New Freshwater 10 Gallon...

[Sly13Cat]

The sponge is in the filter with no water running through it for 2 weeks and it makes my hand wet if I squeeze it so it may still be good.

 

[Man of fish]

No that wouldn't be good it would need to be at the very least to have some value been fully submerged.

 

[Sly13Cat]

So basically i got to fishless cycle it manually if I can't find one from Big Al's. If I can, how would I go about it?

 

[Man of fish]

You just ask if you could have a bit of the media in their filter if they say why tell them about cycling and hope for the best. If they give you some, keep it in dechlorinated water then stick it in your filter and feed it ammonia until your sure it's ready for you to get fish

 

[Sly13Cat]

So I keep in in the de-chorl water until I put it in the filter the keep adding ammonia in the water until the whole ammonia -> nitrites -> nitrates thing happens then clean the tank, add de-chorl water then fish.

If all else fails, do it the manual 4 PPM way,

Thanks for all your help.

So I keep in in the de-chorl water until I put it in the filter the keep adding ammonia in the water until the whole ammonia -> nitrites -> nitrates thing happens then clean the tank, add de-chorl water then fish.

If all else fails, do it the manual 4 PPM way,

Thanks for all your help.

 

[Man of fish]

But make sure it's always in dechlorinated water!!!

 

[Sly13Cat]

I've been reading online and I read of products which can establish a colony immediately and although the person was doubtful he/she said that he/she added fish after following the instructions and after a few weeks his/her readings were excellent. If I were to use one of those products would it work?

 

[Man of fish]

It could help you kickstart the cycling process, but in conjunction you'd also need to add ammonia or else there is no way to make an actual colony. As you said her/his stats were good after A FEW WEEKS not instantly. So unless you combine them with the ammonia they are pretty much useless.

 

[Sly13Cat]

Well I've even heard of some that you add the colonies and follow the right steps and it's cycled in 24 hours. Another person was skeptical about it but tried it and it still worked. I'll try it out and hope for the best.

 

[Sly13Cat]

Okay so I'm going to use Sechem Stability which got perfect 5 stars on almost every review on petsmart.com

Thanks For All Your Help,
Sly13Cat

 

[Man of fish]

What product allows you to add the colonies

 

[Sly13Cat]

Seachem Stability allows you to add colonies or something so you can add fish just a few days after starting. You add a capful a day for a week and can add fish during the process and there's been MANY good reviews on petsmart (30ish). So I'm gonna try this saturday and hope for the best.

 

[Man of fish]

I'd still do it with some household ammonia because if that doesn't work your back to stage 1 and lost a week

 

[dh058977]

Seachem Stability allows you to add colonies or something so you can add fish just a few days after starting. You add a capful a day for a week and can add fish during the process and there's been MANY good reviews on petsmart (30ish). So I'm gonna try this saturday and hope for the best.

I'd strongly advise you to do a fishless cycle. By adding this product you are only going to be doing a fish in cycle, exposing your fish to harmful chemicals and doing large daily water changes.
There is alot of debate surrounding such 'bottled bacteria', personally I think they dont work. While that bottle is sat on the petshops shelf where is the source of ammonia to feed the bacteria? What is the validity of the customer reviews? After all there are plenty of unknowing fish keepers that plonk fish into uncycled tanks and think they are ok, whos to say the tanks in the reviews are cycled?

 

[OldMan47]

Moist filter media is almost as good as filter media in a working filter. It will give you a huge head start. Continue to be very skeptical of instant cycle products. So far none we have seen used have worked out for people in the real world.