Finally Started My Fishless Cycle Today. Wish Me Luck.

[gale]

There's the outside tap which is not softened water. But like I said, it's extremely hard water. I won't even drink or cook with our well water, even in the house. It doesn't taste good although it's been tested to be safe for human consumption. I spoke to my husband and he doesn't want to get an RO unit. We only have 2 five-gallon tanks so it would cost me about 75 cents weekly to get water for water changes. We already get bottled water from dispensers in town for drinking so it's not a special trip or anything. 
 
We had a 20 long freshwater tank about 8 yrs ago and I used softened well water for it. We went through a lot of filter units because they would get a hard white deposit in them that would make them quit working, and I always had a white crusty line at the water line of the tank. I think buying the RO water from the dispenser in town is going to be our best solution. 

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I've already gone around in another thread about my tap water. From the inside tap it goes through the water softener which is apparently a no-no. On the outside (well water) it is so incredibly full of metals that even the conditioners are no match. Within an hour of filling a container, it is bright orange and when we filled our pool, it was bright green from the copper. All of our swimsuits were stained orange from it and were ruined. It took over 2 weeks of filtration to even begin to clear it. RO is my only option. 

Also, there are no LFS around here. All are at least an hour away with most being even further. I live in a very rural area and the closest stores are 30 min away (regular stores, grocery, walmart, etc-no pet stores other than petsense which doesn't sell fish). 

 
Wow.  Never heard of water that was so bad.  

 

[gale]

I hadn't either, until I moved out here. Most areas away from the city are about the same. When I got married my parents came to visit and we went to dinner at my in-laws house. My mom wanted a drink and thought she was being served lemonade (albeit an orange-y looking lemonade). It was water that hadn't been through the softener. She was very relieved then that we use bottled water in our house. lol. Even with the water softener my tubs, sinks, etc have an orange tinge about them. Our clothes probably do too, now that I think about it. The joys of rural living. 
 
About the pool-we thought the green was algae the first year. We tried every algae chemical we could find and finally called the pool store. They knew just from the description and our location that it was high copper. They gave us something to clear it up but we learned the following year that we could just filter it for about 2 weeks and it would clear up. It looked nasty though. We also learned after the first couple of years to wear our old swimsuits until the water cleared up. 

 

[Ch4rlie]

Wow, thats some water you have.
 
Does sound very unsuitable for fish keeping, especially for shrimps and inverts if the copper content is very high
 
Bottled or RO water does sounds sensible now we have a better idea but will have to involve the additiion of minerals and nutrients to keep the tank inhabitants happy.

 

[julielynn47]

Where in the US do you live?   I am also from a rural small town and understand the 30 minute drive to ....ANYWHERE...  we have good water though.  I am just curious

 

[gale]

I live in north central Indiana. The town we live in has a population of about 100. lol. My husband is a full time farmer so it's a good area for that but pretty craptastic for shopping. Even though the nearest shopping town is 30 minutes away, to get to anything good is an hour's drive away. 

 

[julielynn47]

I know exactly what you mean. I live in south Arkansas, POP 117.  I have lived here almost my entire life and I love it.  I guess I am just used to a 30 minute drive to just about anywhere with any size to it.  To reach a town that has a pet store or home center or other places, beside Wal-Mart to shop, is 60 miles in one direction and 60 in another, and 82 in another. LOL   We live in what a lot of people consider the middle of nowhere...but it is home.

 

[gale]

Day 8 (7 was skipped because I changed the time I was testing to take advantage of the natural light)
ammonia 1
nitrites 0
ph 7.4 or 7.6
 
The flourish should arrive tomorrow so I'm hoping it helps. I may add more of the safe start as well but I think for my daughter's tank I'll get the Dr tim's nitrifying bacteria. I just was hoping to not have to pay an extra $10 for the temp control packaging but many reviews on amazon say that they suspect the product got too cold/hot in transit. 

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Well, using RO water and not ANY water will dramatically slow the cycle.  The cycle's timeline is really dependent on how much bacteria is in the tank from the tap water.  But, you didn't use any tap, so theoretically the amount of bacteria that you are trying to cultivate in your tank is essentially nil.  Using a bacterial starter like Dr. Tim's is absolutely the right call here.  The potential time it will take to cycle would be mind-boggling otherwise.
 
 
 
EDIT:  Although, rereading, I see that you had added Tetra Safe Start earlier.

 

[gale]

I'm not confident about the safe start for some reason. I bought it from an aquarium shop about an hour away on a very hot day. They said nothing about being careful with the temperature so I didn't worry about it being so hot in the car. So I was worried that it had gotten too hot.

 

[julielynn47]

I am really clueless on this, so take it as coming from a clueless person, lol, but couldn't you just take a little bit, maybe a cup, of your well water and pour it in the tank?  Maybe that little bit would help seed it and not cause any really big issues???   (again, I am clueless, just a thought )

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Well, if its as bad as described, it would be best not to.  Dr. Tims would be better and safer.  The tap water's copper content could be a problem for any inverts that they might want.  

I wonder if the flourish would be sufficient to remineralize the water though.  Not sure if it would have all of the necessary minerals or not.  I might do a little research into that.

 

[julielynn47]

I didn't think about copper...as I said, I am pretty clueless.  But couldn't the copper be removed prior to any invertebrates?

 

[Ch4rlie]

I agree that Dr Tims One and Only Nitrfying Bacteria is the best choice in this situation. I would doubt if flourish would be enough to remineralise the tank water unless given in high dosages probably, in the long run this would be more costly than getting mineralised water from LFS I would have thought. Tricky.
 
Copper is unfortunately difficult to remove completely from the water column and tank, even with carbon.
 
Think inverts is probably simply not a real viable choice for you. You COULD try with just a few red cherry shrimps and see how they fare.

 

[gale]

What. The Hell. I went to order Dr Tim's from his site. The product is $15. No biggie. The climate control packaging is $10. Ok. The shipping is FORTY DOLLARS. In addition to the other costs. Seriously?? I don't have that kind of $$ to spend just for the shipping. Good grief. I guess I'll take my chance with either Tetra Safe Start or get Dr Tim's somewhere else. 
 
eta: weird-when I opt to pay with my credit card rather than through amazon, the shipping changes to $7.99. I can handle that. I was just using amazon payments to save time and not have to put my cc in.