Cycling With Tetra Safestart

[Jeewhizz]

Tetra safestart was recommended to me by a LFS as a way to boost the initial cycling process.

I've been keeping fish for years now, and have always been a bit jubious about these 'starter cultures', but after some research, decided it was worth a shot.

Setup:
Tank is approx 100litres / 30Gal and has approx 70+ plants.
Lower layer of JBL florapol, covered with inert black gravel (2-3mm)
One coconut cave. One piece of Mopani wood

The process:
I started the tank on a friday, and got it all setup, left the filter running, heaters on etc for a few days, to ensure everything was working.

At this point, Tuesday midday, the readings were:

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5-10
pH: 7.8 - this is higher than I liked, so a water change was done with added buffer, and it came down to approx 7.6

I then added the tetra safestart as per the guidelines. It's worth giving this a good shake before use, as mine had settled a bit.

I then added 7 Glowlight danios.

I then did a water test that evening and got the following:

Ammonia: 0.25
Nitrite: 0.25
Nitrate: 5-10
pH: 7.6

At this point, I decided to do a 10% water change. I also moved two small ceramic pots (1inch or so tall) from another tank over, more for decoration. These will have had some beneficial bacteria on...

Wednesady morning:

Ammonia: 0.25
Nitrite: 0.25
Nitrate: 10-15
pH 7.6
KH: 10

I did another 10% water change at lunchtime, and that evening the results were:

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5-10
pH: 7.6
kH: 10

At this point, I decided to feed the fish. They were fed enough that was eaten within 5 minutes.

Thursday's test results were the same as above, with a slight increase in nitrates - which is to be expected.

Friday (today's) results are teh same, and fish have been fed again, with no noticeable increase in ammonia & nitrites.

Overall, I'm very impressed. A few points:

- 7 danios is hardly a great bioload
- I am going to add some more fish over the weekend, and continue monitoring...

Would I recommend this for everyone?

No. The only reason I decided to go this route is that I'm working from home, and so can do 2-3 water tests a day, and take action if required such as waterchanges etc.

The hard part now is deciding which fish to add next! If anyone has any recommendations, I'd appreciate it. The fish I'm after:

3 x botia - probably polkadot loach - botia kubotai
a few otos - these should probably wait for the tank to be more matured - thoughts?
1 x RTBS
4 x Congo Tetras

That's all I can remember off my list so far - any thoughts?

 

[Duck and Dive]

I used to use that stuff it works very well for cycling, but now I use NT labs Start-Ok Because it has a nitrite test kit filter bugs nitroccle stuff and a de -chlorinater all for £7!!!

I used to use that stuff it works very well for cycling, but now I use NT labs Start-Ok Because it has a nitrite test kit filter bugs nitroccle stuff and a de -chlorinater all for £7!!!

 

[Jeewhizz]

So far so good - I've added another shoal of fish (black neon tetras) and also a clown plec.

No rise in Ammonia or nitrites, and feeding daily.

 

[three-fingers]

Awesome, I tried this stuff in one of the lfs' I work in on Saturdays 2ft UG filtered tanks a while back, added 10 zebra danios and the water was tested the next day. Results recorded were 0ppm ammonia and nitrite and 5-10ppm nitrate (started from RO water).

That's what convinced me this stuff works to a worthwhile extent, and while I still feel the best way to cycle a tank is fishless using mature media, this stuff is much faster than a regular fishless cycle (which is almost impossible to push on new customers).

I recommend people with small tanks to dump the whole bottle in and add fish food or a prawn as an ammonia source, then at least 24 hours later do a 100% water change before adding a small number fish.

People with big tanks (100l +) I recommend dumping the whole bottle in, but if they want I'll give them a small bioload like tetras or danios and tell them to do 50% water changes for a few days.

This thread is great food for thought, I'd love to do a comparison with other products when I have time.

 

[The Mighty Boosh]

I probably shouldn't say it here, but I've used something similar on 2 of my tanks - One was a refridgerated liquid that I poured onto the new filter media, and the other was a vial of refridgerated black rubbery beads in (i guess) an ammonia solution, I just tipped away the liquid and sandwiched the beads between two pieces of my filter media.

Both worked a treat, especially the beads - I can't remember what they were called but they were fairly pricey. Worth every penny IMO

 

[swrzzzz]

We started my daughters 5 gallon with this and it worked a treat.

I would advise a test kit and a lot of regular checks if you have fish, but having said that we didnt need to do any extraordinary changes.

Steve