New 10 gallon Tank!!!

Cycle???????

Hi. The Filter is a TOP FIN Power filter 10 with 3 way filtration (mechanical, chemical and biological) Came all as a tripocical kit.

I may have done a stupid thing. Went out to store and and got talked into buying "Cycle" Is that good or bad.

We just tested our water, PH was around 7.5, ammonia at 0, nitrate was at 0 and nitrite at 0. Anys uggestions? Thanks all Scott
 
Snails are great, and fun to watch. I would like to suggest a snail and also some live plants. Live plants help balance water chemistry and use fish waste as fertilizer. IMO it makes cleaning easier and is much nicer looking. You can check www.plantgeek.net for more information and that site makes it easy to look for plants that will fit your level of knowledge. FE: I stuck with choosing from the "very easy" and "easy" categories.
I ordered my Sparkling Gouramis and Kerri Tetras from Liveaquaria.com aka Dr.'s Foster and Smith and they are absolutely wonderful; healthy, happy, and beautiful. I have had great experiences with Red Sea test kits which are commonly sold at Petco, but I have had only bad experiences with Aquarium Pharmaceuticals test kits. Maybe my Petco doesn't check experation dates or something. The Nutrafin brand has been recommended to me and I have ordered it, but I haven't received it yet.
 
If the "Cycle" is unopened, I suggest you take it back. While you are at the pet store you should ask for some gunk from one of their established freshwater filters to take home to seed your tank to get the cycle going. That works very well. Be careful of those fish store people. They are salespeople who often don't know much about owning an aquarium.

Do you have any gravel and/or ornaments in the tank?
 
Cycle

I already applied the cycle. The tank is fully set up. (gravel, plastic plants, filter is running, lights on) **** us rookies!! No fish added yet
 
Okay, so you can't get your money back. No big deal. You should still try to get some gunk from an established filter and put it in your tank.

I never bought Cycle. What do the directions say? Don't add any fish, no matter what those directions on the "Cycle" say or anybody at the fish store says, unless you want to risk doing a fishy cycle. Most people here agree that "Cycle" is worthless and doesn't work and also that most people at the pet stores (even though they sound like they know what they are talking about) know just about nothing about aquariums. Most of us on this forum have had plenty of experience with that. DON'T LET THEM SUCKER YOU!!!
If you want to do a fishless cycle keep posting your test results here and we will tell you when it is safe to add fish.
 
When???

So how canyou tel when your tank is ready to have fish?? What are the required levels?? And should I do the ammonia ?

Instruction on "Cycle" say to add 10 ml per 10 gallons, and repeat every 7 days for 2 weeks for 2 weeks.

Scott
 
Try not to buy anything the pet store tells you without doing your own research first. There are tons of unnecessary, useless and sometimes even harmful products out there that most pet stores will try to push on to unsuspecting people. Cycle is in the useless category.

Most especially, don't let them talk you into buying any products that will adjust your pH to the "ideal" level. These products can cause dangerous pH fluctuations even when used properly according to the instructions. Your pH at 7.5 is perfectly fine.
 
Check the sticky entitled "Cycle." I also just finished a fishless cycle. My thread was called "Where am I?" It also included reasons for stalling.
Anyway, the cycle starts with ammonia. Fish waste produces ammonia and there is a necessary bacteria that eats it. The bacteria makes waste in the form of nitrite. Ammonia and Nitrite can kill fish. There is another bacteria that is necessary to eat the nitrite and the waste that it produces is nitrAte. High levels of nitrate can also be harmful to fish. The cycle you are looking for is an ammonia spike followed by a nitrIte spike. When you see high Nitrites you will notice that if you add about a little less thank a teaspoon of ammonia to the tank, the next day it will be gone. Then after a little while of the nitrite spike you will see the nitrate spike. Those levels will be high for a while, while the nitrites start to fall. Once you see the nitrItes hit 0, then you will do a massive waterchange or two and the tank will be safe to add fish (after you neutralize chlorine and/or chloramine).
 
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scott9 said:
Hi. The Filter is a TOP FIN Power filter 10 with 3 way filtration (mechanical, chemical and biological) Came all as a tripocical kit.

I may have done a stupid thing. Went out to store and and got talked into buying "Cycle" Is that good or bad.

We just tested our water, PH was around 7.5, ammonia at 0, nitrate was at 0 and nitrite at 0. Anys uggestions? Thanks all Scott
Click to expand...

TOP FIN, I think, is a store brand for Petsmart. It is probably not the best filter you could get but it should do OK to start. I would not worry with the chemical filtration (typically activated carbon) and would leave that out of your filter. Chemical filtration is typically needed when you have problems in the form of high ammonia or you need to get rid of stuff like medication from the water.

I have never used Cycle and I have read mixed reviews on its effectiveness. I would not use it myself. The only cycling product that seems to produce good results in accelerating the nitrgon cycle is Bio-Spira (not available in Canada). This product is apparently expensive and needs to be refrigerated and you can still sometimes end up with an ineffective batch (as experienced by some members of this forum).

Your water has tested 0 for ammonia,nitrite and nitrate because you do not have anything in the tank that with trigger the nitrogen cycle (I am assuming the tank is empty). You will only start seeing these compounds in your tank if you add either bottled ammonia, decaying organic matter or fish (or, more specifically, fish waste). With that said, it is good to get a baseline set of test readings for your tapwater as you have just done.

I will, without hesitation, support all recommendations that you carry out a fishless cycle. It should take between 3-4 weeks and you will avoid a lot of problems by cycling that way. As has been previously noted it is a great way to become familiar with the nitrogen cycle and it allows for a bit of time to do research, aquascape and plan ahead.
 
First thing I would recommend is staying away from Petco. You will get much better advice right here on this forum. I think all the replies before me drive the point home about cycling the tank. So when Petco says to let it run for a few days and then come back and they will test the water, what exactly would they be testing for? That's your BIG RED PETCO FLAG! Stay away!

My real advice:

Cycle completely (bio spira works well to get things going quick)
Don't overstock
Don't overfeed
Keep an eye on water quality (get a test kit)
Don't over complicate things. (most important after cycling)
 
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