mind the last product is Nitrate which can be used by live plants but thats about it.You will still have to do a small water change every week or 2 for aslong as you have the tank.

Hope this helped.

 

[jumbob]

Thanks for your comments d3tained.

Now the last week of your tank there was no ammonia in the tank and the bacteria will die....this is if the stuff you added only have 2 weeks amounts in there then you need to provide other ammonia source like FISH poop.

I continued to add the Cycle additive as specified on the bottom, so that hopefully means the bacteria didn't die off.

As for whether Nutrafin Cycle directly adds Ammonia I don't know. I know it does add the two types of bacteria you need. Does anyone else know?

 

[brittlestar]

As for whether Nutrafin Cycle directly adds Ammonia I don't know. I know it does add the two types of bacteria you need. Does anyone else know?

I thought it added food for the good bacteria living in your filter? Nitrosomas or something, sorry if that's wrong. But all I know is if that you don't have enough good in your filter, you can cause nitrites to peak for a short time if you add lots of Cycle as that happened to us, basically you need enough good bacteria to eat the Cycle, therefore breed. It kind of kickstarts your filter into breeding and feeding, but it doesn't actually contain good bacteria itself........I think?!!!!!!!

 

[d3tained]

You have fish in you tank now.Cool the ammonia will start to come into the tank.Continue to us that product untill its done.If you did not have ammonia in your tank bacteria will just die.And I dont know how they can keep bacteria alive in a bottle that dont have any ammonia in it.I dont know what the contens are.According to me its better just to use the real ammonia like fish poop.

I cycled my tank like this: ( Simple is better )

Add water...hehehe.
Add fish ( I just added the fish I whished to keep )
Check water evyer day for Amonia, Nitrites, Nitrates.
When 1 of the levels is 2 high for fish to tollarate do water change.( Dont do waterchange more that 25% and if the levels are not seriously high)
Over time the bacteria will build up in good amounts to get rid of the ammonia nitrite and you will notice your levels are at zero or very little without doing water changes. Please note my above statement about nitrates in previous post.

This was my 1st attempt at a tropical fish tank and only lost 1 fish due to ich.Even Neons survived cyceling my tank and all fish very healthy!!

THATS IT, TANK CYCELED

 

[Boxermom]

BioSpira is the ONLY product that has the correct live bacteria in it, as long as it is kept refrigerated. Cycle and other products kept on shelves are useless, as they do not contain the correct bacteria. If you read the bottle, it says the bacteria is in a dormant state. The bacteria needed for the biological cycle do not go dormant. They are either alive or dead.

 

[atadon]

BioSpira is the ONLY product that has the correct live bacteria in it, as long as it is kept refrigerated. Cycle and other products kept on shelves are useless, as they do not contain the correct bacteria. If you read the bottle, it says the bacteria is in a dormant state. The bacteria needed for the biological cycle do not go dormant. They are either alive or dead.

hey boxermom,

i use cycle too. so by that statement, u're 100% sure that cycle doesn't help in any way? that's so messed up my gf bought the big bottle a month ago, what a waste of cash

 

[Boxermom]

Yes, I'm absolutely sure that Cycle does nothing to speed up a cycle except waste your money. Sorry about that.

 

[PaPeRo]

Yes, I'm absolutely sure that Cycle does nothing to speed up a cycle except waste your money. Sorry about that.

I've used CYCLE for years and yes it does work if you follow the directions and dose every 7 days. Where is YOUR proof that it doesn't work???

They even have a graph showing a comparison between using CYCLE and not using it. Using CYCLE it takes only 10 days. Not using it takes 20 days.

I still remember back in the day when CYCLE used to be sold refrigerated with instructions to put it back in the frig after using it. Since then Nutrafin has improved the product so it doesn't need to be refrigerated. It also has higher concentrations over the old product and the ratio of Nitrite reducing bacteria have been increased over the ammonia reducing ones.

 

[DoubleJ]

I've used CYCLE for years and yes it does work if you follow the directions and dose every 7 days. Where is YOUR proof that it doesn't work???

They even have a graph showing a comparison between using CYCLE and not using it. Using CYCLE it takes only 10 days. Not using it takes 20 days.

Here's a graph of my golfing ability when I do eat a peanutbutter and jelly sandwich and when I don't eat a peanutbutter and jelly sandwich.

As you can see, My golf game greatly increases when I eat a PBJ. This leads me to believe that everyones golf game would instantly get better if they would eat a PBJ. Where's YOUR proof that this is not the case?

The graph on the bottle of crap that they are trying to SELL to you means absolutely nothing. I've actually had tanks cycle faster without using the additive stuff before. Just like everything else, everyone will have a different result and your answers are not the end all of fish keeping.

 

[PaPeRo]

I've used CYCLE for years and yes it does work if you follow the directions and dose every 7 days. Where is YOUR proof that it doesn't work???

They even have a graph showing a comparison between using CYCLE and not using it. Using CYCLE it takes only 10 days. Not using it takes 20 days.

Here's a graph of my golfing ability when I do eat a peanutbutter and jelly sandwich and when I don't eat a peanutbutter and jelly sandwich.

As you can see, My golf game greatly increases when I eat a PBJ. This leads me to believe that everyones golf game would instantly get better if they would eat a PBJ. Where's YOUR proof that this is not the case?

The graph on the bottle of crap that they are trying to SELL to you means absolutely nothing. I've actually had tanks cycle faster without using the additive stuff before. Just like everything else, everyone will have a different result and your answers are not the end all of fish keeping.

Where are your laboratory tests??? That's what I thought. I've actually done the test myself so can actually talk unlike you. Still using those lava rocks at Home Depot to save a couple of dollars? Hey it works right? Yeah garden pebbles work too.

Yeah you've had tanks cycle faster when using cloned filter media and??? What about a brand new clean filter and water???

Straight from the forum FAQ.

When the ammonia drops back to about near zero (usually takes about a week)...

The nitrite spike will generally take about twice as long to drop to zero as did the ammonia spike.

Do the math.

 

[DoubleJ]

Still using them and their still working great. I guess you missed the point of what I was saying. Everyone will have different results to every possible variation out there. And what test have you done that I have not? You've used Cycle and found it to work. I've used Cycle and found it to not work. Again, different results from the same test done by two different people in two different parts of the world at two different times. I personally have no problems waiting a few extra days for a tank to cycle if it means I won't have to spend my money on a product that isn't NEEDED.

 

[PaPeRo]

You've used Cycle and found it to work. I've used Cycle and found it to not work.

Then we can conclude that it works not that it doesn't work.

A negative doesn't disprove a positive. The fact you didn't see a tree fall doesn't mean it didn't.

Again this isn't about need.

If you're going to use filter media from an already cycled system of course it's going to be fast..duh. Most people don't have that luxury so it's either use Cycle or Bio Spira or not use it at all and wait twice as long.

 

[DoubleJ]

Whatever. Sure it works. I whole heartedly give my glowing endorsement to the great cycle. My eyes have been opened by the one person I have ever heard of that got this product to work. I will now start to pay good money to own a product that is not needed because nature takes care of it on it's own. Thank you so much for guiding me into the world of wasting my money.

And BTW, where did you see me say anything about using cloned media?

 

[PaPeRo]

And BTW, where did you see me say anything about using cloned media?

I didn't need to see it. The fact you said you can naturally cycle a tank faster than one using Cycle indicates a few possibilites.

1. You used cloned media
2. You are lying
3. Your Cycle bottle was old/bad.
4. You made a mistake while using Cycle (wrong dosage, did not shake, water wasn't fully dechlorinated/dechloraminated, poured into tank instead of filter, etc)