daveedka said:
Fishless cycling is no quicker than fishy, you can achieve higher stocking levels at the end of the cycle, so it is faster from start time to fully stocked, but still not a huge time difference. Food flakes are an option, but not a measurable one that will produce the results we are after. It's too hard to regulate amounts and add specified dosage. adding bacteria will of course speed things up but one still needs a viable ammonia source for the full cycle, and the idea of this thread was to help folks with brand names that have proven safe, not to debate the finer points of cycling methods available.
Dave
I got burned this month about this. I thought I’d done everything right. "Clear Ammonia." No perfumes. Sounded good.
While no fish have been harmed - I can’t begin to go into my horror story, except that it brought on a mental panic breakdown and resulted in missed work, much additional expense, and many many hours of frightful labor. My fingers are still raw and cut up from the efforts. My heart is racing even as I say this. Round two has so far gone much better, I pray, I hope, I won’t know 100% until the tank is cycled, and the (hopefully fortunate) guppies make an appearance. But I do feel very confident that I have finally conquered it. (Every single item had to be tested over a lengthy period of time. Aquarium Salt and 140 degree water were my constant companions. Many things had to just be purchased brand new, filters/bio wheel, substrate. Based on at least 30 hours of labor, I feel I have some experience with the Evil in question.) Therefore, having scrutinized much of it, I feel I can say…
The evil is not necessarily traceless, as I’ve found so far.
It may be possible to take a few days and test the ammonia source, in a bucket far far away from the tank.
What it did to me was:
a) foam slightly,
b) cloud the water,
c) disappear and water clarifies,
d) turn into a slimy coat on things like air tubes you can feel,
e) eventually you will see it: It collects into white slime that coats around suction cups, etc.
You will probably right away see a residue floating on the top of the water, like the iridescence you see when gasoline floats on water, or in little flat specs floating. And you can almost immediately feel it in the water – the water will feel velvety and soft and slippery. (It seems to me water has a certain kind of friction to it when it’s clean. When soapy products are in there, rubbing your fingers together or along the side of a bucket won’t squeak or have any friction.)
Now that I have for one, read everyone else’s nervous responses about their lacklusterly-labeled products (this was the case with my source, “quality control agents” and that Evil I know now as Surfactants), and two, been horribly crucified already… I am facing this issue again. Dare I even… risk it? Lucky for me, I do have an ACE Hardware which is claiming ingredients of 10% Ammonium Hydroxide solution only. But… WHAT IF? I know that I cannot handle another mishap. Neither can my family. Neither can my checkbook.
For a week now, I have been cycling my tank with fish food. Maybe it’s safer, but I have concerns with this as well. For one, it smells and is very messy. I found if I took out a half inch of tank water in a safe container, and put fish food in it overnight, every day I’d have pre-softened rotting fish food, which I’d then add back into my tank. Some fish food, pellets especially, take at least 6 days to break down. Try cycling and gauging levels with a nine day delay. (And yet, that’s still better than a catastrophic disaster!!!!) I’ve switched to flakes. These thankfully breakdown by morning. But again, with the smelling messiness. And in all this time I haven't managed to get it above "Alert" much less "Alarm" or "Toxic." How much food is it going to take? What happens if I add too much at once? Can you overdose the food?!
My biggest concern as to whether I do the ammonia product, or continue with organic rotting is… I too will be ordering my fish in bulk all at once. If the god of fish smiles on me for once, I hope to have a 12g of Neon Tetras. (And I don’t think Neon Tetras are even worth buying if you can’t trust their stock source, and with my LFS, that would be No.) It’s absolutely essential that the tank’s bacteria colony be efficient before they arrive, for 10 fish. Can this be done with the food? How will I know for sure? If not, should I switch back to the liquid ammonia? And if so, how do I truly know??!
but im just being picky 
