Does "Cycle" have beneficial bacteria in it, like it claims, or does it just add stuff to promote the growth of bacteria? If so, what? This product has worked well for me in the past to dramatically shorten a cycle - to about two days.
ammonia above 4 for 4 weeks! help
- Thread starter turkeyofthesea
- Start date
whats exactly in my tank.. 5 weeks in
ada aquasoil and powersand (maybe the reason for all my ammonia)
anacharis, java fern, swords fill my tank, look healthy!
no fauna (except planaria that have appeared), fishless cycle
declorinated water, also treated with stress zyme for bacteria
was new tank, new hob with sponge filter
thats all, nothing else added.
only one water change so far (25%) done 4 weeks into cycle
ph 7.8, ammonia 4, nitrite .25
ada aquasoil and powersand (maybe the reason for all my ammonia)
anacharis, java fern, swords fill my tank, look healthy!
no fauna (except planaria that have appeared), fishless cycle
declorinated water, also treated with stress zyme for bacteria
was new tank, new hob with sponge filter
thats all, nothing else added.
only one water change so far (25%) done 4 weeks into cycle
ph 7.8, ammonia 4, nitrite .25
I like your tachikoma avatar Turkey! GITS is great show. Not sure if it would do well in a freshwater aquarium. =D
I would recommend established media of some form if you can get a hold of some.
I used Tetra Safe Start (same as Bio-Spira) to help my cycle, but this only seemed to help me with the bacteria that convert ammonia to nitrites. Was fast acting, but I am still stuck waiting on nitrites to drop and convert to nirtates after a month. So not sure I really gained anything in shorting my cycle, since I am +1 month now. As you will see here on the forums, it is hit or miss as far as these cycling products go and Cycle as previously mentioned has bacteria that is normal believed to be DOA and ineffective. If you consider COTS product rather than dirt in stocking or etablished media. Search the site on Bio-Spira, Safe Start, and Cycle (not recommended from previous posts).
In theory, the bacteria you need should be present and begin to grow as long as you ensure the ammonia levels are there... unless you live in a computer clean room.
As for water changes, you don't need water changes during fishless cycling. Don't bother. You can change the water before you add fish at the end of the cycle. You can add dechlorinated water if some evaporates.
Hope this helps some. Note: I = newbie so correct me if I am wrong.
I would recommend established media of some form if you can get a hold of some.
I used Tetra Safe Start (same as Bio-Spira) to help my cycle, but this only seemed to help me with the bacteria that convert ammonia to nitrites. Was fast acting, but I am still stuck waiting on nitrites to drop and convert to nirtates after a month. So not sure I really gained anything in shorting my cycle, since I am +1 month now. As you will see here on the forums, it is hit or miss as far as these cycling products go and Cycle as previously mentioned has bacteria that is normal believed to be DOA and ineffective. If you consider COTS product rather than dirt in stocking or etablished media. Search the site on Bio-Spira, Safe Start, and Cycle (not recommended from previous posts).
In theory, the bacteria you need should be present and begin to grow as long as you ensure the ammonia levels are there... unless you live in a computer clean room.
As for water changes, you don't need water changes during fishless cycling. Don't bother. You can change the water before you add fish at the end of the cycle. You can add dechlorinated water if some evaporates.
Hope this helps some. Note: I = newbie so correct me if I am wrong.
Last edited:
did 2 water changes last week to try and get ammonia down from 4 and ph over 6, then added safe start by tetra yesterday. crossing my fingers! it's been since feb 26 when i began my cycle (ouch).
thinking my low ph and high ammonia stalled things for way too long. i read on ada's site that amazonia releases "humic acid" which makes the water similar to blackwater (tea stain, low ph, and higher ammonia) this will make your plants grow like crazy! and mine have! i have baby marimo balls, baby java ferns, my anacharis is taking over, and my mosses are already huge.
my levels are as follows:
ph 6- 6.2
ammonia .25-.50
nitrite 0-.25
nitrate 5
alot of people told me not to do water changes, but i am finally seeing results in the right direction. ada aquasoil can make your plants look wonderful but it's easy to stall things if the ammonia gets too high!
thinking my low ph and high ammonia stalled things for way too long. i read on ada's site that amazonia releases "humic acid" which makes the water similar to blackwater (tea stain, low ph, and higher ammonia) this will make your plants grow like crazy! and mine have! i have baby marimo balls, baby java ferns, my anacharis is taking over, and my mosses are already huge.
my levels are as follows:
ph 6- 6.2
ammonia .25-.50
nitrite 0-.25
nitrate 5
alot of people told me not to do water changes, but i am finally seeing results in the right direction. ada aquasoil can make your plants look wonderful but it's easy to stall things if the ammonia gets too high!
Tannins and Humic acid are like miracle-gro for plants, south american and southeast asian fish. I use large amounts of driftwood to ensure an 'amazon' type condition in my 55. Glad everything is thriving despite ammonia level.
If it's any consolation, the fish-illiterate manager of the LFS I work at has just fully stocked a 400-gallon koi pond without cycling it. I've been doing 50% water changes every week and adding full bottles of ammo-lock and cycle to it... ammonia will not go below 8, but the koi and goldfish seem to not give a ****.
If it's any consolation, the fish-illiterate manager of the LFS I work at has just fully stocked a 400-gallon koi pond without cycling it. I've been doing 50% water changes every week and adding full bottles of ammo-lock and cycle to it... ammonia will not go below 8, but the koi and goldfish seem to not give a ****.
well it finished cycling last week, but my internet was down! i did add a bottle of tetra safe start (bacteria) and it seemed to end the ammonia almost overnight! whew! long *** cycle!
i also bought a small base rock to add to the tank just to bring the ph up a tad more (now 6.5) and bought 4 little emerald eye rasboras to finally add some fauna! then 3 days latter when everything still seemed stable i added 7 cherry red shrimp! yay! i love my little tank!
thank you to everyone who shared their knowledge, i felt like an expectant mother who was super stressed!
i also bought a small base rock to add to the tank just to bring the ph up a tad more (now 6.5) and bought 4 little emerald eye rasboras to finally add some fauna! then 3 days latter when everything still seemed stable i added 7 cherry red shrimp! yay! i love my little tank!
thank you to everyone who shared their knowledge, i felt like an expectant mother who was super stressed!
