First I want to start by simply saying thanks to Dr. Tim for sending me a free sample of his One & Only Live Nitrifying Bacteria (4oz) and First Defense Fish Stress Relief (2oz). That is a $27.19 value plus shipping via FedEx. He even included a freezer pack to keep it cold during shipping.
:worthy:
Here is what showed up last Friday -
So here is my basic background and the situation surrounding my trial of One and Only -
My children expressed interest in getting an aquarium. My wife told them to ask me about it because she said I had once expressed interest in an aquarium as well. I took this to be the equivalent of my wife saying "Hey, why don't you dive right into a new hobby head first". So I did. A few days later I had found a 36 gallon bow front aquarium with matching stand and accessories on craigslist for $125. A quick trip to the book store yielded a copy of The Simple Guide to Freshwater Aquariums. I joined a nice online community
to find a few answers not covered in the book.
The guy I bought the tank from was using an under gravel filter. I had learned from my book and here on AC that I would be better off getting a different filter. I also needed heaters (2 so I would have a backup), gravel, thermometer, buckets, light bulb, etc.. A quick trip to the pet store and $229 dollars later I was finally ready to fill my tank with water.
After filling the tank and setting up all the gear I let it run without fish for two days to make sure everything worked and to let the tank settle. I followed the advice of my book and decided to use fish to help me cycle the tank. I added six Zebra Danios (3 albinos and 3 normal) on the 24th of August. I was doing daily water changes of 33% to 50%.
On August 30th I found a thread on these forums talking about DrTim's One and Only Live Nitrifying Bacteria. I have been curious about products like these because it is hard to explain to the kids why we have to wait so long before we can add more fish. If there was a product that could help me speed this process up, I wanted it. From what I had found on these forums it sounded like products that claim to instantly cycle a tank simply do not work. I had also heard that DrTim's One and Only might be different. So I asked him for a sample and promised to write a review. I told him I would write a review even if I had a bad experience.
On September 3rd I received my sample package as shown above. I did a 50% water change and added the entire contents of the 4 oz bottle of DrTim's One and Only on the morning of September 4th.
Now here is the twist. We had planned to go on a 3 day camping trip, leaving at noon on the 4th and returning on the evening of the 7th. This was going to be a problem no matter what. I couldn't expect my house sitter to do water changes for me. So I simply told her to feed the fish the tiny pinches of food I had pre-portioned. And otherwise leave them alone.
One of two things would happen. Either DrTim's product would work and the ammonia would be taken care of because the bacteria would consume it or I would return to high ammonia levels and possible dead or at least very stressed fish.
I worried about this while away but I was also hopeful that the product would work as advertised.
I am happy to report that my happy fish were in good health upon my return home and although the ammonia was not totally nonexistent it was only at .25. It would have been much higher if the product did not work. I am keeping my eye on the water and I will continue to do water changes for the rest of this week just to be safe. If everything still looks good by the weekend I plan to try letting it go 5 or 6 days between water changes (of course I'll be testing every day).
Here is how the tank looked last night when we got home -
I will add to this thread as things progress.
My experience so far with DrTim's One and Only seems to be successful. I hope this review has been helpful. Let me know if you have any questions.
:worthy:
Here is what showed up last Friday -
So here is my basic background and the situation surrounding my trial of One and Only -
My children expressed interest in getting an aquarium. My wife told them to ask me about it because she said I had once expressed interest in an aquarium as well. I took this to be the equivalent of my wife saying "Hey, why don't you dive right into a new hobby head first". So I did. A few days later I had found a 36 gallon bow front aquarium with matching stand and accessories on craigslist for $125. A quick trip to the book store yielded a copy of The Simple Guide to Freshwater Aquariums. I joined a nice online community
to find a few answers not covered in the book. The guy I bought the tank from was using an under gravel filter. I had learned from my book and here on AC that I would be better off getting a different filter. I also needed heaters (2 so I would have a backup), gravel, thermometer, buckets, light bulb, etc.. A quick trip to the pet store and $229 dollars later I was finally ready to fill my tank with water.
After filling the tank and setting up all the gear I let it run without fish for two days to make sure everything worked and to let the tank settle. I followed the advice of my book and decided to use fish to help me cycle the tank. I added six Zebra Danios (3 albinos and 3 normal) on the 24th of August. I was doing daily water changes of 33% to 50%.
On August 30th I found a thread on these forums talking about DrTim's One and Only Live Nitrifying Bacteria. I have been curious about products like these because it is hard to explain to the kids why we have to wait so long before we can add more fish. If there was a product that could help me speed this process up, I wanted it. From what I had found on these forums it sounded like products that claim to instantly cycle a tank simply do not work. I had also heard that DrTim's One and Only might be different. So I asked him for a sample and promised to write a review. I told him I would write a review even if I had a bad experience.
On September 3rd I received my sample package as shown above. I did a 50% water change and added the entire contents of the 4 oz bottle of DrTim's One and Only on the morning of September 4th.
Now here is the twist. We had planned to go on a 3 day camping trip, leaving at noon on the 4th and returning on the evening of the 7th. This was going to be a problem no matter what. I couldn't expect my house sitter to do water changes for me. So I simply told her to feed the fish the tiny pinches of food I had pre-portioned. And otherwise leave them alone.
One of two things would happen. Either DrTim's product would work and the ammonia would be taken care of because the bacteria would consume it or I would return to high ammonia levels and possible dead or at least very stressed fish.
I worried about this while away but I was also hopeful that the product would work as advertised.
I am happy to report that my happy fish were in good health upon my return home and although the ammonia was not totally nonexistent it was only at .25. It would have been much higher if the product did not work. I am keeping my eye on the water and I will continue to do water changes for the rest of this week just to be safe. If everything still looks good by the weekend I plan to try letting it go 5 or 6 days between water changes (of course I'll be testing every day).
Here is how the tank looked last night when we got home -
I will add to this thread as things progress.
My experience so far with DrTim's One and Only seems to be successful. I hope this review has been helpful. Let me know if you have any questions.
